A French Hello - Global Brands, Local Lessons

I kicked off the first part of the trip with a delayed flight and didn’t land in Paris until late Friday afternoon. Tired and jet-lagged, I stumbled into what turned out to be an impromptu adventure- I saw a sign and realized the French Open was happening just across town. A quick (and slightly impulsive) ticket purchase later, I was watching the semifinals. It was an unforgettable way to arrive.

But come Monday morning, the real learning began.

The Paris leg of our journey turned out to be an immersive crash course in global marketing. From our classroom sessions to agency visits, each experience offered a different lens into how advertising works across cultures and markets.

Monday’s class started with analyzing past Cannes Lions winners. At first, it felt like a basic warm-up assignment - but it turned out to be one of the most useful exercises of the week. Those campaigns came up again and again at the festival, and being able to speak to them gave me a shared language to connect with professionals and peers. (More on that in my next post.)

First Day of Class Paris !

Our visit to HAVAS was another standout. The office looked and felt like a creative tech hub, but what stuck with me was watching our classmates present their take on a brief - and then hearing Roman from HAVAS walk us through how his team approached the same challenge. It was one of those moments where classroom learning met the real world.

Later in the week, our team-Napisa, Cami, Ava, and I - presented our KitKat campaign at The Follow Agency. We were packed into a small room with professionals who actually work on the brand. It was definitely nerve-racking, but hearing feedback from people who knew the brand inside and out was validating. It made all the work we put in feel worthwhile.

Our final stop in Paris was Luxurynsights, where we got a behind-the-scenes look at how high-end brands are using data and trend forecasting to stay relevant in an evolving global market.

Paris showed me that creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum - it’s shaped by culture, context, and collaboration. And that was just week one.