For the sixth year in a row, Interpublic hosted a women’s breakfast during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This year’s program, titled Expectations Aside: A Conversation with Extraordinary Women, featured participants including Maureen Dowd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dr. Mae C. Jemison and Katty Kay as well as IPG’s Michael Roth, Gail Heimann and Kristen Cavallo, US Chief Growth Officer for MullenLowe.

This marked the sixth year that IPG has hosted a program at Cannes focused on women’s issues, following the company’s inaugural program in 2011, which marked the first time that the issue of women in creative roles had ever been addressed on the main stage at Cannes.

Michael Roth introduced the 2016 program which featured a presentation by Gail Heimann, “A Year of Remarkable Women.” Her presentation was followed by “A View from the Top,” a talk by Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Principal of 100 Year Starship, Astronaut, Entrepreneur, Physician and Engineer.

Meredith Kopit Levien and Maureen Dowd of The New York Times presented on gender politics and were followed by a panel that focused on “Finding a Brand’s Authentic Voice. The panel included:

  • Alison Lewis, Chief Marketing Officer, Johnson & Johnson
  • Aline Santos, SVP Global Marketing, Unilever
  • Monika Schulze, Chief Marketing Officer, Zurich Insurance
  • Deana Singleton, GM Global Advertising, Microsoft
  • Lisa Sugar, Founder and President, POPSUGAR
  • Moderator: Suzanne Powers, Global Chief Strategy Officer, McCann Worldgroup

The final portion of Expectations Aside featured Katty Kay, Author and Presenter, BBC World News, interviewing Academy-Award-winning Actress and Founder and CCO of goop, Gwyneth Paltrow.

“We are proud to have brought the issue of women in creative roles to Cannes for the first time back in 2011,” commented Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO of IPG. “These programs consistently bring important issues to the forefront and impressive women into the limelight. And this year is no exception. We are proud to host such a terrific group of accomplished women at Cannes and to continue to champion gender equality at our company, in our industry and beyond,” he continued.