Best Jobs: 2008 Cannes Lions Edition

As I’ve been working my way through the crowds at the Cannes Ad Fest, I’ve met a lot of very interesting, if inebriated, folks. Once we make it through the minutia–Who are you? Who do you work for? Are you on the short list?–my fellow festival-goers had some very interesting stuff to tell me about their careers. First, most of those in attendance are director-level and above, and most earn the equivalent of more than $100k USD. Many are here to make connections and learn from peers, but just as many are here to scout out their next gig.

Since careers and jobs are a hot topic both here and everywhere else right now, I thought it fitting to highlight some of the interesting and lucrative advertising jobs I’ve come across here in Cannes.

EVP, Emerging Platforms - A technophile responsible for spotting trends and figuring out how to leverage those trends to create successful branding, advertising or marketing campaigns for clients

Chief Digital Officer (CDO) - A tech-savvy creative type responsible for figuring out how to integrate interactive or digital media (social networks, micro-blogs, wikis, etc.) into traditional advertising and marketing campaigns, and more broadly, for integrating ad agencies’ many offerings–SEM/SEO, mobile, Web marketing, traditional–into a seamless offering that delivers clients’ messages to their audiences wherever they are

Creative Director - A “big ideas” guy or gal responsible for dreaming up sexy, imaginative and memorable campaigns that wow advertisers and, hopefully, consumers (This is the job most of us think of when we think of advertising jobs).

Director, Mobile (Strategy) - This is the media-addicted freak whose job it is to find ways to take everything you enjoy at home–TV, movies, music, YouTube, Web search–and put it in your pocket. S/he is the one you’ll be thanking every time you download a webisode, a ringtone, a movie trailer or a coupon for a new restaurant.

VP, Music Licensing - The music industry refugee whose burrowed his/her way into a new, lucrative sweet spot–getting the green-light to put hot music into commercials and other product spots a la Feist’s “1-2-3-4″ song for the Nano (I still can’t stop singing that) or Natasha Bedingfields’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” for everything.