CANNES — Adrianne C. Smith chose carefully the hat she wore on Monday to open the fifth annual Inkwell Beach installation on the sand at the Cannes Lions festival.
Smith is the chief inclusion and impact officer at Fleishman Hillard, and she is the founder of the Cannes Can: Diversity Coalition (CC:DC). That organization has worked since 2018 to make Cannes Lions more inclusive by creating significant opportunities for rising stars from underrepresented backgrounds to take part in the event, which draws more than 12,000 attendees from around the world.
The Inkwell Beach installation makes a statement with its placement along the row of media, tech and entertainment heavy-hitters (Spotify, Disney, Meta, Amazon, YouTube, Medialink, Omnicom and many more) who erect elaborate structures on the beach just below Cannes’ famed main drag, the Croisette.
This year, Smith was not shy about sharing with attendees, keeping Inkwell Beach going for a fifth consecutive festival was a feat of determination and tenacity. CC:DC and Inkwell Beach are expressly designed to further the principles of diversity, equity and inclusive that have come under relentless attack since President Donald Trump returned to power January.
As such, Smith’s custom-designed Inkwell Beach baseball cap this year features a black crown with “Inkwell Beach” in white stitched letters. The bill, however, is made of camouflage with tattered edges. That also makes a statement that doesn’t need much explanation.
On Monday, Inkwell kicked off four days of panel sessions, Q&As, networking and wellness opportunities, including morning meditations on the beach. CC:DC helped arrange partnership and sponsor support for a group of 30 attendees from underrepresented backgrounds to attend the festival that runs June 16-20. The participants include students from HBCUs and mid-career professionals. The CC:DC also encourages more creatives to participate in the awards competition that Cannes Lions hosts for a range of design, innovation and creative categories.
The Trump administration’s zealous dismantling of DEI programs that have taken root in corporate and civic sectors in recent decades was addressed head-on by Inkwell Beach speakers.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t going anywhere,” said Frank Starling, VP and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Lions (which organizes the festival), told the crowd on Monday morning.
Smith, who joined Fleishman Hillard in 2021 after serving as global director of inclusion and diversity for WPP, credited CC:DC’s corporate partners with stepping up to fund the coalition’s work and to sponsor the 2025 cohort. There were some who wavered and some who pulled back on promised resources and participation. But the work hasn’t stopped even in the face of Trump’s extraordinary campaign. CC:DC’s supporters include such blue-chip brands as Accenture, Eli Lilly and Co., Getty Images, Havas, Interpublic Group, Kraft Heinz, Nielsen, Procter & Gamble, TelevisaUnivision, TikTok, UTA, Wieden and Kennedy and Yahoo.
Smith took a moment to speak with Variety on Day 1 of Cannes Lions as Inkwell Beach’s early arrivers settled in for schmoozing, sea-gazing and no small amount of perspiring amid a muggy heat wave on the French Riviera. The Inkwell Beach moniker is a tribute to the resort of the same name on Martha’s Vineyard that has been a vacation destination for Black families since the late 19th century.
You opened this year’s installation by citing the strong gains in representation at Cannes Lions that have been achieved through the work of CC:DC. How have you navigated the nine months since Trump’s re-election? Have you felt a diminishment of interest, or participation from brands?
In full transparency, it’s been a big shift. It’s been difficult. We’ve had brands that had committed, and a week before they have said “We can’t give everything that we initially committed to.” So that’s affected even how we get people to participate. You know, normally those are cabanas [Smith gestures to open space on the edge of the installation]. It’s still beautiful and great that it’s open, but they were full office spaces there [in 2024]. So we’ve seen a lot of people who may be hesitant to invest in the space or anything that’s about DEI. And the reality is, yes, DEI is under attack. But [CC:DC’s work focuses on] the foundation of the human connection business, which is what I talk about. How do we build relationships? How do we sustain our organization’s profitability? Because stats have shown, the more inclusive your work environment is, the better your business is going to be.
So we’re proud to be here. The fact that we are still here in this time — to be able to show up — is a win in itself. There are still people who believe and who can commit to the work. They may not always shout it out loud, but just the support here will show you. People tell us “We don’t want Inkwell to disappear, and we’re committed to it.”
When someone calls you to say, ‘I can’t deliver something I promised you,’ how does that conversation go?
