Cannes survival tips, WBD split, ad spend outlook and WPP’s big AI bet

Summary

The Digiday Podcast: Detailed Summary of "Cannes Survival Tips, WBD Split, Ad Spend Outlook and WPP’s Big AI Bet"

Release Date: June 10, 2025
Host: Digiday
Episode Title: Cannes Survival Tips, WBD Split, Ad Spend Outlook and WPP’s Big AI Bet

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I. Introduction to the Episode

In this episode of The Digiday Podcast, co-hosts Kameka McCoy and Tim Peterson delve into the pressing topics shaping the digital advertising landscape. As the Cannes Lions Festival approaches, the discussion pivots around survival strategies for the event, significant industry developments such as Warner Brothers Discovery's (WBD) corporate split, the current outlook on advertising spend, and the burgeoning AI competition among major advertising holding companies like WPP.

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II. Cannes Lions Festival: Anticipation and Preparations

Kameka McCoy kicks off the conversation by expressing her excitement and apprehension about attending this year's Cannes Lions Festival. She remarks, “we are a matter of days away from this year's Cannes Lion” (00:23) and shares her focus areas for the event, including the emergence of retail media networks and the evolving roles of streaming services and creators.

Tim Peterson contrasts his lack of enthusiasm for Cannes, noting his disinterest and the unfavorable weather in Southern California. He humorously admits, “I've never been and historically never had any interest in going” (00:17), highlighting the personal challenges of attending such a major industry event.

The hosts discuss the logistical aspects of Cannes, emphasizing the importance of preparation. Kameka suggests giving oneself “a little bit of time to be able to prepare themselves” (03:41), aiming to equip listeners with actionable tips to navigate the festival effectively.

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III. Industry Scoop: Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) Split

The episode transitions to significant industry news under the segment “Juicy Scoops,” where Tim Peterson reveals that Warner Brothers Discovery plans to split into two separate companies by mid-2026. He explains, “Warner Brothers Discovery is going to split into two companies in the next year” (04:00), a move anticipated by many following similar actions by Comcast with NBCUniversal.

Kameka probes the implications of this split, questioning, “What do you make of this in terms of like the industry? What is the signaling for you?” (05:57). Tim responds by contextualizing the shift, stating, “it's signaling the same thing that when we talked about the NBCUniversal cable TV Carve out signaled of cable TV as a business is if not dying, definitely dwindling” (06:10). He elaborates on the strategic separation, likening it to Netflix’s model of distinct streaming and studios divisions.

The discussion highlights leadership changes post-split, with CEO David Zaslav overseeing the streaming and studios arm, while CFO Gunnar Weidenfels takes charge of the global networks division (07:24). This strategic maneuver aims to streamline operations and address the limited growth prospects of cable TV networks.

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IV. Ad Spend Outlook: Optimism Amid Uncertainty

Shifting focus to the advertising spend landscape, Tim Peterson shares optimistic revisions to the U.S. ad spend forecast for 2025. He cites Brian Weeser from Madison & Wall’s increase from a 3.6% to a 6% growth projection (09:02). Kameka adds, “we just reported that ad spend outlook isn't as dim as headlines have made it seem” (08:44), challenging the prevailing pessimism.

The conversation addresses sector-specific trends, noting that categories like retail and automotive face challenges, whereas others continue to maintain or grow their ad expenditures. They discuss the impact of paused tariffs and positive economic indicators, such as a robust jobs report, which contribute to the less dire outlook.

However, the hosts maintain a cautious stance, acknowledging lingering uncertainties. Tim cautions, “I'm very wary of how things are going to go in the second half of this year” (10:42), emphasizing the unpredictability of forthcoming economic policies and their potential repercussions on ad spend.

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V. The AI Arms Race in Advertising: WPP’s Big Bet

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the escalating competition in artificial intelligence (AI) within the advertising sector. Kameka introduces the topic by stating, “WPP has become the latest agency to develop its own AI platform, thus fueling the AI arms race that we're in” (13:04).

