Cannes Lions 2016 preview: What marketers need to look out for

From diversity in business to ad tech, The Drum has picked out where to be during the week-long event to find the most pertinent issues for advertisers.

Diversity remains an important topic at Cannes and for brands and agencies looking to hear first had from some of the most powerful women in the industry on their experiences then Interpublic Group’s Women in Leadership breakfast is a must-do event. The two-hour session on Wednesday will host speakers including Meredith Kopit Levien, executive vice president of The New York Times Company, Johnson & Johnson CMO Alison Lewis and Unilever’s SVP of global marketing Aline Santos as well as a guest appearance from actress Gwyneth Paltrow. (IPG Women's Breakfast, June 22, 8.30am, Hotel Martinez.)

Those getting to Cannes over the weekend should try to catch what promises to be an interesting panel session with the International Olympics Committee. Allegations of doping have impacts on all sports – not just athletics – and against this backdrop many fans have become disenchanted. Ahead of the Rio Olympics, chief marketing officer at the IOC, Melinda May, will talk about how it’s using creativity to connect future generations. (June 19, 12:15pm.)

Finally, every morning between 10.30 and 11.30 the Economist will be holding smaller beach-side sessions away from the hustle of the Palais where you can hear from top marketers from Airbnb, Mastercard, Pepsico, Unilever and Mondelez among others. The themes are wide-ranging and get into some of the deeper issues facing marketers today that might not necessarily be explored on some of Cannes’ bigger stages. These sessions proved incredibly popular last year so get there early to avoid missing out. (Waking up with the Economist. Monday-Friday 10.30am. Cannes Beach Club).

Ad tech vies for center stage at the festival of creativity

The digital – or ad tech – players of the advertising industry have arguably ‘taken over’ Cannes Lions, much to the umbrage of many of the ‘traditional’ creative community. Historically, these two camps have not seen eye-to-eye. The typical stereotype(s) being that one will spend their days obsessing over an Excel sheet, while the other doing likewise over an old-fashioned canvas. And never the twain shall meet, that’s the old fashioned (and quite frankly regressive) way of looking at the scenario.

True, the tensions between the two camps are there, but events such as Cannes Lions are an opportunity for both constituencies to build bridges, better understand each other, and appreciate how they can work better together.

What’s key for ad tech players is to show creatives how they can provide insight, which can then fuel creativity. From here the ad tech sector can garner a reputation for fuelling quality, not just quantity (and let’s face it, creating spam), and retargeting.

Key to this is dialogue, and in an arena such as Cannes Lions the ad tech sector should use the opportunity to explain the value they can add more lucidly. Instead of relying on their cue cards talking about ‘DSPs’, and the like, they should employ more inspiring phrases such as ‘insight’, ‘connections’, etc. This is language ‘creatives’ understand, and are likely to react positively to.

Keep a look out for….

For those worried about missing out on events next week, The Drum will be covering the best in a series of video interviews. One to watch out for will be with Nike’s global director of advertising for its Jordan Brand. Desmond Marzette. While talk of the brand's Euros campaign will no doubt be on the cards, we'll be sitting down to discuss diversity: Nike has the Jordan brand, fronted by one of the most inspirational people in the world, an African American, but what about the rest? How is Nike considering the LGBT community in its marketing, for example, and how does it do so without it looking like tokenism?

The Drum will also be jumping on a yacht with JWT's Rachel Pashley to discuss diversity in adland, in between checking out the now-famous YouTube, Instagram and Twitter 'beaches'. Discussion with all three will focus on how they’re viewing their platforms as places for creativity, and how brands have learnt to make space for creativity in their social and digital marketing efforts over the last decade.