It’s everything from “It’s been a budget cut,” to “We’ve had to shift our direction.” And I’ve also heard, “You know, Adrianne. You know.” People have been trying to be as transparent as they can, and we try to keep it as real as possible. Some organizations have government contracts that they don’t want to lose, and if it shows up that they supported something that may even be perceived as something that’s going to be different from the mandate or dictate that has been pushed down, that they just want to tread lightly for now. And they may say, “We’re not not committed. We just want to wait to see how this thing is going to pan out.”
Pulling out to a wider view beyond Cannes Lions, where do you think the marketing and advertising sectors stand now on inclusivity? Are there areas where you’ve seen more progress than others?
Here’s the reality of the work of diversity, equity and inclusion. It goes like any business cycle. There are ebbs and flows of it, and there’s certain crisis moments that will push you forward. So it expands and it pushes back. The key is to be as consistent with the work as possible. The key is to make sure that during an uncertain time you look at how can you pivot and still do the work. How can you make certain adjustments and then still do the work. How can you continue to invest as much as you can and still do the work. You just have to be agile. If you need to shift a word, shift the word. If you need to shift the narrative or something, do it, but just make sure that we’re still consistent in terms of the work that we’re doing. During this time, you have to learn more about who you are and how you can remain steadfast in that commitment to who you are.
We’ve seen in recent years a groundswell of Black-owned media outlets, as digital distribution has helped level the playing field for creators. Are you seeing an impact on Madison Avenue from the work done by Tyler Perry, by Charles D. King’s Macro, by Charlamagne Tha God and others?
I’d say the more we collaborate, the more we keep a consistent story going — that’s the impact. There’s a saying that an organized lie is stronger than the disorganized truth. The key is to collaborate on the storytelling, because that’s what’s happening on the other side. The key is, how consistent can we be with our media and the storytelling in that media? How can the thought leadership that we put out be consistent to make sure that we’re telling the story. We’re strengthening each other and we’re providing platforms for people to speak. The cooperative economics thing — it’s a very real moment. If we talk about financial spending on Black Media and Black communities, one thing that we know we have to improve upon is how [Black consumers] invest and spend our money and making sure that the dollar circulates within our own community more than once or twice.
Veteran journalist Roland Martin, who is building a sizable TV news operation distributed via YouTube and other platforms, accuses the major ad giants of engaging in “economic apartheid” by ignoring outlets such as his Black Star Network. What are the biggest hurdles to getting more ad dollars flowing to Black creators and media?
When I started my career, I was a media buyer and planner. And here’s the thing – if we’re not on that side of the table, that’s where the importance of inclusion has to be. You have to be on that side of the table to be able to educate other media buyers and planners about the benefit of this media. Because what’s going to happen is they’re going to do what’s traditional, what’s already in the pipeline to buy, no matter what story you tell. So the key is, we have to be there. We have to be in the seats so we can have media buyers and planners understand the dynamics and influence and impact of Black media.
In the late 1990s, I recall being able to buy Heart & Soul magazine. I watched other media buyers and media supervisors create a story about the impact that another magazine brand would have for a client. I thought I could apply that same formula to Heart & Soul. I did it, and we got the first Kellogg’s low-fat granola ad in this Black health magazine. But of course, as soon as I left that seat, they probably didn’t get another media buy. I had to be in the seat. We have to make sure that we’re strategically placed in places where we can be at the table and be committed to telling a fair and balanced story about what opportunities will help our brands.
What are you focusing on this week in terms of content and discussions at Inkwell Beach?
We’re grateful to be here in year five. This is the season of AYA, which is this year’s theme. AYA stands for “adinkrahene,” symbolizing leadership, resilience and endurance in West African culture. This is the perfect time for AYA. I didn’t realize when I created that logo that this would be a reminder for us to remain steadfast in this movement, because it’s important. Inclusion is important, and we just have to make sure that it continues. We still need the support.
Our logo is a fern. And a fern can grow anywhere, in any condition — it’s just so resilient. And that’s what we’re about, the resilience. This movement is about resilience. We always say when people come in — ‘Welcome home,’ because it is the inclusive space. We’ve changed what the Cannes Lions festival looks like. That’s what we’re about — creating space for our community. And just because I’m from one community doesn’t mean I’m not supportive of others. So we just have to remind everyone that Inkwell provides that opportunity for us to learn and exchange great ideas and just become more powerful than we’ve ever been.