On day one of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Tati Lindenberg, vice president – marketing, Unilever – Dirt is Good; Roberto Carlos, former Brazilian footballer; and Patrick Mouratoglou, tennis coach, sports commentator and businessman, took to the stage on the Sports Beach to discuss why resilience is a key driver of success.

The panel was moderated by Jameson Fleming, executive editor, Adweek.

Referring to the history of the ‘Dirt is Good’ or 'Daag Ache Hain' campaign, Lindenberg spoke about how a detergent brand looked to change advertising in the category.

“The idea was created about 20 years ago. All the competitors spoke about dirt being an enemy. We wanted to make it an ally. We said that through the process of getting dirty, we can do good and be more resilient,” she explained.

When asked about her favourite campaign under the ‘Dirt is Good’ umbrella, she spoke about the last edition for Persil in the UK.

Taking the thought of resilience forward, Mouratoglou, who has coached the likes of Serena Williams, linked tennis to marketing.

“The great thing with tennis is that it is about resilience. The good players play well less than 10% of the time which means they play badly more than 90% of the time. People who aren’t professionals are always frustrated because they expect to play well all the time. It’s about finding a way (to win) with what you have. So that’s what resilience is. You may not achieve what you want in life. Young players and professionals need to understand that. Short-staffed marketers could do that too,” he added.

Carlos, who was being represented by an interpreter, stated that persistence, luck and resilience helped him through his football career.

“I always wanted to be a footballer. I started playing when I was 13 and wanted to represent Brazil. I won the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup. Both weren’t easy, but then the life of an athlete isn’t. You need to be persistent.”

Referring to that goal (above), he added, “This goal changed my life. It was a little bit of luck. But I tried this a lot in training. I was persistent.”

He added about the importance of managers in the role of players and employees. “During difficult situations, I always spoke to the team managers and they helped. They helped me become the player I have become. To achieve success in life you need good managers.”

Lindenberg ended the session by talking about the importance of bouncing back.

Responding to a question about how she bounced back from a failed campaign, she said, “I won’t refer to a campaign. But I’ll talk about motherhood. That made me more resilient. My child is now 12 years old and making him a resilient adult is important. That’s one of the reasons I embrace ‘Dirt is Good’ wholeheartedly. We position ourselves in a way that we don’t give up.”

“For campaigns in particular, there might be some that don’t win this year. But you need to go work better and bounce back. Like Roberto said, if you get something 100 times wrong and once correct, it’s okay. Just do slightly better than before,” she said.