Tim elaborates on the necessity for major advertising holding companies to innovate their AI capabilities, referencing Meta’s plans to automate campaign creation and OpenAI’s assertions about AI’s potential to revolutionize advertising workflows. He poses critical questions regarding the competitive edge and cost-effectiveness of proprietary AI tools developed by firms like WPP, compared to those offered directly by tech giants.

Kameka responds by highlighting WPP’s strategy of integrating bespoke AI models with clients’ first-party data, a "gold" asset in personalized advertising. She questions the differentiation, noting, “the question then comes down to, like who can do it better, faster, cheaper?” (15:29).

The hosts discuss leadership changes at WPP amid these strategic shifts. Tim mentions that CEO Mark Reed is stepping down, a move that underscores the significant transformation the company is undergoing in response to the AI surge (16:02). This transition coincides with broader industry consolidations and rebranding efforts, signaling a period of intense competition and evolution within the advertising technology landscape.

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VI. Preparation Insights from Cannes Veterans

To provide listeners with practical advice for navigating Cannes Lions, Kameka introduces industry veterans Jim Cooper and Seb Joseph. The trio discusses essential strategies for maximizing the festival experience:

• Scheduling and Meetings: Emphasis is placed on meticulous scheduling to accommodate the extensive walking required between venues. Kameka advises “giving yourself maybe like a 30 minute buffer to get from place to place” (27:11) to manage both logistical and cognitive demands.

• Survival Kits: The hosts share their “survival packs,” highlighting necessities such as water bottles, snacks, chargers, and comfortable footwear. Crystal Scanlon notes the importance of staying hydrated: “for every glass of wine I drink, I try to drink a glass of water to counter it” (27:29), while Seb Joseph underscores practical items like portable chargers and comfortable shoes.

• Health and Well-being: They caution against overindulgence, particularly on yachts, stressing the need to stay hydrated and rested to maintain productivity throughout the week. Kameka humorously warns, “if the yacht talks about leaving, be very cautious of that” (34:13) to avoid missing critical meetings.

• Networking Etiquette: The veterans discuss the balance between professional engagements and social interactions, advising listeners to prioritize work-related activities while remaining open to meaningful connections without succumbing to the party culture.

Seb Joseph provides insights into the ad tech sector’s presence at Cannes, observing that “you can probably judge the state of the ad tech market by the size of the yachts and the number of them that are in the marina” (24:30), using it as a metaphor for the industry's health and investment levels.

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VII. Conclusion

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts reflect on the multifaceted nature of Cannes Lions and its significance for the advertising and digital media industries. They underscore the importance of strategic preparation, staying informed about industry shifts, and leveraging AI innovations to stay competitive. The conversation concludes with a light-hearted exchange, reinforcing the camaraderie and collective anticipation surrounding the upcoming festival.

Listeners are encouraged to stay tuned for comprehensive coverage from the event, featuring interviews and analyses from Cannes veterans, ensuring that they remain informed about the latest trends and developments shaping the digital advertising landscape.

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Notable Quotes:

• Kameka McCoy: “We are a matter of days away from this year's Cannes Lion.” (00:23)
• Tim Peterson: “I’ve never been and historically never had any interest in going.” (00:17)
• Tim Peterson: “It’s signaling the same thing that when we talked about the NBCUniversal cable TV Carve out signaled of cable TV as a business is if not dying, definitely dwindling.” (06:10)
• Tim Peterson: “I'm very wary of how things are going to go in the second half of this year.” (10:42)
• Kameka McCoy: “WPP has become the latest agency to develop its own AI platform, thus fueling the AI arms race that we're in.” (13:04)
• Seb Joseph: “You can probably judge the state of the ad tech market by the size of the yachts and the number of them that are in the marina.” (24:30)

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a clear and engaging overview for those who have not listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[Crystal Scanlon]

Foreign.

