The Hot Tea was Safely Secured

I was ready for Day 3! My morning started off just right! I was able to retrieve an earl grey hot tea for only a small price of 4 euros (translated to American $6 ha great deal Morgan!) We chose to get there early because we knew it would be packed for Martha Stewart. The 1^st seminar was Agenciaclick Isobar and Fiat-Embracing Openess to Make the Car of the Future. Their powerpoint started briefly with the history of car making dating all the way back to horse and buggy. The campaign (for Fiat cars) was consumer driven because they created a website where consumers designed the car. Eleven thousand different suggestions were made on their Factory Blog. They took the ideas from the consumers and built a futuristic car. Mr. Belinini, the President of Fiat, said, “It’s wonderful to see a company fall in love with the poetry of an idea.” I love this quote because usually you think of car companies designing the car for you, but for this campaign it was all about the consumers’ idea. The coolest thing was that they unveiled the car at the end of the session on the big screen. It really made you want to live in the future!!

After the big car reveal, it was time for Martha Stewart to make her big debut in IPG and Women’s Leadership Network. There were a variety of different ladies on the panel and each was at some head corporate position. They agreed that males do dominate the executive world (which I observed earlier) and they also concurred that absolutely anyone can make it to the top but you can’t ever stop trying. As a woman you can’t be shy about voicing your opinion, you have to be assertive and in control. I tend to do this pretty well anyway so I completely agreed!

Next up was Robert Redford in seminar three. He was way before my time, but I knew that he was kind of important. The baby boomers in the audience/older people shot those cameras up the second he stepped on stage so apparently he is MAJORELY important (WHOOPS!!!! ) Well, I guess that was like the Nick Jonas for me. Anyway, his powerful storytelling was conveyed in his message and I could truly tell that back in the day he was a “bigshot.” He was funny, charismatic, and showed interest in advertising. We ended up having to duck out early to catch our next speaker, which is actually a family friend of mine. I was elated to know that Julie Winskie, a Statesboro native (like myself!,) would be in Cannes, France at exactly the same time. She is President at Porter Novelli and UGA Alum. I usually consider Julie on the flip side of this job description as my mom’s high school friend who we see at Christmas and love to eat bbq with at Vandy’s (YUM!) But today I saw her in a whole new light. She has such an energetic and bubbly personality to begin with but today I saw it carry over into her business role. Her intelligence, passion, and love of her work truly inspire me to acquire even more knowledge before I dive head first into my career. As I approach my sophomore year of college, it may not be time to get a job yet but at least I’ve noticed what it’s like to be on fire for something you believe in, to be part of company that makes something better, and to be part of something bigger that may ultimately change the world. Thank you Julie!!

Next up was the Coca Cola Seminar and it was absolutely fabulous. I might be a little biased since Coke is based out of Atlanta but the speakers were engaging, the presentation was inspiring, and the story of Coke is always a “classic.” The men looked so crisp on stage drinking their Coke I must say. Their campaign described how the older generation knew the story behind Coke but most teens did not know their story. Coke was just any other brand out there on the market...just another tagline. Their mission was to get teens to love their brand. First, they created a Facebook application that let teens virtually send a coke to a friend for various situations and they could redeem it with a QR code at any local store. I thought this was a great idea and wondered how I had missed this because yes I am still a teenager!! Secondly, they developed the Coke Freestyle Machine, which lets the consumer mix any arrangement of flavors together to create a masterpiece. I was aware of this mechanism and it seriously is pretty awesome. During the whole seminar, I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat and the 45 minutes was up in no time.

Coke ended on a sweet note and I’m pumped for my adventure tomorrow!