You did not win a Lion at Cannes, so what?

The feeling of not-winning-a-lion can be tough yet precious at the same time, writes our guest author Nhu Tran.

You are rewarded with a sponsored trip to Cannes Lions this year. Everyone knows how expensive it is. EUR4000? Probably. It’s all good. You have a number of submissions. One of them, a pro-bono project confronting homophobic bigots, took two years to happen, and you invested all your heart, sweat and tears in it.

The agency loved it, the boss believed in it, the head boss approved the budget for it. Your partners worked their asses off to help you bring it to life. Everyone went through lots of ups and downs for it: shoots, reshoots, and then some more shoots. Being doubted, declined, threatened, insulted, but you and your team never got scared. It paid off with amazing results–results which compelled the World Health Organization to release an official letter helping your country take the fight to the bigots.

Now. Each day waking up in Cannes at 9 a.m., constantly refreshing lovethework-dot-com every two minutes to see if your campaign presentation board shows up in any of the shortlists. Day 1. Day 2. Day 3. One last chance on Day 4. Nope. No roar. Nothing at all. The silence is so loud you realise this is what disappointment sounds like, thick and heavy in the air. Regret? A little. Upset? Big. You try to hold your tears as you don’t want to be seen as a loser.

Had you won something, it would have given you more opportunities & budget for bigger ideas in the future. More faith. You are happy for the winners but sad for yourself at the same time, staying up all night wondering if you could have done it differently or whether you were even good enough to begin with.

“It is healthy to feel sad”, says your ECD, as you have every reason to feel down.

However, on hindsight, you realise: “Didn’t the work already roar the way it was meant to?”. The results are in sight: a tangible impact to society, its legacy evidenced on Wikipedia, in newspapers, in backpacks of activists. Winning an award would be amazing, but it was not your goal when you set out to truly make a difference in the world – and that was your starting point. Your goal isn’t just doing something good, but doing something for good, for the community you love. And the work managed to achieve it. You have every reason to be proud of it.

Being a creative requires so much courage – so you will not lose hope – no matter what happens and what doesn’t. Cannes Lions and other award shows are not meant to define ‘losers’ or ‘winners’, but to concentrate and celebrate creativity, inspire each other and remind everyone to go beyond average.

The feeling of not-winning-a-lion can be tough yet precious at the same time. Because there is nothing more spicy, daring and punchy than a creative getting over his or her disappointment and self-doubt. So, now what? You have to keep your head high, wipe your tears, grit your teeth and keep moving forward. This moment of loss, and the inspiration from Cannes Lions – DO something with it.

“Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame.

Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned.

But just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die.

You've gotta get up and try, try, try.”

You did not win a lion. That is okay.

Let’s try something bigger next year, then.

(The guest author is a copywriter working for MullenLowe Singapore.)