After three days on the rosé, she's gone native. Our Cannes correspondent Alex reports :

So, apparently it sometimes rains in the South of France. It is testament to the usually sunnier climes (and the current Cannes clientele) that when the first raindrops fell at the Massive Music gig on the Baoli Beach, the near thousand people there assumed someone on stage was spraying champagne, Formula 1 winning-style. Oh dear. SO lucky the Carlton Terrace has an awning fit for an after party.

Luckily it had been standard issue weather at the Mill Villa earlier. Brad
Pitt has good taste, right? Yes. You only have to look at Angelina to see
that. So the pool party chez Pitt (where he spent his stag) was a pretty
epic location. An unpretentious crowd, delicious cocktails, blockbuster
views, AN ICE CREAM CART and a rolling barbecue. Lush.

Cannes has been ramping up all week and it feels like, with the arrival of Teams Soho and Shoreditch, this thing is now in full sway. Probably why today's note from me is more 'party' than 'Palais'. Oops.

Just to prove that Alex has also been doing some vaguely work-related stuff, here she is (far left, shades, hangover) listening to Coke's Jonathan Mildenhall speak at the IPA event.

Cannes Correspondent Alex Rogers reports.

Lesson of the day: it isn't easy to win a Cannes Lion. So to win for creativity one year then come back the next and prove it actually made a difference to client business? Well that is a triumph. And W+K Amsterdam did just that for Heineken on Monday.

To celebrate their Grand Prix of Effectiveness we drank a toast or two with said beer brand. And washed it down with a sip or two of champagne.

The morning after the night before I still had effectiveness front of (hazy) mind. I eagerly listened and learned two life lessons from two powerful women:

To be effective you need passion.  Annie Leibovitz said when you have the opportunity to work on something which you can truly romanticise, it is less of a business, more a way of life.

To be effective you need to be smart. Vivenne Westwood said intelligence consists of two parts: sweetness and light.
-The latter is led by our brain, forms our rationale and drives desire.
-Sweetness is how we empathise and engage with people.
Coupled together in advertising, this is the sweet spot when we tell authentic stories in emotionally engaging ways.

So 'passion + intelligence = effectiveness'? Not the most traditional formula, possibly one planners would refute, certainly one that in isolation won't win you any Cannes Effectiveness Lions, but who am I to argue with Annie and Viv?