[Kameka McCoy]

Hello. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Digiday Podcast. I'm your co host, Kameka McCoy, senior marketing reporter here at Digiday.

[Tim Peterson]

And I'm Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio at Digiday Media. What's up, Kimiko?

[Kameka McCoy]

Tim, we are a matter of days away from this year's Cannes Lion. Don't ask me if I'm prepared because the answer is no, you know, and.

[Tim Peterson]

I've never been and historically never had any interest in going. It's been gloomy and even rainy this morning here in Southern California and like, it's the closest I've ever been to feeling like kind of wish I was going to south of France next week with the rest of you.

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah, we are. I'm very excited to get away from the weather that's here. That much I will say. But it's almost like walking away from the storm that's happening here currently on the ground in the US Into a different type of storm that is Cannes. We've got a ton that we're going to be focusing on. Me personally, I'm there to learn more about, like, how the retail media networks are showing up. We'll be talking a lot about happening with the streaming services creators and a bunch of other stuff.

[Tim Peterson]

And maybe TikTok, maybe not.

[Kameka McCoy]

Correct. Correct. There is considerations for the TikTok band to be extended once again. I've lost count at the back and forth here. I'm not even going to bother timestamping this because I feel like if I timestamp it, it's going to be different by the time. But that's something else that we'll be paying attention to. TikTok usually has a villa set up there. So between me and our platform's reporter, Crystal Scanlon, you know, it'll be interesting to, to go in and see what they're. What they're.

[Tim Peterson]

I know this is like naive of me to have hoped that with this neck, this latest band deadline being June 19, that this would be the one that sticks where something would happen.

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah.

[Tim Peterson]

Other than it being extended because it's scheduled during can, it's scheduled during VidCon, which is like Comic Con for creators that we'll have here in Southern California. It just felt like if something's going to happen, this is the perfect time because you're going to be amongst a bunch of advertisers, agency execs. I'll be amongst a bunch of creators and teens and 20 somethings. Like, great opportunity to get reactions. But of course it Seems like probably not going to happen. Maybe that's for the best because it, I mean, even just in this past week, there's been so much news that feels like there's going to be plenty to talk about during Cannes and outside of Cannes, TikTok notwithstanding.

[Kameka McCoy]

So we've got a ton to talk about. And later on in this episode, we've got toucan veterans Jim Cooper, our editor in chief, and Seb Joseph, our executive news editor, joining us about what they expect to be happening on the ground and whatnot. So that'll be super, super interesting given they've gone for quite a while and seen like, ad tech row and yacht row come and go and shift in shape. And I'm sure with like the things that I mentioned, retail media networks and creators and whatnot playing a bigger role than they have in the past, that there's going to be a lot happening there on the ground. So we'll talk about that too.

[Tim Peterson]

Yeah. And it was also interesting just to hear how they prepare you as well, because you're a Cannes veteran, how you all prepare for can. As someone who's like never been to Ken before, it was just, I thought it was a really interesting conversation. Just hearing how you all kind of handle this event, that's always felt kind of like a boogeyman to me. When it comes to industry events, it.

[Kameka McCoy]

Is always a surprise that sneaks up on you. Every year, I think everybody tells themselves this is the year they're going to be prepared. Hopefully by the end of the podcast, people feel like at least they've got a little bit of time to be able to prepare themselves and that we were helpful in that. But before we get to that conversation, we've got this week's tip, Juicy Scoops.

