Cannes. This is a plush city on the French Riviera. A city under siege. At thebrink of civil war. See, historically the city belonged in June to the big ad- and marketing agencies, coming together to celebrate their amazing work with their clients at a big festival: #canneslions. This is their city. They own it. They have symbolically put their mark on the four corners of the city. Private property. Marketers only. Trespassers will be shot, survivors shot again, for good measure.
Expensive watches, 500.000 dollar beach parties, celebrities, free champagne, cocktail dresses and heels… and yachts and helicopters. It’s all here. But that is the cliché façade… see the creativity, the art, the amazing métiers of getting products sold. The visionary thinkers, the daredivels, the lucky ones. The brainy challenges, the magic of good marketing. It’s… everywhere.
Except… the city is under siege. Enemies are trying to forge a beach head, somewhere between the Majestic and the Carlton, enemies are sipping in. People that normally do not belong here… like communications and public relations people, digital people, strange and weird hybrid people… and –god forbid- people from the tech industry. Sipping the same bubbles, listening to the same deejay. Slippers deeply embedded in the same sand.
Because the sacred Holy Grail of influencing audiences, sending messages, selling products is not owned by marketing anymore. Public Relations wants it share. And while these two giant industries eye each other suspiciously, circling around each other with balled fists (and a knife in the waistband)… there are others that are joining the fight for the marketing dollars: the tech companies: Microsoft, Foursquare, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Adobe… and they are talking about marketing, outreach, points of influence and sales. And they bring guns, big guns to a knife fight…
The total bounty will not increase. More contenders want to rip each other’s ear off. And the rules for wow-ing the clients with measurable results are: no limits, ultimate fighting.
This is a civilized warzone, and the city of the Lions will look way different next year…
