I had the honor of hearing this brilliant orator, a great actor and a forever marketer, Will Smith today morning at Cannes Lions festival. What encourages me to write this, is that even now when the session has ended, I can’t get the talk out of my head. He was inspiring and relevant in everything he said.  Back at my room now, relieving the moments of this session, I pen down what echoes in my mind.

He considers himself a true marketer and throwing his words in a roomful of advertising & marketing execs he exclaims, “The power has gone away from the marketers." He oscillates that his career has been strictly being able to sell his products globally and leaving it in the hands of his fans. He has to be in tune with their needs.  He’s got to give them what they need.

“I had so much success that I started to taste global blood and my focus shifted from my artistry to winning. I wanted to win and be the biggest movie star, and what happened was there was a lag – around Wild Wild West time – I found myself promoting something because I wanted to win versus promoting something because I believed in it.”

I froze there listening to him about how the most important thing in life is to connect to another human being. How any relationship becomes better when you touch someone emotionally. How a strong value system will support your purpose. He kept pulling various examples and they were all so relatable. And then he throws the big one saying, “Relevance is the key”. The more universally relevant you are, the less chances you have of failure. He took his younger sons example, Jaden, of how he shared his concern about the environment and the plastic pollution of the oceans. This is what led Smith to becoming involved in Just Water, the company that produces a paper and sugar cane-based bottle created with scientists from MIT.

 He led his talk with fun and humor. He held his audience tightly. He comprehended on how he learnt a new perspective about cheating from a conversation he had with his oldest son Trey, 23. Trey, and his girlfriend, while very much in love still decided to take a break after being in a long relationship. Smith was asked for his advice and he responded: “Just cheat!”

But the son replied, “Dude, cheating is over,” explaining that technology has made it impossible to go anywhere without being seen.

Smith revealed how that insight got translated to his work and how he thinks that Hollywood cannot cheat people any longer. He narrated, “That Back in the 80s and 90s you had a piece of crap movie you put a trailer with a lot of explosions and it was Wednesday before people knew your movie was shit. But now what happens is 10 minutes into the movie, people are tweeting ‘This is shit, go see Vin Diesel'.”

Adding to this he emphasized that technology pushes you to be authentic. And authenticity leads you to a deeper comprehension of people. You can’t be successful with your audience, your customer or your relationship if you are not authentic. This trait encourages you to live a kind of life that you would like to be remembered for.

 And then he validates it by talking about Mohammad Ali, whom I have followed, worshipped and resonated with, all my life. He has inspired me and many more like me, beyond perception. Smith talks strongly about the rooted value system of Ali and how he was unwilling to compromise for money or accolades. He was living his values, rich or poor.

 Totally mesmerized and inspired, while I moved out the hall, one thought that allied with me was that there could have been no one else on the globe that could have played Ali on screen. Will smith lived Ali, always.

 As the session wound up, he remarked, “If someone stands at your funeral and says, ‘His ROI was ridiculous,’ you’ve failed.”