A Cannes Lions key venue is the Theatre Claude Debussy located in the Palace of Festivals and Congresses of Cannes, wedged in between the famed boulevard de la Croisette and the Port de Cannes.
The theatre was the location for one of the highlights of Day 2, Paris Hilton speaking about NFTs. The trip to France comes just days after Hilton attended the wedding of Britney Spears.
Reborn as an entrepreneur, Hilton has sensed business opportunities as her career evolves with a recent digital artwork release including pieces starting at $14 (limited edition of 25,000) through to one work that attracted a bid of close to $100,000.
Hilton is spruiking the metaverse virtual world and on her flight into the Cannes Lions she told her audience she was devouring her favourite new book, The Metaverse Handbook. (Featuring an introduction by P. Hilton.)
Sharing the Cannes stage with Hilton was Gary Vaynerchuk, the CEO and founder of VaynerMedia, the US business branded Media Agency of the Year by Adweek earlier in 2022.
Vaynerchuk threw a hand grenade during his time onstage talking about web stats. “For the last 20 years, this industry has been lying to itself on [internet] consumption and the reach. There’s nothing more full of shit on earth than GRPs and impressions.”
Speaking of things that some claim might be a little unproven, MaryRuth Organics, a digitally native health and wellness brand operating in the premium vitamins, minerals, and supplements industry, announced today that Vaynerchuk is joining the company as a member of its board of directors.
Cannes Lions: Other Day 2 highlights
• CEO of LinkedIn Ryan Roslansky was on stage early on Tuesday and he shared insights on talent trends in the global advertising industry based on LinkedIn and Cannes Lions data. Roslansky had been in France for a number of days, speaking at VivaTech last week and also making his first visit to the LinkedIn French HQ.
• Also speaking at VivaTech and then turning up in Cannes was Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. He appeared on a Monday panel and shared some thoughts about Twitter and AR.
• Another appointment in Spiegel’s diary was with Edward Enninful, Vogue’s European editorial director and editor-in-chief of British Vogue, as they hosted an “intimate dinner” Sunday night to celebrate the unveiling of Vogue X Snapchat: Redefining the Body, an interactive augmented reality exhibition curated by Enninful.
Jared Leto with husband and wife Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegal at the British Vogue dinner (Photo: Darren Gerrish/British Vogue)
Guests including Miranda Kerr, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, Jared Leto and Bridgerton star Charithra Chandran who enjoyed an exclusive first look at the exhibition in Centre d’Art La Malmaison. Media reports noted that Campbell arrived close to 90 minutes late for the event.
Paris might like the virtual world, but by late Tuesday she was posting photos from a very nice place in the real world – Mykonos (below).
Paris Hilton kicking back in Mykonos (Photo: Instagram)
• Chief Marketing Officers were the centre of attention in a session sponsored by Deloitte later on Tuesday morning. The CMOs featured came from Dove, Vice Media and US home improvement retailer Lowe’s.
• S4 Capital Group boss Sir Martin Sorrell was ruminating on the future of Cannes Lions at the end of Day 2 when UK trade publisher Drum asked him what the future of the event could look like under a new owner, which could be happening if Ascential (formerly Emap) divest the division. He forecast that maybe something with a more regional focus might better suit markets with perhaps events in North and South America, something in Asia Pacific too. “People have been questioning if this is the right time or the right place for a conference,” said Sorrell. He added given all the challenges the world is facing, “does it make sense to have a rave-up in Cannes?”
Sorrell explained he had been meeting with multiple potential clients and that most people indicate to him that the real value of Cannes is the networking experience. “Very few people talk about the content. It’s something that is common with most conferences. It is an efficient way to meet a lot of people in a very short time.”
• One of the tech companies with a major presence in Cannes set up at what was (again) branded the Google Beach. A late Tuesday morning event was labelled YouTube Reveals Secrets of the World’s Best Stories with YouTube execs and creators.
• If Google can have a beach, so can Spotify. One of the events on the sand at Spotify was Representation Behind the Mic which discussed building platforms that amplify underrepresented voices.
If Google and Spotify can have beaches at Cannes, why not Twitter Beach too?
• The virtual future was also explored in an early afternoon session called Who Do You Want To Be in the Metaverse? Speakers were two execs from Interpublic’s R/GA.
• A brand success story was unwrapped in the session Chipotle’s Transformation Story – Essential Lessons for Brands Today. The Cannes Lion schedule explained: Chipotle is an enviable leader in the fast-casual restaurant industry. Its success in recent years comes after significant challenges. The company’s comeback has been fuelled by a bold vision linked to the future of food and sustainability, a commitment to innovation, and a new brand platform that embraces radical transparency.
• One of the biggest line-ups of the day featured many impressively credentialled advertisers who spoke about helping make this come true: By 2030 Every Ad Will Be a Green Ad. The session was moderated by the CEO of Cannes Lions owner Ascential, Philip Thomas. He used to visit a different Cannes festival as editor of Emap film magazine Empire, but now presides over the Cannes Lions Festival. After Empire, Thomas later ran the FHM brand globally and was also managing director of Emap Australia for three years from 2000.
Advertising and marketing blogger Matthieu Etienne managed to get good images (above) of possibly the most important moment of the week so far when a Greenpeace activist (also a former winner and jury at the festival!) crashed the first 2022 awards show to call for a ban on fossil fuel advertising.
See also:
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity: Day 1 and Ukraine’s fight for freedom