{"id":11693,"date":"2025-10-13T16:01:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T14:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferembach.com\/cestquilescreas\/?p=11693"},"modified":"2025-11-11T16:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T14:18:11","slug":"cedric-trefois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferembach.com\/cestquilescreas\/inter\/cedric-trefois\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u2019est qui les Inter #2\u00a0?\u2028 C\u00e9dric Trefois (Belgique)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

ENGLISH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s often said that the golden age of advertising is behind us, this may be true in some respects\u2014but not in others. France is increasingly recognized on the international stage, consistently ranking among the top five countries awarded at global advertising festivals.
As a result, French advertising is no longer only made by the French. More and more foreign talent are trying their luck in Paris. In agencies, they\u2019re sometimes referred to as \u201cinternationals.\u201d
But who are these \u201cinternationals\u201d? Meet C\u00e9dric. He comes from Belgium. And yes, he\u2019s an \u201cinternational.\u201d While we might sometimes think of Belgium and France as being practically the same, C\u00e9dric explains why they\u2019re not\u2014and why advertising in the so-called \u201cflat country\u201d is anything but flat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

FRAN\u00c7AIS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Si on dit souvent que l\u2019\u00e2ge d\u2019or de la pub est derri\u00e8re nous, ce qui est vrai sur certains points ne l\u2019est pas forc\u00e9ment sur d\u2019autres. La France est de plus en plus reconnue \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger. Le pays \u00e9tant r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement class\u00e9 dans le top 5 des pays les plus r\u00e9compens\u00e9s dans les festivals internationaux.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9sultat : la publicit\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise n\u2019est plus seulement faite pas des Fran\u00e7ais. De plus en plus de talents \u00e9trangers tentent leur chance \u00e0 Paris. Ceux qu\u2019on appelle parfois en agence les \u00ab internationaux \u00bb.\u2028 \u2028Mais c\u2019est qui les internationaux ? Ici, c\u2019est C\u00e9dric. Il nous vient de Belgique et oui, c\u2019est un \u00ab international \u00bb. Car si on peut parfois penser que la Belgique et la France, c\u2019est la m\u00eame chose, C\u00e9dric nous explique pourquoi non. Et pourquoi la pub du plat pays est tout sauf plate\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This series of interviews is orchestrated by <\/strong>Joseph Rozier<\/strong>.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n


<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Hi Cedric\u00a0! Can you tell us more about you?\u2028<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived in Belgium after fleeing Burundi during the civil war. There, I developed a strong interest for visual arts, mainly due to Belgium\u2019s history with comic strips. So I started my post-high school education at Saint-Luc, in Brussels. I had no real sense of what the real advertising world was, unaware of what even a Cannes Lion is. I just loved the idea that we could be able to influence behavior with creativity. This thought was first introduced to me by my French teacher in high school, who out of nowhere decided to teach advertising for a day. I loved it, even if it was very rudimentary. After that I started collecting and hanging random funny or cool looking ads on my wardrobe doors.

Back to Saint-Luc. Teachers there were mainly focusing on craft, which is fine. But it\u2019s only one part of what advertising is, at least what I find interesting in our job. On top of that, there was no option (back then at least) for putting us on the market with what you guys in France have, like the \u00ab alternance \u00bb system or even pushing for internships. Since then, I\u2019ve heard that the school got way more serious on that department and is doing much better on educating the next generation.

Unfortunately, that wasn\u2019t the case back then. If you wanted immediate contacts and an open door to the industry, you had to go to a more private school which made you pay ten times what I was paying at Saint-Luc. Not an option for me. As soon as I got my diploma, I was out, with no contacts, no team partner and no real sense of what the hell this job is. So I just started kicking doors the way I could, barely finding an internship at JWT (RIP) thanks to now retired Jean-Luc Walraff who was the ECD back then and felt like giving me a chance (I still don\u2019t know why, when I glance at my student book). He was known for that William Lawsons ad with Sharon Stone:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Salut C\u00e9dric, peux-tu nous raconter un peu d\u2019o\u00f9 tu viens ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Je suis arriv\u00e9 en Belgique apr\u00e8s avoir fui le Burundi pendant la guerre civile. L\u00e0-bas, je me suis d\u00e9couvert une vraie passion pour les arts visuels, en grande partie gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la grande histoire de la bande dessin\u00e9e belge. J\u2019ai donc commenc\u00e9 mes \u00e9tudes post-bac \u00e0 Saint-Luc, \u00e0 Bruxelles. \u00c0 ce moment-l\u00e0, je n\u2019avais aucune id\u00e9e de ce qu\u2019\u00e9tait vraiment le monde de la publicit\u00e9. Je ne savais m\u00eame pas ce qu\u2019\u00e9tait un Lion \u00e0 Cannes. J\u2019aimais simplement l\u2019id\u00e9e de pouvoir influencer les comportements gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la cr\u00e9ativit\u00e9.\u2028Cette pens\u00e9e m\u2019a \u00e9t\u00e9 introduite pour la premi\u00e8re fois par mon prof de Fran\u00e7ais au lyc\u00e9e, qui, sans pr\u00e9venir, avait d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de faire un cours sur la pub.

J\u2019ai ador\u00e9, m\u00eame si c\u2019\u00e9tait tr\u00e8s basique. Apr\u00e8s \u00e7a, je me suis mis \u00e0 collectionner et accrocher des pubs dr\u00f4les ou cool sur les portes de mon armoire.\u2028\u2028Retour \u00e0 Saint-Luc.
L\u00e0-bas, les profs \u00e9taient surtout ax\u00e9s sur le craft. Ce qui est bien. Mais ce n\u2019est qu\u2019une partie de la pub.
En tout cas, de ce que je trouve int\u00e9ressant dans notre m\u00e9tier.

En plus, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9poque du moins, il n\u2019y avait pas vraiment de dispositif pour nous connecter au march\u00e9, contrairement \u00e0 la France avec le syst\u00e8me de l\u2019alternance. Depuis, J\u2019ai entendu dire que l\u2019\u00e9cole a beaucoup \u00e9volu\u00e9 sur ce point. Tant mieux pour la nouvelle g\u00e9n\u00e9ration. Mais \u00e0 mon \u00e9poque, si tu voulais des contacts directs avec l\u2019industrie, il fallait aller dans une \u00e9cole priv\u00e9e\u2026 dix fois plus ch\u00e8re que ce que je payais \u00e0 Saint-Luc. Donc pas une option pour moi.\u2028\u2028D\u00e8s que j\u2019ai eu mon dipl\u00f4me, je suis sorti sans contact, sans bin\u00f4me, sans r\u00e9el aper\u00e7u de ce que ce m\u00e9tier implique. Alors j\u2019ai commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 frapper aux portes comme je pouvais. J\u2019ai fini par d\u00e9crocher un stage chez JWT (paix \u00e0 son \u00e2me), gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 Jean-Luc Walraff, l\u2019ECD de l\u2019\u00e9poque. C\u2019est lui qui m\u2019a donn\u00e9 ma chance (je ne sais toujours pas pourquoi quand je revois mon book d\u2019\u00e9tudiant). Il \u00e9tait connu pour cette pub William Lawson avec Sharon Stone\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>