[Tim Peterson]

Which are pretty juicy. Like generally, the juicy scoops are fairly juicy. These ones feel especially plump because. So we're recording this Monday morning. I woke up this morning to the news that Warner Brothers Discovery is going to split into two companies in the next year. Now, this wasn't hugely surprising, I think, for a lot of folks who kind of COVID the TV industry writ large, because. And late last year, Warner Brothers Discovery announced that it was going to create two new divisions within the company. There was going to be the streaming and studios division, which was effectively HBO Max, and then the Warner Brothers Discovery, or the Warner Brothers Movie and TV studios, and then a separate division for its cable TV network. So cnn, Discovery, tnt, tbs, and Warner Brothers Discovery made that announcement just weeks after Comcast announced that NBCUniversal was going to carve off a bunch of its cable TV networks and spin them off into a separate business. Comcast has gone through with that and that company is called Versant. And now Warner Bros. Discovery is saying cool. Now we're actually going to do the thing that everyone is expecting us to do, but we were very cagey about saying we're going to do. And so this is supposed to take effect mid-2026. So around this time next year we may have an HBO Max and Studios company and then a separate cable TV network company. And Warner Brothers Discovery is doing something very savvy with this, that cable TV network company which is like kind of the albatross that brings in a lot of the profit from for the business. But obviously its growth prospects are pretty limited. That's the company that's gonna get saddled with all of the debt that Warner Brothers Discovery has accumulated ever since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Networks.

[Kameka McCoy]

I have to ask, I mean to their credit a lot of this seems like back and forth and a little confusing and half stepping and whatnot. What do you make of this in terms of like the industry? What is the signaling for you?

[Tim Peterson]

I mean it's signaling the same thing that when we Talked about the NBCUniversal cable TV Carve out signaled of cable TV as a business is if not dying, definitely dwindling. That's maybe the most basic thing I could possibly say about it. And so this is something where it's just cleaving off that so that the streaming and studios business can go and be its own thing. And the model here is really as it always is, Netflix. Netflix has its streaming service and then it has a studios business where it creates a lot of the original content. That's effectively what this new streaming and studios company is going to be. That's the model. So makes a lot of sense from that standpoint. Pour one out for the cable TV side of things because um, that's just, that's a tough business to be in. And now you have another company that's going to be in that like A and E Networks, AMC Networks tier where like again still profitable business but just.

[Jim Cooper]

The growth prospects aren't there and we're.

[Kameka McCoy]

Going to have different executives now overseeing different parts of the business.

[Tim Peterson]

Yep. So Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who was know the CEO of Discovery before Discovery was acquired by WarnerMedia but kind of ate WarnerMedia and turned it into WBD, he's going to take over the streaming and studios company and then Warner Brothers Discovery CFO Gunnar Weidenfels is going to take over the global networks company is what they're calling it the cable TV conglomerate.

[Kameka McCoy]

Gotcha. Gotcha. So we'll be on watch for this until mid next year to see if we've got a second version percent and.

[Tim Peterson]

Then it's just kind of like, you know, what is the upfront next year look like? Because again, I expect they'll probably follow the NBCUniversal model. Where NBCU is selling ads for Versant is I think how you pronounce the name of their cable TV sibling, which is a horrible name. But that's a whole other thing. I would expect one of these companies is going to sell ads for the other for a period of time until there's some sort of transition. Yeah.

[Kameka McCoy]

Well, I mean, which also takes us to our next point is about ad spend and how that's going to shape up. Obviously, you know, upfronts for 2026 is ways down the road, but right now we've recently reported that ad spend outlook isn't as dim as headlines have made it seem.

[Tim Peterson]

For now, we'll see things change because like, yeah, so Brian Weeser from Madison and Wall changed up his ad spend US ad spend forecast for 2025 in this past week and he revised up the growth from 3.6% to 6%. You know, kind of the idea that Q1 actually, like, it wasn't so bad. Q2 isn't looking as bad. You know, Digiday senior media reporter Sarah Guaglioni had a story up recently talking with publishers about how Q2 has been going and the publishers were telling her similar things like it actually has been okay. There's categories like retail and auto that have been more challenged but other categories have continued to spend. And so I think especially with the pause to the China tariffs. Yeah. And then all the other new tariffs being paused and with this administration, who knows to what extent they're actually going to take effect in July when that 90 day pause comes up. So it just seems like, okay, things were looking bad, but actually like they're not looking as bad at the moment. There was the jobs report on Friday that was actually like pretty positive. So not to say that like everything's looking super rosy at the moment, but it's just not looking as dire as maybe it was looking a month ago.

