• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 4, 2015

MRM/McCann's 4th Annual Cannes-test invited employees 28 or younger who have never been to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to post a series of selfies on Instagram illustrating how they would best represent their "MRM/McCann I Am" spirit. Entries were scored for passion, creativity, quality of idea, presentation and content. The winner receives an all-expenses paid trip to the annual Festival of Creativity.

This year's winner is Bergendi Hatch who works at the agency's Salt Lake City office. Finalists included Natalie Zempter and Wyn Barnett from the Salt Lake City office, Krista Wiegand from the Detroit office, Rebecca Starr from the New York office and Oliver Easthope from the London office.

Of her win, Hatch wrote, “I think I broke the rules for this contest. The ask was for 5-10 selfies; I stitched together 100+. The thing is, at MRM, that’s part of our job when it comes to 'rules': finding the right ones to break. That’s where we find our edge, our creativity, our momentum. And in this piece, I wanted to communicate how I personally use that notion to create. I make messes. Push forward, pull back, and repeat. The piece ends with leaving the frame—as a reminder for me about how important it is to turn the camera around, and experience something new.”

Hatch will enjoy a week in Cannes but she'll have to do a little bit of work. She'll live blog about the Festival and share her thoughts about her experience as well as interview industry luminaries. 

I will give Hatch one piece of advice. It is entirely possible to survive on three hours of sleep for 7 days. There is a lot to experience. You can sleep when you get home .