Cannes

1. Semafor Stat
2. What’s on today
3. Sightings
4. Musk talks ads
5. Award
6. Parties
7. Must-reads
8. Intel
9. Q&A

Welcome to Day 4 of Semafor Cannes, our pop-up newsletter.

What comes after zero interest rates? The answer, it turns out, is advertising.

“Uber advertising has arrived at Cannes Lions,” read the ad inside our Uber apps, inviting us to the Uber ads villa off the Croisette. The company has also been giving away pizza to the late night crowd.

Uber is particularly thirsty, but they’re pretty much all here now, each in their own way. Netflix has the swanky Marriott rooftop. Apple has a discreet floor atop the Carlton. Elon Musk is groveling to Mark Read at the Palais. These are the purest of pure-play tech leaders of the last decade, entering a new era in which growth is a lot tougher and purity a lot more expensive. It’s good for the business of Cannes, and a reminder that you should never say never.

Also today: Why Cannes Lions parties are better than the film festival’s, Spotify on the high seas, a grand prix for that weird Michael Cera campaign, questions for Rich Kleiman, and what CMOs are thinking.

— Newsletter by Max Tani, Nayeema Raza, and Félicien Cassan, with nightlife correspondent Bennett Richardson

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Semafor Stat

The percentage of chief marketing officers who think governments need to regulate generative AI, per a new BCG survey.

Agenda

• 10:30 a.m.: The CMOs of PepsiCo and TikTok and chief brand officer of Moderna sit down for a discussion with Sophie Devonshire, CEO of the Marketing Society. (The Rotonde)
• 12:30 p.m.: A writing masterclass with best-selling author James Patterson, courtesy of Ogilvy. (Debussy Theatre, The Palais)
• 2 p.m.: Alan Moss, VP of global ad sales at Amazon, Lori Shambro, CMO of Energizer, and Christine Gambino, chief product officer of Flywheel, join ADWEEK executive editor Jameson Fleming on the future of live sports advertising. (The Rotonde)
• 3 p.m.: Marc Hustvedt, the President of MrBeast, and X CEO Linda Yaccarino chat about the future of creators and freedom of speech. (Terrace Stage, The Terrace)
• 7 p.m.: Awards for Brand Experience and Activation, Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, Innovation, and Luxury and Lifestyle. (Lumière Theatre, The Palais)
• 5 p.m.: Closing party by SiriusXM and Whalar (Whalar House, Cabana Row)
• 7 p.m.: Julie Thompson’s Annual Thursday VIP Dinner Club Honors The 2024 Cannes Lions Outdoor Jury (ADWEEK House, 3.14 rooftop)
• 10 p.m.: Havas Party by KCPK (Mondrian Cannes)

Spotted

Michael Kassan crediting Bob Pittman with suggesting he call his feud with UTA a “Hollywood Divorce” … Shannon Sharpe talking about the Lakers with Google’s Jonathan Johnsongriffin … Nayeema Raza chatting with Kimbal Musk during a live jazz show at Collins House ... Brooklyn Beckham at the Amazon Port … Diplo, Lando Norris, Zac Brown, Gabrielle Union, Shannon Sharpe, Karlie Kloss and Jonathan Johnsongriffin at the Google Beach VIP party with surprise musical guests Wyclef Jean and Fatboy Slim … Joanna Coles, Michael Barbaro, and Jolie Hunt temporarily stranded in the Med with their fellow guests on a Spotify cruise … Elon Musk taking a selfie with Piers Morgan, apparently on the T&Pm yacht… The LEDE PR and US Weekly teams, who have become regulars this week at the clubstraunt Anna….

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Musk comes crawling back

We wrote earlier this week about the tech giants, publishers, and studios who come to Cannes to bend the knee.

So it was remarkable to see one of the most powerful men in the world come crawling back. First, WPP CEO Mark Read gave Elon a mulligan on his famous “go fuck yourself” message to advertisers, and the X owner gamely explained that he didn’t mean all advertisers.

“You understand and believe in brand safety?” Read asked him, sounding a bit like the chairman of a parole board considering an inmate’s plea.

