"Social Media Is Changing How We Connect IRL" Nikki Stone & Kristina Virag - Cannes Lions 2026

0:00 NABS Canada: Building Connections and Offering Support Here to fucking help you, man. It's and like super confidential and like in the most beautiful ways that I've like, people tell me their NAB story and it's like, whoa, yeah. The first time they helped somebody on my team was the the the person on my team's son has cerebral palsy. 0:21 And Nabs worked tirelessly to find an organization that was able to get his son in a free wheelchair because he needed the next level wheelchair. And obviously his wife didn't work because they she was home taking care of their children who needed full time help. 0:38 And it just from that moment on, I was like, everything we can Nabs all the time because you just, you can't create that kind of whoa, this is just an organization that's just here to help us. 0:53 Yeah. 0:54 Speaker 2 They live and breathe that and I think that there's so much stigma, stigma attached to asking for that help. So even people finding the space and the courage to ask for it is huge. 1:03 Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean grocery from grocery, gift cards to you name it. They are just there to to help when you when you need it most, but they're also there to help. We heard it earlier today actually. Somebody was talking about when they moved to Canada, how they were at it was probably an AD club event that was like around back because it was the the Quebec division that we were talking about that so fascinating because when they moved here then they were able to meet so many people in the community and that worked in the industry and were like minded and make all of these relationships that became critical to them over the years. 1:41 And I thought, how beautiful is that, that these events that people host for nabs like this, like all the things that people do in support of in our industry, also bring so many people together like beautiful. 1:54 Speaker 2 Well, you always, I think any room you walk into that's full of new people you never met before, the goal should always be find one person that you take away that is somehow going to be part of your life after. Because then you're just, you're building that community. And there's always going to be like, you know, that person that I met at XYZ. 2:11 Yeah. And either you can help them with something or they can help you with, but it's like the spider web, the spider. 2:18 Speaker 1 Like our mutual connections that got us here today and I'm very excited about that. 2:24 From Immigrant to MD: A Journey of Purpose So I will properly introduce you, but and then I would like you, I'd love it if you could also just tell us a little bit about yourself. So for our Sixers today, this is Christina. 2:39 She is the managing director. Sorry, I'm going to choke. 2:42 Speaker 2 You, you're emotional. 2:43 Speaker 1 The she is the managing director over We are social, but please tell us a little bit about yourself and about the company. 2:50 Speaker 2 Yeah, well, I'm going to roll it back a little bit because I think it's really important that we talk about who we are as humans before we also talk about where we are, because it really helps kind of set the stage of why you got to where you got. So I'm an immigrant, even though you can't usually tell because I have been in Canada since I was 16. 3:08 And when my family and I moved here, my parents didn't really speak English very well. So I was a 16 year old with a lot of burdens because anything in the house was under my name. I was the only one who was speaking English really well at that point. And my passion was asking too many questions. 3:25 So I got into journalism. I don't know how to mind my own business. And then I did graduate with a journalist degree, and I worked as a reporter at Rogers TV. And I kind of realized that while I love the storytelling, I'm not as passionate about that as I could be about other things because I love to also see impact with the work that I do. 3:43 So I went back to school, I got a marketing degree, and I ended up at an agency side where I spent most of my career. I've done everything from smaller independent shops to networks, and then I did a short stint on client side where I really learned to understand the things we. 4:00 Speaker 1 All have to do a good client side stint. You got to do like try sales and clients, you got to have sort of that. 4:04 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely. And it's a good lesson in understanding the language and those things that are keeping clients up. And then I realized that I missed working in different categories. So in 2022 I made my way back into agency side and joined VR Social. 4:21 At that point, they were in year about 2 1/2 within the Toronto market with 20 people. And today, 3 1/2 years later, there's 96 of us in the Toronto office. And Congrats, girl, thank you. It's been a journey. 4:34 Speaker 1 Girl, you did a good job. It was. 4:36 Speaker 2 Amazing. And it's not just me, let's be clear, I'm part of the story, but it's been really incredible to see things grow. 4:43 Speaker 1 It's I super, super love that. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. And like your background is so fascinating to me, but I love that you also like as the Finder, as the Finder, as the Finder, as the founder of YQ, which is built on purpose. 5:01 Like we, that's our tagline as we grow on purpose. And it's because we believe that when you're so rooted to your purpose that you just cut off all of the access noise and clutter and you just sort of live those values that are the things that tend to go out in your organization. 