A Week in the Life of shots

Monday: Samuel Spencer, news reporter (Europe & UK)

12:00pm: Touch down in Cannes. Have to fight past the chauffeurs waiting for the more important people. Strong temptation to pretend to be the CEO of a big agency just to see what would happen.

2:00pm: Sharing a room with this fun lady.

5:00pm: Mark it! First rosé of the festival over a Word document in the glamorous setting of the Palais press room with shots' US news reporter, Olivia. Also pictured: my boater, which helps people I'm meeting pick me out of the crowd but also makes drunken admen sing the "just one Cornetto..." song at me.

Tuesday: Selena Schleh, Deputy editor

9.00am: All aboard the good ship (sheep?) BBH for a breakfast meeting. It's a lovely start to the day, although by the time we disembark I've turned a delicate shade of green. Note to self: gently bobbing about on the waves is infinitely less enjoyable on a hangover.         

2.30pm: Locked in the bowels of the JW Marriott with my fellow jurors for the Young Director Award. As always, the standard of the entries is incredibly high - we've wiped away tears, laughed out loud and had some heated debates, and are still only halfway through the judging. It's going to be a long day...    

8:00pm: Emerge into the evening sun in time for what turns out to be Publicis' swansong press dinner at Colombe d'Or. There's an excellent sleb spot in the form of Halle Berry on the table behind us, but I'm not brave enough to sneak a pic, so here's one of the (equally gorgeous) pool instead. 

Wednesday: Olivia Atkins, news reporter, the Americas 

09.00am: Start the day typically early... but my rule is that if I'm going to start the day before 10am, it should be somewhere with an amazing view. Ogilvy rents out an apartment conveniently located on the Croisette... and breakfast on the penthouse isn't a bad way to begin my day. Plus the breeze up there is just divine.

10.30: It's one day before our shots Beach Party and I have an unusual amount of emails arriving to my inbox. Must be 'cause I'm so great at networking... oh wait, it's a lot of party ticket requests. We set up camp on the GPN beach today, but first it's the rather arduous job of collecting 40+ boxes of shots mags and transporting them to the stand. Thankfully, I find two helpful French men who are happy to make the journey with me.

5pm-onwards: That's the problem with Cannes... I've RSVP'd to too many events. Today the party starts (from L-R) at Stink's Pool Party starring great inflatables and Reggie Yates on the decks. Before I catch Solange at Spotify (personal highlight) and head to Massive Music for a final boogie. It is tradition after all. That's Selena's silhouette billowing through the smoke. 

Thursday: Tom Archer, senior researcher & Directory editor 

7:00 am: Wake up to be greeted by this beauty.

2:00 pm: Done a fair few laps of the Croisette today.

 02.00am: Time for team shots to let our hair down.

Friday: Danny Edwards, editor

9:00am: It's the morning after the night before and after a late night... or is it an early morning ? finish and a relatively early rise, water, sunglasses and some breakfast is the first thing on the agenda.

1:00pm: After some time in the Palais, a meeting about the next issue of shots, our guest edited issue, it's lunch with the fine people at PS 260 along with shots news reporter Olivia Atkins. Cheers!

4:00pm: A very pleasant meeting with Chen Yong, president of Modern Advertising China. Note to self; really need to perfect photo-face.

5.30pm: Final meeting before a quick change and then dinner, and it's with the very nice, and very funny (can't repeat some of the things said here) guys from Furlined; [l-r] Josh Gordon, Will Speck, Olly Chapman and Ben Davies. 

 Saturday: Danny Edwards (again)

7.15am: Start the day slightly earlier than planned after an unscheduled phone call from a fellow member of editorial, who shall remain nameless... it was Selena... whose taxi hadn't arrived. Oh well, need to send the newsletter anyway and doing it from the bed is more comfortable...

10.30am: Final press conference for Cannes Lions 2017 and it's the Film, Titanium and Integrated Lions. Phil Thomas, CEO of Ascential, owner of Cannes, is flanked by Ogilvy's Tham Kai Meng to the left of the image, and Deutsch's Pete Favat on the right.

1.00pm: Kicking up a Stink for our final lunch in Cannes with Veronique [right] and Gabi [left] at the Baoli beach restaurant, along with news reporter, Olivia. It was fan-tastic... sorry!

8:00pm: In the thick of the final Cannes Lions awards where David Droga gave an emotional and heartfelt speech after being awarded the Lion of St Mark for his huge success in, and influence on the industry.

9:15pm: That's all folks... another year, another Cannes. Last awards event done and it's a final selfie on the red carpet for the two shots staffers left standing. It's been emotional...