[Kameka McCoy]

Do you think we all maybe had a little bit of Chicken Little syndrome? The sky is falling maybe.

[Tim Peterson]

I mean, at the same time, I.

[Kameka McCoy]

Don'T know, stuff looked bad. It did look bad.

[Tim Peterson]

I don't know that necessarily. Things look super great at the moment. I'm, I also lean more towards probably pessimism than optimism, but I'm very wary of how things are going to go in the second half of this year. Just because you have no idea what this administration is going to do or what impact that's going to have.

[Kameka McCoy]

This is completely fair to throw some numbers at it. Right. The digital component of ad spend is expected to grow by 10%. Open web is expected to grow by 2%. National TV, which we literally just talked about, is expected to shrink. And that's not including YouTube. And then digital TV is growing at expected to grow at 10%. I think to your point, the conversation about the projections and it being rosy, the conversations that I'm having, the question then becomes, okay, how much of this is after effects from, you know, finding out about the tariffs and things like that and like prep that was done ahead of time and how that foundation that was set back then how long does that foundation stand before it starts getting shaky? Right. That's kind of the question here as we move into Q3 and Q4.

[Tim Peterson]

Yeah. And I think Seb makes the point in his coverage of Brian Weiser's outlook change that US gdp, US Gross Domestic Product has been positive, but how much of that is companies importing goods ahead of the tariffs and so kind of inflating the gdp? He also, you know, raised makes the point of like the real concern is can be just stagflation, that just like growth is very much slowed. And what are the knock on effects of that?

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah, because even leading up to can, when we talked about, you know, like this, the willingness to spend, to show up there, one of the talking points that obviously came up again is like, you know, we are cognizant that it's not that there's like this, that money has dried up all of a sudden, but because there's so much uncertainty in the marketplace now, it becomes a matter of like, well, do I want to get into a long term predicament right now, A long term contract, slower to sign things and whatnot. So there's, there's a lot of factors that are kind of teeing up to, you know, the picture that is the economic landscape and the ad spend landscape.

[Tim Peterson]

Yeah, because I mean the other thing to keep in mind is it was only three months ago when Brian Weiser and others had revised their 2025 ad spend forecasts down.

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah.

[Tim Peterson]

And that like also kicked off a lot of the tariff concern and the economic downturn concerns. Early kind added to those concerns. And so three months from now, I'm very curious to see like what these, to what extent the forecasts are revised again and in what direction.

[Kameka McCoy]

Well, one thing that we do not have to question about is the AI arms race. I like that phrase, AI arms race that's happening. WPP has become the latest agency to develop its own AI platform, thus fueling the AI arms race that we're in.

[Tim Peterson]

They're all going to do it because it's like we talked about. I think it was last week's episode where you have Meta reportedly by the end of next year planning to make it so that advertisers can just have AI do everything when it comes to creating their campaigns. There was that book Blur we talked about where Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI talks about. I think it was 95%. 95% of the work that advertisers agencies do can be automated by AI. So of course the agency holding companies are going to need to figure out like, well, crap, how do we own those tools, how do we create those tools? And so WPP is the latest. Then it just becomes a question of how impactful are these tools and to what extent do these agency holding companies do their AI tools supersede all the other AI tools that are going to be available in the market? Like if you're an advertiser and you can just outsource all of your meta campaigns to Meta's AI tools, do you need an agency handling your meta campaigns in any respect? How does that bring business away from WPP? Similarly, like if OpenAI has a tool set and Google, Amazon, all the others do this kind of thing. If you're an advertiser, especially a small and mid sized advertiser, how much do you need agencies at that point?

