One week from today (Wed 20 June), I'll be moderating a panel of senior marketers called "Cocktails and Conversations" at the Cannes Lions Festival.  The panel will include Wendy Clark, SVP of Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities at Coca-Cola; John Travis, VP of Brand Marketing at Adobe; and Maryam Banikarim, SVP & CMO of Gannett.

"Cocktails & Conversations" will be part of the "McCann Rendezvous" series to be hosted at La Cote Terrace at the Carlton Hotel, facing La Croisette.  The event will begin around 6.45pm, with our panel running from 7.30-8pm plus Q&A.

We'll be discussing the name of the game in Cannes - creativity - but we'll be putting our own spin on the subject in terms of working practices in marketing versus creativity in the marketing product itself.  

I've been thinking about appropriate questions to field around the creative process, creativity in experimentation, origination of creativity (agency partners versus client side), creativity in the innovation process, and more.  But I'd be happy to entertain any questions my readers might have - just please email to marylee@changingmo.com.

Following our panel, it would be only fitting to have some creative entertainment.  Neon Trees, an American alternative rock band from Provo, Utah, will be performing for the audience.

This year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity kicks off in less than two weeks and is set to feature more content than ever before, including two new content streams - 1) The Forum - hour-long sessions from experts in a particular field, and 2) the TechTalk series, a new showcase that puts delegates into direct contact with people creating the tools and solutions the industry will be using in the near future.

I've got my dance card nearly full already of what I consider top picks for the marketers attending the festival, and I'm highlighting three sessions in each of three categories below.  

Big brand Olympic fever
First of all, caught up in pre-Olympic fever, there are three big brand/Olympic sponsor seminars which are musts:

• On Monday at 2.30pm, Visa's Antonio Lucio, global chief marketing, strategy & corporate development officer, will be presenting with former Gold Medalist Nadia Comaneci, Patrick O'Neill of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY and Timo Lumme of IOC Television and Marketing Services.  The panel, entitled "Visa & TBWA - The Making of a Global Olympics Marketing Campaign - Right Approach, Right Message, Right Time" will be moderated by AdAge agency editor Rupal Parekh.  
  
• On Tuesday at 9.30am, Coca-Cola's Joe Tripodi, EVP, chief marketing & commercial officer, will be speaking about "The Coca-Cola Company: New Rules of Marketing and Consumer Engagement".  
• And on Thursday at 3.30pm, P&G's Marc Pritchard, global marketing & brand building officer, will take the stage to talk about "What's the Big Idea at P&G?"
  

Want to be entertained?
A couple of seminars are designed to do just that!  

• On Wednesday at 9.30am, actor/director Forest Whitaker will take the main stage to present "The Democratization of Content" with David Alberts, chief creative officer of crowdsourcing agency MOFILM, Brian Message, co-manager of Radiohead & chairman of the Music Manager Forum, and Ben Spencer, head of brand management for Everything Everywhere.  
• Meanwhile, this year will be Grey's sixth annual "Legends of Music Seminar" featuring a talk with Deborah Harry of Blondie, one of popular music's most enduring and creative icons.  Grey CEO Jim Heekin will introduce the seminar at 1.45pm on Friday, and Tim Mellors, chief creative officer and vice-chairman, will interview Debbie.  
• And finally, a must for sports enthusiasts - on Friday at 12.30pm, The (annual) Cannes Debate will feature World Cup winning footballer Ronaldo (also member of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2014 World Cup), and Lord Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Olympic Organizing Committee, moderated by Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP.

The client-agency relationship - how to get the best?
There are a number of opportunities for this, but my picks for the week include a Forum session on Monday, a workshop that will be run and repeated on Thursday, and a seminar on Friday.  

• The Forum - entitled "Five Sneaky Ways to Get Great Work" - is on Monday at 3.30pm and is sure to be a lively discussion between Dana Anderson, SVP of marketing strategy and communications at Kraft Foods,  Paul Lavoie, co-founder & chairman of TAXI, Nicolas Pimentel, founder & innovation director at +Castro, Chris Palengat, EVP/worldwide account director at Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Group, and Maria Mujica, director for Gum & Candy, Kraft LatAm. 
• The workshop that will be run twice on Thursday is at 9.30am and 2pm entitled "How Marketers and Their Agencies Can Work Better Together", featuring Mhairi McEwan, co-founder/CEO and Andy Bird, co-founder/executive director of Brand Learning.  
• Finally, on Friday at 4.45pm, Marc de Swaan Arons, chairman of EffectiveBrands, will be joined on the main stage with Lennard Hoornik, president of South Asia Pacific for HTC, Nigel Gilbert, CMO of Virgin Media, and Chris Burggraeve, recent CMO of Anheuser-Busch InBev for a session entitled "Building Effective Global Brands".
  

Of course there are endless other seminars, workshops and forums to tap into.  I particularly enjoy Saatchi & Saatchi's New Directors' Showcase for sheer the sheer creativity which is always on the Thursday at 11am, and there are countless other "big names" on board to speak including former President Clinton, Smokey Robinson and writer/philosopher Alain de Botton and creative guru Sir John Hegarty, to name a few.