Musk made a case for advertising on X: you can reach influential political figures and business leaders. Like Elon Musk! “If someone is trying to reach me with an ad, it’s the best place to put an ad,” he said.

Read seemed inclined to let him out on parole.

Award

Ogilvy PR picked up the Social and Influencer Grand Prix for its surreal campaign that spread the theory that the Canadian actor Michael Cera was behind the skin cream CeraVe, which culminated in a Super Bowl ad.

Parties

The joke, overheard at least twice this week, goes like this: “Do you know the main difference between the Cannes Film Festival and the Lions? The first draws A-list celebrities and washed-up musicians, while the second attracts B-list celebrities but throws the best parties of the year on the French Riviera.”

I covered both events this year, and I must agree.

Cannes Lions carries an “it was over before it started” vibe. By Wednesday night, some CMOs had already jetted out. But the party was still just beginning. And I’m not talking about some lazy DJ sets by a second-tier movie director on an empty beach.

At the closing Spotify party, Arcade Fire gave a beautifully executed concert on a full stage. The tempestuous rock band from Montreal was followed by French touch heroes Justice. In May, their set on the same beach had disappointed moviegoers. Here, they crushed the ad junkies with their pumped-up disco beats.

Simultaneously, Diplo, Fatboy Slim, Wyclef Jean, The National, and A-Trak were performing on nearby stages! This was no longer just the Lions; it was like the lineup of Coachella, minus the vegan food.

Younger, more connected, and gathered here for a shorter period than the Film Festival, ready to blow off steam after securing some secret deals, the audience went fairly wild on Wednesday night.

“Everyone left, only the party crashers remain; they want a piece of the Cannes cake before flying home,” a PR person told me last night. Sometimes, they just make the best crowd.

— Félicien Cassan

Must-reads

• AdAge has the scoop on Musk’s private meeting with advertisers, one of whom seemed impressed with the “brainstorm.”
• Stagwell’s Mark Penn wows Page Six with his love for Musk’s X.
• Nice-Matin grumbles about a town that has “Americanized.”
• The new humor Lions could make marketing funnier.

Intel

Front Office Events: The sports media startup Front Office Sports is getting into the events business. On Thursday at Cannes Lions, the company will announce a daylong summit in New York on September 10. The Tuned In festival, led by Front Office Sports’ Senior Media Reporter Mike McCarthy, will feature intimate discussions with high-profile athletes, owners, and business leaders in sports media.

Brand Politics:

A new Edelman survey finds that consumers want brands to do more on climate, not so much on politics.

Q&A with Rich Kleiman

Rich Kleiman became one of the best-known agents in basketball with a single client: Kevin Durant. Together, they’ve become sports and tech investors, with stakes in professional pickleball and US soccer. And in 2019, the duo leveraged Durant’s basketball success and business interests to create a media company, Boardroom.

Max Tani: This is your first Cannes. How’s it going so far?

Rich Kleiman: I was reluctant to go the last few years because I didn’t want to do it without something substantial. I don’t want to just go to extend my network, I have a big network. I had an opportunity to bring something of value, and that’s why I think this year was the time.

MT: This was the year that you had something to talk about — what are you putting out there?

RK: We want to kind of educate people on what we built, how engaged our community is, why we think we have a real differentiated brand that can be extended in multiple different places. Obviously meeting with brands is part of it, but I think really educating the brand world and a lot of what we’ve built over the last four years was the main goal.

MT: You guys were in the door pretty early with player-centric podcasts. Which ones do you think are good, and what makes a player-focused media property successful?

RK: It’s an amazing thing. I think you know, LeBron in a lot of ways kicked it off — him and [Maverick Carter] and [Rich Paul], and then everybody saw that it was possible. We came with our own perspective and point of view and then it’s continued, I think, that trend across sports around the globe. I think it’s incredible. And I think from a storytelling standpoint, obviously, I love Draymond Green. Paul George’s podcast. All The Smoke is incredible. JJ Redick is so talented. I love him and LeBron’s show as well. I think everybody is stepping up.

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