Farewell La Plage Courage 2013

If we were inclined to pun – and we are – we might say that last week was pretty Cannes-tastic. The Little Black Book team headed to the south of France to soak up the 2013 Cannes Lions Festival. With the help of some lovely industry friends we hosted ‘La Plage Courage’, a four day-long beach event that’s become something of an institution.

 

This year La Plage Courage was made possible by the thoroughly lovely Rushes, Clear Channel, Simian, Envy Post, London International Awards, Campaign Magazine, Bigballs, DCM, Wave, Talent Partners, Little Fish, Getty Images, Hear No Evil, Factory, Adstream, The Good Film Company, Postads Group, Bacon de Czar, Filmgraphics Entertainment and Vagabond Films.

 

“A day at the LBB beach was a little bit of Soho on La Croissette. Lots of familiar faces, good food and vino and fabulous networking opportunities,” said Lisa Lavender of Adstream. “What better way to work out of the office is there?

 

From Tuesday to Friday, La Plage Courage played host to a jovial networking lunch, a chilled out evening meal and an exuberant Rushes party. Hear No Evil were DJs for the week and kicked off Happy Hour each day by playing The Champs’ 1958 track ‘Tequila’. The effect was almost Pavlovian. By the end of the week, Happy Hour revellers managed to guzzle their way through 10,000 glasses of rose and bottles of beer. 

 

“The Happy Hour went down well with guests – it punctuated the end of the day and evening kick-off brilliantly,” said Hear No Evil’s Hilary MacDonald.

 

And while there was definitely a certain joie de vivre around happy hour there was also a dedicated hard core group that didn’t let up on the opportunity to make themselves seen. For Little Fish’s Matt Francis it was a chance to make useful contacts and get some networking done.

 

“[My favourite memory was] going round to tables during the Happy Hours making sure everyone's drink had a PostAds Group coaster under it,” said PAG’s John Lipuma. “The happy hours overall were great fun and had great energy, we loved every minute of it!”

 

Someone who wasn’t counting the minutes was Talent Partners’ Ken Holden. “I remember looking at my watch thinking that it was about 3pm and seeing that it was 6pm - that was a reflection of being happily occupied,” he mused.

 

Winning the award for busiest bees at the beach was the team from Rushes. “Rushes were once again delighted to be involved with the LBB team and our co-sponsors,” said MD Joce Capper.  

 

“It’s our fourth year at the Beach Club Lounge and it was the most successful yet. We are building a fantastic networking presence in Cannes for our international clients and it represents Rushes well and our way of working and ethos.  Collaborative, caring, high level of service - in a welcoming, relaxed and fun environment.”

 

The Thursday evening meal proved a particular hit with Wave’s Kayt Hall, who has also been emailing us with some top secret but very tasty looking suggestions for next year. “It was such a great way to entertain clients,” she said.

 

For Ross Whittow-Williams of Bigballs Films, one of the highlights of the week came on Friday afternoon. “With some really exciting plans coming up, the beach worked as a wonderful platform from which we met new people and told our story. The lunch on Friday, with the weather firmly on our side, was the beginnings of a fantastic afternoon,” he said.

 

But it wasn’t all about networking and meeting new people. For Bacon de Czar’s Anna Sundbom, La Plage Courage provided the very rare opportunity to get the whole Bacon family together in one place. “We don't really have the opportunity to spend that much time together due to the fact that everyone is constantly on the road and shooting in different parts of the world so it was absolutely priceless for us to get a place that you could call your "own" and one that was in the city and not in a villa up in the mountains where people needed to make an effort to come.”

 

The beach-side base was also a handy refuge for the London International Awards’ Beccy Morgan. “I loved turning Cannes on its head. For me it’s always been about staying up late and battling through the crowds to try and "network". I did not feel the need to go to the Gutter Bar, Martinez or Carlton Terrace at all (apart from when I just wanted to) as those people could come to us.”

 

Over the past few years, the spirit of the Cannes festival has undergone something of an evolution, with tech brands like Google and Yahoo! growing their presence. For Bigballs’ creative director Richard Welsh this was a major part of the beach experience. “With the beach this year dominated by the likes of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, it really felt like 2013 marked a huge shift in the focus of Cannes and we'd like to think our experience on La Plage Courage with LBB reflected this exciting new generation perfectly.” 

 

Equally, the off-Palais Cannes fringe also continued to proliferate, as DCM’s Anastasia Takis noted.

 

“From what I know now of Cannes Lions and from previous advice on the week, it is becoming apparent that a huge focus for the week is now becoming all about who you meet and where and in a lot of ways, less about attending the seminars. The beach provided the perfect place to start new conversations,” she said.

 

La Plage Courage 2013 was the biggest LBB beach event to date and while the team could be forgiven for spending this week in bed catching up on some much-missed sleep we are, in fact, wide awake and working on next year’s Cannes. Egged on by words of encouragement and plenty of ideas from sponors such as Envy's Jonathan Davies and Simian's Brian Atton, we're looking forward to getting stuck in.

 

And it looks like next year will be bigger still if The Good Film Company’s Yanina Barry has any say in it. “The only feedback I got was ‘you should open the beach on Saturday as well’ … but could you guys survive?” The LBB team are suckers for a challenge, so watch this space.

So there you are – hope to see you all again in 2014 for LBB’s fifth La Plage Courage!

 

And anyone wishing to recreate the spirit of La Plage Courage back home should check out Hear No Evil’s epic playlist and head to our Facebook photo album.