Cannes Lions is a rather new event for Relevant Digital, as we didn’t fully attend until three years ago. However, I think it’s safe to say that we enjoy Cannes Lions and will likely attend annually for the time being. Now that we’ve unwound from the festival, we'd love to share our experiences with you and, hopefully, bring the event to those who couldn't attend. 

1. The Mediterranean Sea - Need I Say More?

Ordinary people go to Cannes for vacation, and maybe only the digital advertising industry goes there for work. It still probably is one of the best locations for work, right? Personally, I like the relaxed atmosphere and how open people are to chit-chat and networking. This is not to say that other events, like DMEXCO, don’t offer the opportunities. However, DMEXCO lasts only two days, while Cannes Lions is a full week. The pace is definitely different. 

The nice thing about Cannes is that you don’t have to live on La Croisette or close to it to have beautiful sea views. We chose La Bocca for two consecutive years as it’s only a 15-minute bus ride from the festival, and you can experience the local life authentically. After a long and stimulating day with tens of thousands of people, we find it calming and peaceful to be back in La Bocca, away from the hustle and bustle. The area’s beach is just as beautiful, with fewer people and hence, more sandy spots to lie down and recharge!

2. The Eventful and Versatile Cannes Lions

What is your daily step goal? 10,000 steps? 20,000 steps? It doesn’t matter; you will exceed your goal in Cannes anyway.

Along the La Croisette are many eye-catching and lively beaches rented by the biggest and most influential names in the digital advertising world. Amazon, Meta, and Google usually have the biggest space with colourful decorations and activities. Strolling through La Croisette, you will see Pinterest, RTL, FreeWheel, Spotify, etc. 

If you have back-to-back meetings, it’s good to station yourself at New York New York cafe. It’s situated right at the beginning of La Croisette and has a lot of space. Apparently, it’s the only restaurant in the area to serve you beverages even during lunch and dinner time. During food hours, many places refuse to take in guests who just want a beverage, which could be frustrating because it’s not ideal to walk around finding a spot when you have a limited amount of time.

3. Relevant Digital’s Time

Relevant partners with multiple industry experts around the world for expansion and improvement. They are our core members, but it is difficult to gather everyone due to their various locations. Luckily, at Cannes Lions, we were able to meet up with Emily Palmer (US), Michel Juvillier (FR), Muriel Vignet Lesbros (ES), and Steven Beckwith (UK), and it was fantastic!

We had an amazing and cosy dinner together at L'atrium, which was very pretty, and their grill was delicious. It rained a bit that evening, which actually helped us cool down. It was the first time our four partners met each other, so the introduction was exciting, and I believe they got really close by the end of the evening. We, the Relevant Digital team, were absolutely delighted to connect with our partners and bring them closer to each other. It was undoubtedly our most memorable time at Cannes Lions 2024.

4. Talks Highlights

For those who couldn’t make it to Cannes Lions, worry not because we will share with you all the insights we got from the festival. From our conversations with the attendees to seminars and workshops, here are some popular topics:

Privacy & Cookies

At Prebid Perspectives, Thao Tran, Managing Director of Global Partnerships at Chrome Privacy Sandbox, and Mike McNeeley, SVP Product at Index Exchange shared great insights on how publishers can excel in monetisation even when third-party cookies disappear. There is a lot of emphasis on intentional testing and feedback, similar to what experts at Relevant Digital are doing. Check out our observations on Privacy Sandbox’s Topics API tests. 

© Prebid

Additionally, there were valuable contributions from Cavel Khan, CGO at Group Black, Amanda Martin, CRO at Mediavine, Amanda Gomez, SVP of Revenue Operations at New York Post, Jason White, CPO/CTO at The Arena Group, and Jason Tollestrup, VP Global Revenue Strategy & Operations at Fandom. They discussed how publishers can monetise their first-party data and how they are navigating through third-party data deprecation as well. 

Artificial Intelligence

However, AI continues to be the hottest topic with a touch of doubt. For the past year, we’ve been hearing about AI at every industry conference; it’s only natural that people have higher expectations now, in my opinion.

Sustainability

Sustainability was, to me, the most popular topic at Cannes Lions 2023. It was still discussed this year, but not as much as privacy and AI. I think there should be more talks and actions about improving sustainability. We all know the digital advertising industry is responsible for most CO2 emissions, so what are we doing about that?

The Cannes Lions Festival was two weeks ago, but we are still thinking about its happy moments and intriguing learning experiences. Our industry's life was strong, and it really showed in every video and picture from the attendees. Cannes is all about organic and interesting networking. It is not a typical industry event, which makes it challenging to navigate yet super fun. 

Like other events, there were a few WhatsApp group chats for support and networking at Cannes Lions 2024. The best one was definitely by JobsInAdtech.com and The Women in the Programmatic Network. These groups allowed for continuous conversation, question sharing, and insightful discussions, further solidifying the relationships between industry professionals. There were so many accommodation hiccups solved by the friendly and amazing members of these groups.