Whereas the 2024 Cannes Lions pageant has had its share of drama—Elon Musk’s apology tour and Michael Kassan’s new enterprise each made headlines—the vibes alongside the Croisette and contained in the events have been extra earnest, reflective and purposeful, ADWEEK execs and editors reported.
Within the second installment of our three-part Cannes Dispatch podcast collection, ADWEEK CEO Will Lee, chief expertise officer Jenny Rooney and editor in chief Ryan Joe talk about Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s feedback from a gaggle chat at ADWEEK Home, a snippet from Joe’s interview with S4 Capital’s Sir Martin Sorrell and a dispatch from artistic editor Brittaney Kiefer following Musk’s onstage look through the pageant.
Stars and execs open up about parenthood, management
Ruderman, who described the whole Cannes Lions pageant as “starrier” than she anticipated, additionally famous the extent of openness that leaders delivered to their talking engagements all through the week. At ADWEEK Home, Ohanian shared anecdotes about instilling confidence in his daughter, whereas NBCU president of advert gross sales and partnerships Karen Kovacs talked about studying whereas main.
“Whenever you’re in a spot like Cannes, individuals are hungry for getting past the give attention to the tactical, marketing-speak conversations and getting actual,” Rooney stated.
Nonetheless, the starpower was as heady because it was palpable: “Being at a celebration the place I used to be dancing between Jessica Alba and Linda Yaccarino—I believe that might solely occur at Cannes Lions,” Ruderman stated.
Sorrell on Kassan
In a dialog with Joe, Sorrell replicate on Kassan’s impression on the trade’s tentpole occasions: “CES has change into extra Cannes, Cannes has change into extra CES. Perhaps because of Michael Kassan’s affect.”
Kassan going up towards MediaLink is “extraordinary,” he added. “We’ll see what occurs. Michael will probably be advantageous. After which he’ll begin once more, and he’ll proceed to try to purchase it out.”
Musk makes good?
After telling advertisers to go fuck themselves in an onstage look final fall, X CEO Elon Musk joined WPP CEO Mark Learn onstage at Cannes in what seems to have been an try to woo its purchasers again onto his embattled social platform, previously often known as Twitter.
