It’s day 3 of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and I’m still pinching myself that I’m here. Here’s my highlights so far: 1. Meeting the brand strategists and creative teams behind the work that has changed my life as a disabled person. I use these in trainings to teach advertisers how to spot great inclusive advertising, considering 91% of the 1% of ads that feature us are created using stereotypes, stigmas and tropes. Forget Elon Musk or John Legend, people like Pau Bartoli and Esi Eggleston Bracey and Gabriela Rodrigues 🏳️🌈 are MY heroes. 2. Randomly bumping into one of the heroes of disability inclusion, Sinéad Burke, and hearing her speak in person. I’ve heard her talks before and she spoke about a lot of the studies and research I cite in my work so I was prepared to love her talk. However, I wasn’t prepared for how emotional it would make me. I sobbed quietly through the whole thing, I’ve never seen anyone who looks like me, a disabled woman, be given that kind of authority on a stage and I hope every single marketer took note of her insights. Transparently a lot of the activations put on by brands and agencies are not at all inclusive of disabled thought leadership or fully accessible which is a huge bummer for us, and massive missed revenue opportunity for them and their guests. But, it’s extremely moving to see how the actual organizers of the festival (led by the incredible Frank Starling and Lume Imeri ) have gone above and beyond to ensure that their portions of the event are inclusive and accessible. 3. Randomly bumping into really kind, warm people like Rocky Novak, Lindsay Rutherford, Ian Schafer and Kristin Woxland. Coming to an event like this alone, especially as a member of a marginalized community, is intimidating. Yesterday I literally had someone *not* involved in the conference, but there to network, scoff at what we do. Entering rooms over and over knowing that could happen is terrifying, and seeing warm faces and big hugs is a massive part of allyship and ensuring diverse voices feel welcome. I’m so inspired and excited to come back and use all I’ve learnt and observed to impact how we train agencies and brands to be inclusive, and in the meantime I get to keep learning from the amazing Lions team. #CannesLions
Disappointed we didn’t connect in Cannes-potentially next year or sooner! Congrats on your first Cannes.
I am SO proud of you and excited you're having such a fulfilling time! Shouting out again my girl Jenny Jonker who is there and would also be a friendly face/ally 😍
Thanks Kelsey for these words. Means a lot to hear back that our work in Dove is helping the community. It’s voices like yours that help drive the change in representation that we all want to see.
It was so lovely to meet you!
Was wonderful running into you and your husband at Cannes. Love your energy and passion. Ezra Frech, Sheridan O'Donnell, Greg Nugent from HARDER THAN YOU THINK, and Kimberly Doebereiner also had a great panel on disability inclusion, and was wonderful to see a movie made with 50% of the crew made up of people living with a disability.
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2wKelsey Lindell Can’t wait to hear about your experience!