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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‘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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As you ready your summer linen and prep for the chaos of the Croisette — which will likely be even more chaotic than usual with the Olympic Torch relay scheduled to pass through Cannes on Tuesday afternoon — we’ve prepared another guide with wisdom from Cannes veterans to help inform on everything from packing and scheduling to on-the-ground behavior. Here’s that dose of Cannes reality, with suggested dos and don’ts from those who’ve seen it all before:

Rob Reilly, global chief creative officer, WPP

Do: If anyone is willing to pay for you to go to a Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, that is a do because that is a magical place. It’s about 40 minutes away, you take a car there, but when you get there you really feel like you’ve made it.

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For Cannes newcomers, here’s the lowdown on where to kickstart your week. 

The Palais is the epicenter of all things Cannes — it’s where conventions happen, awards are doled out, and networking is practically an art form. 

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Out
Brands taking a stand

In 
Brand apologies for marketing gaffes

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It’s that time of year again for members of the advertising industry to head to France for Riviera views and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. And, according to a recent Digiday+ Research survey of agency, brand, retailer, publisher and technology professionals, more industry members will be heading to the event this year, with meetings and dealmaking in mind.

Digiday’s survey found that, this year, 40% of ad industry members have plans to attend Cannes in the South of France this year. This is a significant jump from last year, when not even one-quarter of agency, brand, retailer, publisher and tech pros (22%) said they were planning on attending the event.

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It’s a development that has obsessed the entire digital media industry for the last four years and has had some of the largest names in ad tech seeking alternatives for online ad targeting — the very lifeblood of their business.

Speaking with Digiday on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2023, Jeff Green, chief executive at the industry’s largest independent ad tech company, The Trade Desk, shared his thoughts.

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In fact, AI’s ubiquity seemed to make itself noticed more in the email inboxes of attendees and the press, who were inundated by dozens of pitches and press releases promising this and that using AI. Most of it was in fact shallow appropriations of generative AI’s true potential. 

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These blood-shot eyes here though sparkled throughout the week with the hope that these conversations will result in deals that will help carry them through the rest of the year. How much tap dancing can you do in the meantime?

A lot.

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The final episode of the Digiday podcast at Cannes centered around a topic which everyone on the planet — but especially the digital marketing ecosystem — should be thinking and doing something on: sustainability and carbon emissions reduction.

Recording once again from Spotify’s podcast studio along the beach of the Croisette, Anne Coghlan, co-founder and COO of Scope3, explained not only all three “scopes” of emissions that companies must assess (and most have a handle on scopes 1 and 2), but outlined some steps that can be taken to reduce their scope 3 emissions. And those publishers that do not make serious attempts to mitigate their impact on the environment could see the business they hope to attract get reduced over time.

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Throughout the Cannes Lions festival, the company’s executives have opted to observe from the sidelines, meticulously analyzing the advertising landscape from the comfort of their suite at the Carlton hotel. According to insiders who spoke with Digiday, they are strategically evaluating the market before making any decisive moves.

There were no big battle plans laid out by those execs during their meetings with ad tech vendors on the Cote d’Azure. Instead, those conversations were more about the here and now — i.e. its search business. 

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The industry seems to have embraced that generative artificial intelligence will be a part of the future of advertising. But there’s a wide range in how execs are actually using tools such as ChatGPT, Bard by Google and the new AI-powered Bing, both professionally and personally as their companies dance around a formal stance on the tools.

“It’s a huge topic of conversation. It’s early days for pretty much everybody,” said Chris Rogers, chief business officer at Instacart. “Every brand wants to participate and very few folks have a strong opinion yet on what that’s going to look like.”

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“I don’t like AI at all. AI will probably end humanity, and we’ll be lucky if it doesn’t. I’m more focused on that than sort of some of the more immediate implications,” Najjar said. “I know some creators are working with AI already. I don’t want to overly automate any aspect of my process right now.”

Najjar has been working on investing in her influencer brand for three years — and has grown it to include a merch deal under her “Rich Mom” series, hosting an ongoing podcast with SiriusXM and securing brand deals for her accounts, particularly across TikTok and Instagram.

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But after major brands like Bud Light, Miller Lite and Adidas faced backlash for being “woke,” marketers have spent this year’s Cannes reconsidering authenticity as it pertains to purpose in an increasingly polarized society. That said, only a handful of panels focused on the topic this year, including a talk with the likes of Mondelez, Ogilvy and VCCP on Thursday, and a luncheon panel from Mars, Inc. on Wednesday.

Greg Wolny, chief activation officer at Code3 said he’s heard very little on the topic since the festival started. “There’s been a lot of hypocrisy around that. People have stepped away from it,” he said. “People are stepping back like, maybe we don’t talk about that. Right or wrong. Maybe not.”

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On a blustery day at Cannes Lions (which prevented us from recording outside), I walked along Yacht Row, well known for the plethora of ad-tech and mar-tech firms that rent the floating party boats moored in Jetée Albert Edouard just astride the Palais des Festivals. I was accompanied by Tom Triscari, an independent analyst who covers the programmatic and ad-tech scene — and who once worked in the industry.

Together we chose several companies for Triscari to assess in terms of potential and challenges, including IAS, DoubleVerify, Magnite, OpenX, Criteo, Cognitiv and Experian — but the conversation naturally brought up some of the big players that didn’t rent yachts but still make their presence felt in the ad-tech market (such as The Trade Desk).

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