HLabs goes to Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

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Our CEO, Hannah Springett goes to experience her first Cannes festival to find inspiration, learn and meet clients like Atlas Obscura.
24th June 2024
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Hannah Springett, CEO of HLabs
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What a week! As it was HLabs very first trip to Cannes I had NO idea what to expect. I was wowed by the brand activations, stimulating conversations and openness to generate business leading conversations. Here's my insights from the rapid tour I made round Cannes in just 3 days!

ADWEEK House

For 45 years, ADWEEK has served as a pillar of the marketing, advertising and media industry, chronicling and deciphering industry shifts, sharing unique perspectives and spotlighting the people behind the work.

I joined ADWEEK on the roof to meet individuals at the heart of the creative industry. I was joined by our wonderful client Sara, from Atlas Obscura for one breakfast, returning for one of the evening parties and to watch the Chief Creative Officers round tables which left me with six pages of notes. Themes surrounding bravery, honesty and transparency in leadership and getting your younger team members to understand the money side of the business left me delivering videos to my own senior leadership team to translate to my team!

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Empower Lounge

This space hosted a woman-centric inclusive hub for the creative, media, technology and advertising industries. In their inspiring cafe space, people of all genders gathered to forge meaningful connections, share expertise, and foster a supportive network.

It was located at L’Avenue, just a stone’s throw from the Palais. Lying at the heart of the festival both geographically and as an official part of the Cannes Lions 2024 programme I loved joining the conversation on three occasions, the best being BBC hosted breakfast for Women in Leadership to talk through how we can change the space further by encouraging young leaders to step up to the challenge.

Huge shoutout to Louise Watson that was just the best host!

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Inkwell

In 2019, the Can: Diversity Collective was honored to host the FIRST beach activation of its kind, created to highlight and showcase the theme of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. I was overjoyed to gain access for their opening party with Shannon, a fellow agency owner, at my side to enjoy the great vibes, drone show and a bloody good time!

Inkwell's goal is to make everyone feel welcome and included in the conversation, and they did this in abundance. It was the warmest and most inviting evening I attended.

At HLabs we do a lot to embrace diversity and inclusion (meet our global team here) but I think this trip made me realise there are still so many things I can do to improve our hiring processes, our education of unconscious bias and even giving more space for less extrovert people to have their say, will help my business no end.

Thank-you everyone for furthering my education! You know who you are!

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It was a truly fantastic week and shoutouts go out to everyone that I met at this wonderful conference in the sun.

Incredible individuals:

Sara Ewell, Shannon Walker, Louise Watson, Katie Street, Rebecca McKee, Alicia Richardson, Dan Wong-Chi-Man, Rob Mayhew, James Wilson, Tamara Littleton, Lynn Jarrett,

Game changing brands:

#Pinterest, #Havas, #WSJ, #Spotify, #TikTok, #Snapchat, #ADWEEK, #IPSOS, #Dentsu, #

Did you meet me at Cannes but want to know what HLabs actually does?

HLabs is an award-winning global agency specialising in digital web design, interactive storytelling, and no-code technology. We use conferences like Cannes to widen our reach, be inspired about everything happening in the world of creative media and want to hear from you on how we can help you meet your digital needs. It all starts with a chat, and not on the beach this time!