At Cannes Lions, the world’s premier festival recognizing creative excellence, thousands of entries pour in from countries worldwide. Behind the scenes, a carefully selected panel of judges reviews the work that will ultimately take home a coveted Cannes Lion.This year Jaime Mandelbauum, CCO VMLY&R EMEA, has been selected as Jury President for the Brand Experience and Activation Lion, joining some of the industry’s most recognized and respected creative professionals.Jaime Mandelbaum has worked across three continents with brands like Absolut Vodka, Bel, BBC, BMW, Chanel, Coca-Cola, Danone, Erste Bank, Forbes, Harley Davidson, ING, Lavazza, LG, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Playstation, Volvic and Vodafone. Born and raised in São Paulo he's the Chief Creative Officer of VMLY&R Europe where he's responsible for overseeing the creative product of the network across all of its European offices.He is a speaker at innovation and creativity events globally and has been a jury member in all major advertising festivals, in 2018 he was named to the Golden Drum Hall of Fame, his works have been awarded at Cannes Lions, ADC New York, The One Show, D&AD, Clios, London International, Eurobest, NY Festivals and ADC Europe.Finish this sentence: Creativity is...The only competitive advantage/everything.What do you hope you’ll see in the overall work at Cannes in 2019?Brands and agencies that create riveting experiences in the spaces and places where people already are that have entertaining, useful, and empathic conversations across touch points; that move us emotionally; and that are disproportionately memorable in a world where everyone is fighting to get our attention because this is when a true connection happens.We come to Cannes to identify and reward the brands and agencies that shine a light into the possibilities ahead of a world powered by connected experiences — not just for brands, but for companies and people.What’s your favorite ad of all time? Why? OR What’s the best campaign you’ve seen this year? The white earphones that start from the launch of the iPod and turned everyone carrying an apple product from that moment on into a walking ad for apple even though the product itself was concealed in the person’s pocket, it’s a brand experience, it’s an outdoor, it’s activation and an influencer campaign and has been going on strong for 17 years now.At the end of the festival, what do you want to have taken away from your experience? I could not be more excited about the future of our industry and creativity. As the jury president for the Brand Experience & Activation Lions this year, I’ve seen examples of brands and agencies that are striking this creative iron with real skill and ingenuity.Name three things in your Cannes survival kit.Havaianas. Regardless of how fancy Cannes portrays itself, I can’t help it, sun + sand = Havaianas. Besides, nothing beats having serious conversations in relaxed outfits. A warm sweater. Even though it’s burning hot outside, inside the Palais can be frosty; especially when you’re judging from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It gets freezing cold in there! Which also means balancing between item one and item two is a challenge.A new Moleskine. A ritual of sorts, to start a new pocket Moleskine at Cannes, I usually go through one of these once a month, but at Cannes even if I’m not done with the last, I like to start a fresh one. The festival is a yearly moment to recharge and get inspired, so it deserves its own fresh Moleskine. ...Read More Share This Story