Brands spend months — years, even — investing in brilliant creative ads that will go on to catch consumer attention and win awards at industry events like Cannes Lions.

That said, only some ads will win an award. Vital as it is to take this moment to celebrate the best and brightest ads in the industry, at the end of the day, it’s a single moment in the calendar year that feeds into a broader marketing plan. Brands can’t afford to ignore the other 99% of ads they create in favor of the heavy hitters.

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For some, the constant flow of booze and cocktails is all part of the schmoozing that comes with Cannes. Others, however, may be looking for a Cannes Lions experience sans alcohol-induced nausea, focused more on the spirit of the festival than the spirits that come in a glass.

“People are looking at it through a different lens and they want to be able to get the most out of Cannes,” said Michele Fournier, global director of events and partnerships at VML ad agency, adding that she’s been sober for the past two years. “It’s such a privilege to be able to go to Cannes Lions. I want to be able to take the most advantage of it in every which way.”

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Just around the corner from Union Square in New York is where 400 Monday.com employees show up to work at least a few times a week. 

It’s a sunlit office with real plants in most corners, a homey feel with recycled furniture and bookshelves, terraces with views of the Chrysler building, and four floors that seamlessly combine work and play. 

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While it’s still early days, TikTok is at the very least showing its intention toward publishers, by making them more of a priority and increasing monetization opportunities.

Amid TikTok’s uncertain future in the U.S., the company’s most recent restructure round reportedly saw changes that directly impact creators and publishers. For the latter, part of those changes include a new team called “publisher monetization operations”, which is supposedly headed up by Harish Sarma, according to The Information. Though his LinkedIn profile still states that he is the global head of sports and gaming at the platform, and TikTok did not comment directly on this story.

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In this edition of the Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine how meetings and dealmaking are top of mind for ad industry professionals as they head to Cannes, how LinkedIn’s Wire Program may yield new ad revenue for publishers, and how OpenAI continues to sign content licensing and tech development deals with publishers, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.

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The updates to Riot’s “League of Legends” ecosystem were announced by Riot esports head John Needham during a “Dev Update” posted to the official “League of Legends” YouTube channel on June 11. The biggest change was the consolidation of Riot’s “League of Legends” leagues in the Americas — the North American LCS, the Latin American LLA and the Brazilian CBLOL league — under a single umbrella.

The new league, so far left unnamed, will be split into North and South regional conferences. Each conference will consist of eight teams, with the LCS contributing six teams to the North conference and CBLOL contributing six teams to the South conference. For each conference, the remaining two team slots will be filled by one team from Latin America and one team from the second tier of “League of Legends” esports, determined via a promotion and relegation system.

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To kick off proceedings, the IAB Tech Lab CEO claimed, “Nothing will be the same again…” while fellow conference participants shared their points of view, both publicly and privately, at a time of reflection.

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“Mandates are hard for trade bodies …” — IAB Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur discussed the difficulties involved in convincing different tiers of the industry to convene around an identifier that can replace the third-party cookie.

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‘Catch that lightning in a bottle’

On Monday, droves of media and marketing leaders will descend on the Croisette in Cannes, France, for The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – more colloquially known as Cannes – for a week full of wheelin’ and dealin’. 

And this year, media companies are sending more of their sales folk than in years prior as the lure of face-to-face time with prospective advertisers and clients becomes all the more enticing. 

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In response, publishers are activating their first-party data as a durable, privacy-first and wholly-owned substrate to support ad targeting and personalization. For example, ranking highest among publishers in a recent survey, 47% believe activating their first-party signals is the most promising solution to cookie deprecation. This data includes audience events and behaviors at particular moments, indicating interests and affinities. 

“Every publisher we’ve talked to — whether a large broadcaster with a TV and digital ad business or one with a large web presence — is in a different stage of their journey in first-party data,” said Sharmilan Rayer, general manager at Amazon Publisher Cloud, built on AWS Clean Rooms. “For these publishers to be successful, they need to define and implement their first-party data strategy — even if they are starting from scratch — and engage with technology partners that can meet them where they are.”

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In the competitive online world, it’s become clear just how powerful a solid email list can be; reaching readers’ inboxes boosts visibility and engagement. Additionally, advertisers prize active and engaged audiences.

However, the challenge for publishers is creating an effective yet user-friendly method for gaining subscribers while establishing multiple methods for continually engaging those subscribers in their inboxes. 

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The adage that all publicity is good publicity doesn’t necessarily apply to advertising, especially on connected TV. As a non-skippable environment on the largest screen in the home, CTV offers brands a prime opportunity to meaningfully capture viewers’ attention through ads — while it can also pose a significant risk if not done right.

Attention has often been considered a way of measuring ads’ effectiveness on CTV, but not all attention is created equal. Positive attention on CTV means relevant audiences meaningfully interact with an ad, leading to mental availability, future engagement with the brand and, ultimately, return on investment. Negative attention, on the other hand, does just the opposite, turning viewers actively away from wanting to engage with a brand.

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Not helping matters, a number of social media services, including Viralyft and Twicsy, sell followers, likes or views directly to creators and businesses wanting to boost their clout. Some of that traffic is made up of bots.

So how do agencies know what’s real?

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During last year’s grass tournament at Wimbledon, the company and its integrated agency Iris launched a short paid social and radio campaign aimed at punching up, positioning its water filters and reusable bottles as the answer to consumer concerns over single-use plastics. The idea, said marketing manager Lily Rutherford, was to put clear distance between Brita and what she terms “big water” firms such as Highland Spring and Evian.

This time around, it’s joined the sporting establishment as the official water partner of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the organization that stages major tournaments such as Queen’s and Wimbledon, in the hope that it’s better for a brand to be inside the big tent than out. It’s the first time a non-single-use water brand has sponsored the sport in Britain.

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The program started with $500,000 in 2021, on the heels of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Since launch, Pinterest has invested more than $3.3 million to offer ad credits, cash payments and content creation equipment to the more than 150 creators who have been accepted into the program. The fund originally started with eight creators in its quarterly program, though it’s unclear how many participants are in each cohort as Zeny Shifferaw, global content partnerships lead, inclusion at Pinterest, declined to offer specific details.

This year’s expansion comes in collaboration with Shopify, to include U.S. and Canada-based small businesses, independent publishers and boutique creator agencies from historically marginalized communities. Meaning, the program now has expanded its definition of a creator, whether that be an influencer or small business owner. The financial details of the partnership with Shopify were not divulged.

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• CTV, DSP and KPIs, oh my
• Paramount’s no-deal, the NBA’s new deals (and non-deals), reality TV’s legal dramas and more

CTV, DSP and KPIs, oh my

A demand-side platform expanding third-party measurement support for connected TV campaigns may not sound all that exciting. But it exemplifies the groundwork that needs to be laid for the future of TV and streaming ad measurement.

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