Advertising and media elite return to Cannes Lions, as mega-yachts pull up to French Riviera

Celebrity News

cannes lions

By Alexandra Steigrad

Mega-yachts are dropping anchor in the deep-blue waters of the Mediterranean as media, advertising and tech industry elite prepare to talk shop, broker deals and schmooze over copious amounts of rosé at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival. 

The boozy week-long event, known as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is roaring back this week for its 71st year — and despite an uncertain economic landscape — it’s sure to be a spirited time.

“We are feeling that there’s an intensified amount of interest in this year’s festival overall,” said Christopher Vollmer, managing director of MediaLink and partner at UTA. “But I think there’s a lot of uncertainty about the economy in some sectors. Overall, it’s relatively good in a lot of sectors and there’s questions about how sustainable it is.”

Headlining speakers for the five-day fest, which starts Monday, include Mattel chairman and chief executive officer Ynon Kreiz, who will grab the Entertainment Person of the Year Award.

Havas chief creative officer and former co-vice chairman Jacques Séguéla — a French advertising legend — at 90 years old will be honored with a lifetime achievement award.

Other buzzy speakers include Deepak Chopra, Queen Latifah and Jay Shetty.

But most of the action will take place outside of the Palais, the festival’s main hub, and spill over to La Croissette, the beachside main drag where companies will hold talks on the hottest topics plaguing marketers. 

Medialink’s Vollmer — whose media and advertising advisory firm is hosting a series of panels on creativity, commerce and culture, as well as co-hosting one of the buzziest, exclusive bash’s at the famed Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc — cited a fragmented landscape.

With budgets tightening in the tech, media and advertising industries, not to mention geopolitical concerns, and the presidential elections coming in the fall, Vollmer said brands are evaluating how they can get the biggest bang for their buck. 

“There’s a continued push for brands to find ways that connect and pop with consumers,” he said, explaining that chief marketing officers are increasingly being asked to do more with less due in part, to the “lower growth” economic environment.

“It’s becoming harder to break through the noise so developing, harnessing and speaking directly to your community while attentively listening is more important than ever,” echoed Josh Rosenberg, CEO of creative communications firm, Day One Agency.

Both men pointed to artificial intelligence and how the technology’s use is evolving and being incorporated into workflow as opposed to last year, when much of the talk of AI took a more fearful tone about how it could replace jobs.

“Over the past year, it has become more clear on where AI will be able to help the industry become more efficient while also helping with inspiration,” Rosenberg said, noting the tech is limited.

“It has also made us realize that while AI can offer support, AI cannot determine taste. Even in this age of AI, we’re still investing in creativity — because we believe creativity and connection to the consumer will always win over any machine,” he added. 

Another topic on marketers’ minds is how to reach younger generations. 

With the fate of TikTok hanging in the balance — after President Biden signed a bill into law in April mandating the platform’s parent Byte Dance sell TikTok in six months or have it banned in the US — brands and creatives are wondering how that could impact their reach with millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers.

TikTok has waged a legal war over the law, which was driven by widespread worries among US lawmakers that China could access Americans’ data or surveil them with the app. 

But TikTok also is a robust money-maker for over 7 million businesses, not to mention the 170 million American users on the platform, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew recently said. 

Rosenberg said he’s “watching the news closely,” adding, “It is an important channel for our clients and for us as an agency. What I do know is that we will always go where the consumer goes. If there is no TikTok, we will look closely where the consumers are. Our philosophy has always been to work with clients to build brand strategies and campaigns in the place and spaces where their consumers live.”

Aside from TikTok — which will once again take over the courtyard at the Carlton Hotel where it will host panels on how to maximize content on the platform — athletes will be in the spotlight in a big way. 

Sports stars will take center stage at events held by Axios, Medialink and Stagwell, addressing a variety of topics from the creator economy and technology and the rise of women’s sports and mental health. 

Stagwell is back with its popular Sport Beach this year, which includes a basketball court, bleachers, sand pit and climbing wall. It’ll have the biggest sports-centric programming at Cannes, hosting over 30 athletes, including Travis and Jason Kelce, Carmelo Anthony, Megan Rapinoe and Blake Griffin.

According to Stagwell chief brand and communications officer Beth Sidhu, the concept came from the COVID era, when people were unable to attend live events like sports games. Post-pandemic, consumers came roaring back to concerts and sporting events. The Stagwell team noticed that although there was great demand for sports, there wasn’t much representation of athletes at Cannes Lions. 

“There are lots of audience passion points and sports is absolutely a passion point for a lot of people,” Sidhu said. 

The exec added that it isn’t just fans and advertisers that want to get in on the sports craze, but also athletes themselves, many of whom have become serious content creators and mini-media moguls. 

The issue athletes and marketers face is connecting in a meaningful way, as well as having conversations about how they can work together, she said. 

“We are passionate about putting world class athletes with world class marketers,” she told us.

More broadly, Cannes Lions’ top brass has also noticed the heightened interest in creators.

For the first time, the event will host the Cannes Lions Creators Festival from June 18-20, where creators can mingle and share ideas with marketers and creatives.

“Creators are getting followed on social media. They intersect with sports and music and are some of the first people taking advantage of new technologies like AI,” Medialink’s Vollmer said. “There will be more and more of this as video production continues to democratize the landscape.”