5:22 And, and when you get those with all of the potions, right, you really have the secret sauce to go it's. And I think you just proved that yet again that that stands true. 5:34 Why Leaders Must Talk About Mental Health And we talked a lot about nabs already and all of the wonderful things with nabs. But as to why? I love Nabs. But what made you agree to do this today with us? 5:44 Speaker 2 It's such a good question. So I, I talk a bit about this with people, but maybe not as much as I could and as I as much as I should. So I do have some mental health challenges that I have been dealing with. And I think, and I think it's really important that we talk more about it, how it's affecting our day-to-day. 6:05 And it's important as senior leads for us to open that conversation because if we don't, people don't feel the safety to be able to talk about it. It's really important when you have a bad day, doesn't matter how senior you are, to say today, I'm dealing with whatever it is that you're dealing with and saying to people, this is what I need from you in order for me to be able to close today in a successful way. 6:27 And that really kind of paints the picture for them for how they may be able to behave and how would they need to ask for in order to complete their day as well. So I think we need to model that behavior because that that behavior was not modelled for me when I was coming up in the industry. 6:44 Speaker 1 Claire hears me talk about it all the time, but like, I call it duvet day and sometimes you're like, I just need to duvet day. I need to take care of me. It's not even like, oh, you know, I just, I need to pre before I, I know I'm going to start down this road. 7:00 I'm just going to take a beat right here right now. And what have you. I actually said to you earlier today that about I was having anxiety earlier this week. We've had some Internet upload issues and so I too, also have mental health issues. I've talked about them in the past. 7:16 And thank you very much for opening up about it because it does matter when we share that, you know what, everyone struggles. It's OK that we were human. It doesn't make us any less of a rock star in what we're doing and who we are or in the type of person that we want to show up being. It just is a part of the conversation. 7:34 I call her Pickles. 7:37 Speaker 2 And I know that. 7:39 Speaker 1 Highly recommend, highly recommend that you name your something ridiculous because it can have a seat but not like yeah in the conversation and I. 7:46 Speaker 2 Love that I'm going to do that. That's such good advice. Thank you. 7:53 Shifting Focus: Cannes Lions and Real Impact I want to talk a little bit more because we are here in Cannes and what a great privilege that is. And but you are a long standing Cannes attendee. And but this year there's been a lot of changes, yes, a lot of changes to the festival. 8:09 Yeah. And I'd love to just pick your brain because you have an incredible brain to pick on this topic. 8:15 Speaker 2 Thank you. Well, what I will say is I, so I came to Cannes exactly 10 years ago for the first time and I've been here I think 6 or 7 times since. Yes, there's a ton of changes for this year. But I think even if we look back of how the trajectory of changes have been happening in 10 years, it's really interesting to see how we're changing what the focus is, what the time is being spent on and really what is driving. 8:41 A lot of the conversations. We've seen this, we've seen platforms driving the conversations the last two years were all about AI and the AI chats. This year, it feels like AI is taking a bit more of a step back and we're really talking about impact a bit more, which is really great. 8:57 I'm so excited to see cause work that is not just about getting visibility onto causes, but solutions for those causes as well. So I'm really excited to see work that has more impact beyond just here's another ad campaign. 9:15 Speaker 1 I I love the idea of talking more about impact. Are we talking more about that from a measurement standpoint? Are we talking more about that from an ROI standpoint? 9:30 Are we talking like what's the like, is that an in real life standpoint? Because all of those things can really stand true for me. 9:37 Speaker 2 I think human impact, I'll tell you. So let me tell you a story. We have a piece of work that our team in North America has submitted to the Innovation Lions and before I came. 9:47 Speaker 1 Here. 9:47 Speaker 2 I went to screening for the work. It's a partnership that we have with Deloitte. I don't know. Are you familiar with Hunter Thompson? He's a Paralympian, yes. So last year Hunter Thompson decided that he wants to be the fastest human ever. 10:04 So his time, I think is 42 seconds and change, and he wants to bring that down to 42 seconds, not just amongst Paralympians, but all humans as well. So we've partnered him with Deloitte and what they're doing is they're looking at technology and how they're able to model his body and his different styles of training in order to figure out what works best for his body in order for him to make the 42 seconds. 10:34 So we're using technology in a way that it is measurable. It is going to help him accomplish his goals. But ultimately you can eventually, once that technology is developed, you can take a look at how that can make change in people's lives afterwards from there too. 10:51 So to me, this is not about beating our chest and saying we've done degrade this ketchup ad, like how did and like, no offense, ketchup ads are great. Like the guys at Heinz are doing great things, but this is impact. 11:01 Speaker 1 It's this is impact, it's in real life moments of impact and the type of stuff that then you get to work on and submit here. I can like that is truly incredible. And I love, again, like you said, that you're just really leaning into that purpose of the organization that you know what, that is an amazing lead up because I actually wanted to ask you about when you think about the most effective work being produced today, what do you think gets it right? 11:30 Speaker 2 Such a good question. I think, I think the brief has to start with how is this going to impact the consumer, not what is this going to do for the brand? Because if it's impacting how consumers feel, they will vote with their dollars, they will pick your brand. 11:48 So this is advice that we give all of our clients all the time of start with the consumer, figure out what works and what doesn't work for them. Is there a gap in their life that we're filling? It could be small, it could be big, whatever it is. And then work the brief back from there. 