Tech Companies Disrupt and Dominate the Cannes Advertising Awards

Technology is transforming the advertising and marketing world just as it has so many others. 'From Mad Men to Math Men,' as some have put it.

The transition from intangible to tangible is reflected in the global advertising industry awards held annually in Cannes, where the traditional agencies are being supplanted by Google, Facebook et al.

But the real question is whether what we are seeing is merely the easy application of technological capabilities to traditional marketing principles and how (not whether) the next stage of the innovation process will further disrupt, disintermediate and discomfort all who are touched by it. JL

Sydney Ember reports in the New York Times:

The ad tech, the data, the insights, the programmatic players are really driving the innovation. In the past, these ad tech companies operated largely on the fringe of the festival, holding their own meetings. But this year, they are central to the event.

Fetes on yachts. Magnums of rosé. Kim Kardashian.

This week, the media and marketing industry will descend on the French Riviera for the annual advertising conference known as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The event, held in Cannes, began more than 60 years ago to showcase and award the best in advertising. But recently, the gathering has become what some in the industry describe as an overcrowded boondoggle. There are so many company cabanas and tents on the beach here that participants say it is nearly impossible to see the sand.

“This is one of those gatherings where everyone shows up,” said Brian Terkelsen, the chief executive of MediaVest USA. “It is ridiculous, and you rinse and repeat five days in a row.”

But it is a week heavy with deal-making and networking, with everyone seeking some way to take part in the roughly $600 billion global ad market. In the last five years, ad technology companies have flocked to the festival, reflecting a wider shift in the industry. Venture capitalists, keen to gain exposure for their start-ups, have also started making the trip, as have media companies like HBO. The world’s biggest consumer brands, like Procter & Gamble and Unilever, all come to Cannes Lions, adding to the frenzy.

This year, there will be more emphasis on advertising technology, which is fundamentally changing how advertising is created, bought and sold. Underpinning many of the panels and speeches at the Palais des Festivals, a giant exhibition space where much of the formal activity takes place, is a focus on digital advertising, social media and analytics. For the first time, a separate Cannes Innovation festival at the end of the week will focus on data and technology.

“Today, content isn’t the topic of conversation,” Mr. Terkelsen said. “Today, ad tech is the topic of conversation.”

Many in the advertising business have used words like “seismic” and “tectonic” to describe the transformation. The industry is increasingly not revolving around three-martini lunches, but around online ad exchanges that work like stock trading platforms. Data-driven products that give marketers the ability to target consumers and assess the effectiveness of ad campaigns have also gained some heft. At the same time, concerns about ad blocking and ad skipping have grown, spurring advertisers to search for new ways to reach consumers.

Companies like OpenX, an ad marketplace, TrueX, a digital ad technology firm owned by 21st Century Fox, and the Rubicon Project, which aims to become a centralized, automated exchange for buying and selling ads, are now attending Cannes Lions alongside creative agencies like BBDO and the tech giants that now play dominant roles in the ad market: Google and Facebook.

“In the past two or three years, you’ve seen the ad tech, the data, the insights, the programmatic players that are really now driving the innovation of Cannes,” said Mari Kim Novak, the chief marketing officer at Rubicon. In the past, these ad tech companies operated largely on the fringe of the festival, holding their own meetings outside the Palais. But this year, they are central to the event.

“This is a really important year because it doesn’t just let us be outside of the Palais having very important conversations with the biggest and best brands and agencies and publishers from around the world,” said Ms. Novak, who also attended Cannes Lions when she worked at Microsoft. “It allows us to influence and shape the dialogue. That’s a really big difference.”

As more industry players, particularly newer companies, have made Cannes Lions a priority, interest in the event has swelled. In addition to the biggest ad companies like WPP and Omnicom, media companies — including Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest, along with BuzzFeed, AOL, Vice and Mashable — will be there, hosting panels and cocktail parties.

Philip Thomas, the festival’s chief executive, said there were 13,500 registered delegates this year, from roughly 12,000 last year and just over 3,000 in 2009. “There are so many more different types of people involved,” he said. “It’s an interesting mirror of what’s happening in the industry.”

A big part of the draw for ad tech companies and traditional agencies alike is the opportunity to network and make deals. During the festival in 2012, WPP announced its acquisition of the digital agency AKQA. Ms. Novak said conversations at Cannes Lions ultimately led to Rubicon’s role in the Pangea Alliance, a digital advertising initiative for publishers led by The Guardian announced this year.

As advertising relies more on technology, some in the industry wonder whether a festival on the beach that celebrates creativity is outdated and profligate. Others worry that the festival has become too crowded.

“You’ve seen certainly a big influx of the ad tech creating somewhat of a sales element and maybe some clutter,” said Adam Tucker, the president of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in New York. “It’s certainly expanded to become more relevant as probably the most inspirational industry event. At the same time, I think that expansion comes with some downsides.”

In recent years, the entertainment companies have brought celebrities along to heighten their profiles at Cannes. This year, the musician Pharrell Williams and Ms. Kardashian, the TV personality, are expected to attend.

For their part, digitally focused companies say they are not detracting from the creative aspects of the week. Carolyn Everson, the vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, said she instead sees technology as enabling creativity.

“I don’t see it as a technology-versus-creative discussion at all,” Ms. Everson said. “I see it as really unlocking the power that technology can bring.”