‘The best and worst of the industry’: Creative’s life-changing experience at Cannes
After beating out 684 other applicants for the Cannes Lions See It Be It scholarship, Clemenger BBDO senior art director Huei Yin Wong had an unexpected existential moment at the famed adland summit.
Have you ever realised you were in the midst of a life-changing moment?
More than 700 people applied for the Cannes Lions See It Be It program. There were only 16 places. I was one of the lucky few who got a seat.
The final day with Glass Jury president Tea Uglow and SIBI alumni.
I don’t know quite what I was expecting to learn from it, but it changed me on a cellular level.
We spent a week learning from global creative leaders on how to value our otherness. In its seven years running, See It Be It has already shown measurable impact with alumni winning on stage, while changing the systems that made it so hard to win in the first place.
Cannes has been made out to be advertisings promised land. Going between watching case studies on saving the planet to overlooking a billionaire’s yacht on the bay, Cannes truly is the best and worst parts of our industry.
But when you look past the shiny veneer and its rivers of rosé, you’re reminded of the joy and privilege it is to work in this creative industry.
The saying “you have to see it to be it” is something many people in advertising donʼt have to think much about—their paths modelled by predecessors just like them.
Huei Yin Wong, Senior Art Director at Clemenger BBDO.
As a queer, female, Asian immigrant, I’ve often found myself seeking someone to whom I could relate to. My mother grew up poor on a chicken farm in Malaysia and we blindly moved to New Zealand because it was the only way our family could have a future beyond survival. I’m one of the fortunate ones but going to Cannes was never in my life’s plan.
For anyone who has ever been othered, putting in the work before doing the work isn’t new news. It’s our daily reality. In my nine years in advertising, I’ve had bosses that spoke directly to my male creative partner, even though I was the one presenting ideas. I’ve been told by clients that Asian dads aren’t relatable. I’ve had clients visibly gasp when I swung into the video frame while presenting on a global automotive pitch. Guess what? They were all cishet white men.
These experiences seed themselves deep in the mind and it takes an exhaustive amount of work to unlearn them.
Being a creative and having your ideas constantly judged is hard enough without that added burden. No wonder burnout is so common in our industry. According to UnLtdʼs 2022 Mentally Healthy report, 46% of us are displaying mild to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. I wonder what percentage of this feel like they don’t belong?
Visiting the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity can have an immeasurable impact on someone earlier on in their careers, and I urge agencies to find a balance in who to send. It really is the ultimate learning experience.
Esosa Osagiede, Tung Wang, Binaifer Dulani, Lex Remalante, Huei Yin Wong, Çağla Büyükkoç Sütlüoğlu, Bernice Chao, Sabrina Henry, Steph Cajucom, Sarah Olicker.
I learned from Anna Qvennerstedt, global CCO of Forsman & Bodenfors, who noticed a problem: women at the height of their careers were leaving to literally become gardeners. Why? Menopause. They would rather quit than to struggle silently in a system not designed for them. I’m a proud estrogen carrier, and even I didn’t know much about what inevitably lay ahead. We need more people
to share their struggles openly—to be seen and heard—so that the rest of us can create systems to make a career in advertising congruent with life. And this is why diversity matters. Not just in the work we produce, but within our companies and those we partner with.
I learned that we have it good here in Australia. We have a rich creative industry with more talent than most. We have the privilege of English as a first language, a powerful passport, and a currency that can (just) afford the €5000 festival pass. My See It Be It experience showed me that instead of constantly looking to greener pastures, we should invest in fertilising our own lawns.
I learned that although I didn’t have work entered into Cannes this year, I’ve already won. My personal Grand Prix was realising the importance of visibility on a visceral level. My expectations of my life’s impact have expanded beyond my wildest imagination. You can only be it, if you can see it. It really is that simple.
So, use your voice, however shaky it might be. There’ll be someone out there who needs to hear it.
Huei Yin Wong is a senior art Director at Clemenger BBDO.
Huei, you nailed it ! Brilliant and very pertinent article. Thank you
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I love everything about this article so poignantly expressed Huei!!
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So important. Thank you for writing this x
Another reminder of the rich rewards that come with actively creating a vibrant, inclusive industry.
Gone (should be) the days of adland requiring people from one narrow band of socio-economic, cultural, gender-defined, stereotypical workers to fill our offices and teams. Our audiences are too diverse and discerning now for that to be smart, and it was never fair, reasonable, healthy or kind.
We all want to work somewhere high-achieving, fair, reasonable, healthy and kind.
“The culture of our industry” (or team, or company) is made up of choices and attitudes each of us select each day. If we are the culture makers, we can choose the way it works in the future, starting now. Be the change you want to see.
And bravo to these brave, wonderful voices: you shouldn’t have to endure being othered by us, and I hope you have magnificent equals in your workplace to ignore or fight any bullshit, whichever’s required.
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You are so special and so very adored Huei! I’m proud to know you and call you a friend. How very lucky our industry is for having you in it. Also bloody good article. C x
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Powerful words Huei
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Great article thanks Huei Yin Wong. You sound very deserving. Thanks for this inspiration. Maybe I’ll make it there one day!!
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