Come hell or high water, marketers plan to be at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Despite ongoing global political tensions, execs justify the trip to the South of France as the cost of doing business.
Cannes (this year from June 22 to 26) has long been the industry’s can’t miss event. Yes, there’s the lavish award ceremonies, schmoozing on yachts and star-studded concerts. But marketers’ justification for going is more than in-person serendipitous moments. It’s about business growth, relationship building, showing face and perhaps most importantly, proving value.
However, there’s a stark difference in the reality outside the French Riviera: inflation, mass layoffs and geopolitical conflict.
The Iran war caused oil prices to spike and gasoline prices were 25% higher in March than February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting. Airline fares felt the ripple effect, climbing 3.4% in March from February, per the data.
Marketers are swallowing the potentially bigger price tags to get to Cannes.
“I think I’m going to be renting a canoe and paddling myself there,” joked Parks Blackwell, vp of client development and marketing at PMG. The agency is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, according to the company website.
David Reid, vp of global growth for Transmission, a B2B agency, made a similar quip about “stopping over in three European cities to get there.” Transmission has global locations with U.S. hubs in Dallas, New York City and San Francisco, per the company website.
Geopolitical crisis’ impact to budgets
Jokes aside, marketers have been on high alert since the start of the conflict. As the Iran war drags on, marketers are now more cognizant of how geopolitical crises could impact ad spend. That hasn’t yet impacted if and how marketers show up to Cannes this year.
Depending on how long conflict keeps up, it could trigger aftershocks that puts marketing budgets on the defense. Per Digiday reporting, high oil prices for a sustained period could make for a recession, wiping out nearly $50 billion in ad spend this year and another $44 billion the next.
At time of publication, a roundtrip Delta flight from Dallas to Nice, France in time for Cannes ranged from $1,791 to $18,095. From New York City, a roundtrip Delta flight ranges from $2,751 to $20,063.
“Let’s be real, Cannes has always been expensive, and this year that’s even more pronounced given the broader macroeconomic challenges everyone’s navigating,” said Laura Foster, svp of global marketing at GumGum. The ad tech company is sending a primarily client-facing team this year, Foster added.
Out of the 15 agencies Digiday interviewed with for this piece, none said they were planning to reduce Cannes headcount. However, airfare prices amidst already steep Cannes lodging costs has Gary J. Nix, founder and chief strategy advisor at Brandarchy Edge, on the fence about being an in-person attendee this year after historically attending virtually. Nix is based in New York City.
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“With the prices, especially at this point, the difficulty in getting lodging, that part is not easy either,” he said. “It’s just added stress.”
This year, Noah Mallin, founder of Mallination marketing consultancy, is not attending, in part, due to the cost. Mallin, who is based in New York City, per LinkedIn, has been to Cannes about seven times he said, including last year. The exec also cites the discrepancy between the industry’s mass layoffs at holdcos like WPP and Omnicom, and marketers’ presences at Cannes.
“The expense is making it more of an indulgence than a necessity this year,” he said in an emailed statement. He added, “As much fun as it is I’m not feeling like it’s a fun world and I’m not looking for escapism.”
Business as usual
Transmission, PMG, creator and social agency Reach, and Purpose WorldWide marketing strategy and public relations firm are all sending more people to Cannes this year. Transmission is sending a team of seven, one more than last year. PMG, Reach and Purpose did not specify how many team members will attend Cannes this year. Digital agency DEPT and Bloomberg Media are sending a team similar to last year. Meanwhile, Tracer analytics platform, and MarketCast research and data analytics firm are being more deliberate about who they send, prioritizing client-face leaders.
Despite its reputation as a boondoggle, marketers are using this year’s Cannes to pinpoint how AI actually drives outcomes, prove agency and holdco value as the agency model changes and have intimate, in-person conversations that can’t be managed on a video call.
It also may be about the fear of missing out, said Jared Belsky, CEO and co-founder of Acadia. The executive has never been to Cannes, citing alternative U.S. based conferences and financial trade offs of attending the international event.
“People want to say it’s FOMO [fear of missing out], but think it’s worse than that. I think it’s the fear of believing you’re irrelevant if you’re not there,” he said.
To some extent, this year’s Cannes is business as usual. For the past few years, the industry has contended with everything from the pandemic, tariffs, economic headwinds making uncertainty the only certainty when it comes to the industry’s biggest event.
“Nothing we’re seeing ahead of Cannes feels out of the ordinary,” said Louise Watson, co-founder of Empower and vp of technology at Propeller. Watson added that attendees seem to be finalizing plans relatively late, “which increasingly feels like the new normal for the festival.”