Usually, on brief with a quick turnaround, we’re able to go to our creative directors with multiple ideas, albeit half-baked at best, but together discussing several to keep pushing on.

Around 2 p.m. we were near our breaking point. Time to send.

Logic would tell you we should take a nap or sleep but, naturally, we decided to attend part of an awards ceremony and a session with Marc Pritchard of P&G. He was an amazing presenter and said every word with such confidence.

It could have been the creative or it could have been Rachel’s state of mind, but her eyes welled up with tears at almost every commercial. It was probably the creative.

Finally, it was naptime.

We met again to catch the tail end of a Grey happy hour to thank our assigned mentors from Grey for helping us prior to the Young Lions Competition. We caught Laura Maness as she was leaving to collect a Grand Prix award they had just received.

Next, it was a mix of TBWA happy hour to see some more familiar faces from Chiat. We chatted with Kirsten Rutherford, Brent Anderson, Monica Gelbecke and Bruno Regalo.

Hungry and tired, we eat a great meal at Le Vesuvio. We order steak and salmon as a little reward. Afterward, we briefly go to an under-30 party along the beach. But there was still so much to do. We hadn’t even prepped for our presentation to the Jury. It felt like a week packed into 48 red-eyed hours, but that’s Cannes!