12:05 The Comments Section: Bridging Digital and Real Life As someone who spends everyday immersed in social culture and creativity, what do you think happens then when digital culture moves into the physical world? 12:15 Speaker 2 I think it's amazing because we went through these hills and valleys in the last few years when it came to how much time people are spending online. During the pandemic, all of us were online. I think the youth right now is spending far too much time in front of screens, whether that is scrolling or they're in gaming or whatever else it might be. 12:38 I think our job, all of us that work in social is to try to get people to reconnect with it with real life and thinking of programs that are integrating the feeds with what is happening in reality. And you got to play those two things into each other because that's a really wholesome opportunity. 12:54 So when we're thinking of social campaigns and social work, a lot of it is actually going to manifest itself in real life. But we're creating content that's going to help amplify it for people that might not be able to be there or people that want to relive it or people that love it and want to re share it. 13:09 So a lot of times when we think of social as about what is going to happen in our feed or in our grid, like no, what is in our life. 13:16 Speaker 1 Do you think that's because the relationship between culture, media and creativity has changed over the last few years? 13:23 Speaker 2 I think it has. I would like to think it's because enough of us are paying attention to what is happening online and what is happening in trends and consumer trends. And I will talk to you a bit about the comments section because the comments section is the main character people are. 13:44 Speaker 1 Like following comment below for more Yeah 100. 13:46 Speaker 2 Percent please Debates in the comments section. I watch a piece of content and then you go into these like massive holes where you go through this comment, then you end up in other comments and another piece of content and people love to debate there. There's so much rich data in there. 14:04 Every brand right now, we say to them, your next campaign is in your comments. Spend time in there, not just replying to things. Find the next thing that people are talking about and try to act on it really quickly. 14:14 Speaker 1 It's is I I don't think I could have said it any better myself. Deb got me on to what is the name of the DJ? Owen cuts, Owen cuts and the call. OK so DJ Deb 1st and obviously one of our bonds is over all things love of music and the So she gets me on to the social guy. 14:39 Owen Cuts is the handle and the comments section is my favorite Friday morning. I actually like I have two rituals on Friday morning. It is that now and then, like I listen to my favorite DJ spin. 14:55 Yeah, and I like read the comments at the same time. It's the most ridiculous thing and like, yeah, people. 15:03 Speaker 2 Are unhinged in the best of way. Some of the things that I have read and like sometimes I start watching a piece of content and I don't even finish it. Like I go into the comments even before I finish it because I'm like, this is going to be gold or you know what else is a consume or as a consumer of the content, you go in there and you're looking for validation or other people feeling like me. 15:23 I have never felt more seen in my life before then when there's like random things. This is like so weird. But has it ever happened to you that you lay down on your pillow and you can like, hear the thump, the thump in your ear? 15:35 Speaker 1 I will a hearing aid with severe tinnitus. I live. 15:39 Speaker 2 With I thought it was just me and then I find these like comments with like 20,000 likes on it and I'm like not weird this is great everyone is weird. So the amount of examples I have of like feeling like oh shit like that happens to other people and it makes me feel better. 15:54 Speaker 1 It's I, I love all of that. I love how it resonates in real life because and I think that really wraps up just sort of what we were, what we started our conversation with was like here in Cannes. 16:05 Cultivating Connections and Embracing Curiosity in Life And those moments that like bring you to together with the human interaction that really happens here. And like the the incredible executions that happened that just bring out so much of like brands and and you see so much more of the behind the scenes stuff that's going on and going into the work because of the festival. 16:30 And that sort of gives me one last question for you, if you will. For all of our Sixers, we ask one question from the people who actually did the thing, and that is what is one piece of life advice? So not for work, not for health, and not for business or, sorry, not not for wealth, not for health and not for business. 16:53 But what is one piece of life advice that you would leave behind? 16:57 Speaker 2 I will say that this probably resonates across all three of those is make sure that you really foster your relationships with people. It is going to be something that will carry you through your entire life. A bridge burned does not lead the way. So make sure that you are respectful to people even if you disagree with them. 17:18 It's okay to have debates, but it has to be respectful and really push yourself to make lots of connections because you never know when someone will call on you or you will need to call on someone. And I would not be here today if I didn't mind my relationships. 17:36 And also, don't be afraid. 17:37 Speaker 1 Same actually I would not be here today without those amazing relationships that like fuel you to do the things behind you. 17:45 Speaker 2 Yeah, and don't be afraid to stick your business where it doesn't belong while you're making connections, because you never know what you're going to uncover. 17:52 Speaker 1 My. 17:53 Speaker 2 Be nosy. 17:54 Speaker 1 My grandma Finn used to say there's nothing that can't be solved with a conversation and a good top of tea or. 18:01 Speaker 2 Rose. 18:02 Speaker 1 In our case, Rose, in our case, and on that, thank you so much for being here with us today. 18:07 Speaker 2 Thank you for having me.