The first time we de-camped to Cannes we proudly came second and cut up the red carpet as a celebratory direct mailshot. We won first place the following year. But wanting to win, and working to win, has become a part of Ogilvy & Mather’s culture. It taught me that my biggest battle was against our size. Big we were, and dumb we would be unless we behaved as if we were small, as if every last prize mattered to us as an issue of life and death, because it reflected fundamentally on our worth as creators and as craftspeople. And we never pursued Cannes in isolation. It was always twinned with winning the Effies, which measure pure effectiveness.