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You might associate the south of France with sun, sea and sand (and rosé), but our Tuesday had three different esses: Sir Sorrell, Spice Girls and step count.
Tuesday was a busy day, to say the least. I started at 8 am, heading down to the Google beach set up for a press briefing on creators. On my way there, I passed Sport Beach, which was hosting an aerobics class. It was quite the sensory assault, with pounding EDM and a whooping workout instructor. Needless to say, I didn’t seek one out on Wednesday morning.
YouTube launched Open Call, a new way for brands to commission content from creators, which can be used as normal YouTube videos or Shorts and repurposed into ads.
Alongside a litany of YouTube bosses was Haley Kalil, a creator and model. I must confess, I was completely unfamiliar with Ms Kalil prior to this press briefing. She clearly has fans, though, as this unstaged video proves.
Following the talk, I wandered up the Croisette to Omnicom’s digs around the corner from the Palais. It was a very swish set-up, indeed. I was there to hear Apple’s VP of Apple’s vice president of marketing and communications Tor Myhren talk with Brent Anderson, global CCO of Apple’s longstanding creative agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab.
Sadly, this session was off the record, something I only discovered after the fact. There were lots of great nuggets in the session, but you’ll never get to read them.
One big highlight of the day was a very intimate session with Sir Martin Sorrell chatting with Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola. The pair kicked off the chat by talking about the current situation in the Middle East. After that, Sorrell brought some levity to the conversation, discussing various places of the big six holdcos. The big takeout? Sorrell reckons Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré could be the next Arthur Sadoun. There’ll be a longer version of the chat running later this week, or maybe next. There’s still a lot going on.
The other big takeaway from Sorrell? After I approached him to say hello, he asked me if B&T is “still as naughty as ever” with a smirk. I told Sir Martin we had no plans to change.
A hop, skip and a jump down the Croisette to Pinterest’s beach for a tour and chat with Xanthe Wells, the platform’s VP of global creative. The Pinterest beach is open to Joe Public and, as usual, heaving. We checked out the various creative stations and the tattoo parlour. My mum is B&T‘s most reliable reader, so to assuage her fears, I’m happy to confirm that I didn’t get a tattoo.
What I did get, however, was an insight into my personal style from Pinterest’s visual explorer demonstrator. After placing my palms on two small scanners, I was told I had a pink aura – remarkably prescient, given how sweaty and sunburned I was, in the way that only a British man can become.
After some further interrogation, the machine decided my personal style is ‘Heritage Handcraft’ which, given my reliance on an old-school manual dictaphone rather than using my Google Pixel’s autorecording and a notepad and sometimes overbearing passion for history (after getting quite carried away in an interview later that day, I started quoting Napoleon), seems to be quite apt.
Then it was time to chat with Wells. We’ve spoken before at our own little soirée in Tropical North Queensland (read that here), and we had another great chat. Our chat got philosophical quite quickly, pondering what happens to the pipeline of creative talent if the kids rely on AI to do their writing (which they increasingly are), among other things.
Back to the other end of the Croisette for a chat with Vevo’s EVP of global sales. It was punchy and should make for a cracking read. Then it was off to the other end of the beach to visit our friends at Yahoo to chat with Jon Finnie, VP of international sales. The setting was hard to beat, out on a pier, and a slight breeze accompanied by a crisp, cold Corona.
Then the fun could start. M+C Saatchi was hosting a party at a villa away from the Croisette. There was a pool and a very well-stocked bar. After a very brief speech from global boss Zaid Al-Qassab, he introduced Mel C – the former Spice Girl(!) – who played a DJ set. Sadly, Ms C didn’t play any of the classics while I was there, denying me my chance to do what I want, what I really, really want, which, of course, was zig-a-zig-ah.
I then decamped for dinner with some Aussie mates and had my first trip to the Gutter Bar. As you expect, it was packed, but Uber was doing free pizzas, tres bien.