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah, WPP is kind of positioning this as a bespoke AI model that's supposed to meet the needs of each individual client, combining its model with their first party data. Which is like gold right now. Right. It can be used for like planning and targeting and whatnot. But to your point, Meta does a lot of that in their plans further down the road. And Google, Snap, all of these platforms have something similar. So the question then comes down to, like you said, who can do it better, faster, cheaper?

[Tim Peterson]

Yep, cheaper seems to be the operable word. And yeah, so, but who won't be at WPP to see all this transpire will be CEO Mark Reed, who announced, you know, not so long after they WPP announced this AI platform that he's going to be stepping down at the end of this year, which, I mean, that's obviously a big job and a big time for the CEO of WPP to be stepping down, given this huge shift that agency holding companies are experiencing at the moment.

[Kameka McCoy]

And Mark's been with the company for a long time. You're talking 30 years. And the last seven of those years were spent as CEO. The timing is what's interesting because it's been a rocky time for wpp. Having been dethroned is probably the best way that I can put it by Publicis at the beginning of this year.

[Tim Peterson]

Yeah. And then like, obviously, you know, recently they had the Group M rebranding to WPP Media. There's the Omnicom IPG merger that supposedly will still happen at some point in the next year or so. So a lot going on at WPP and as well as among its counterparts, which I imagine just another big thing to be talking about with folks over in Cannes.

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah. Which again, gives Tick Tock some time to kind of play in the background and say, no one worry about us. But while Seb, Jim Crystal, I and others are on the ground, we'll be sure to inquire about it regardless. But again, to this week's conversation, we brought Jim Cooper, our editor in chief on Seb Joseph, our executive news editor, to talk to us. Well, including myself, I don't maybe a canned veteran, four or five years, I'll give it to myself.

[Tim Peterson]

That's veterans.

[Kameka McCoy]

About how to best prepare and some of the things that we expect to be coming out this this year from the, I would say one of the ad industry's biggest moments. Hello. Hello. So glad to have you folks with us today on the podcast, we've got Cannes Lyons veterans, our executive news editor, Seb Joseph, and our editor in chief, Jim Cooper joining us for the pod. How are you guys?

[Seb Joseph]

Good, thanks. Thanks for having us.

[Crystal Scanlon]

Thanks, Kimiko, really excited to join you and Seb and Tim, we're just a.

[Kameka McCoy]

Short distance away for Cannes. First question I got to ask is, has anybody prepped anything? How are you guys? Schedules lining up? Are we ready?

[Crystal Scanlon]

I think I'm ready. I've got a bunch of video interviews set and scheduled, so that'll be great. And then I've got some panels and a leader's dinner. So my schedule is definitely filling up. I mean, you've got to work fairly far in advance. Doing it last minute is a kiss of death.

[Kameka McCoy]

What about you, Seb?

[Seb Joseph]

Jim's kind of put me to shame there because I'm definitely not ready yet. But yeah, kind of hoping to be. So over the next kind of week or so between sort of locking in the last kind of few interviews and just kind of figuring out from a broader sort of event sort of perspective, like logistically how I'm gonna sort of manage it all. Yeah, I'm still a way away, but slowly but surely definitely sort of making inroads into that.

[Crystal Scanlon]

Kimiko. I follow Seb's Slack channel and he's pretty ready.

[Jim Cooper]

So how manageable is can. I've never been. And the stories that I remember a long time ago, hearing stories of Cannes where one person was Talking about the CEO of this creative agency with their shirt off at 2 in the morning at some bar on the. I'm guessing the Croisette Croisset, whatever it's called. And that's always colored my idea of cannabis. It's just like maybe there are meetings, but really it's just parties at bars in the middle of the night. I don't know how far off the mark that is or how dead on that is.

[Crystal Scanlon]

I think Al at Seb take a swing at this too. I'm sure he's got his take on it, but like there are a lot of meetings taking place. The one thing that's that I think makes Cannes worthwhile is that you can walk everywhere. The quas is like this sort of like crescent shaped street right on the water and their hotels are lined up one after the other. So you can spend all day sort of like going from meeting to meeting to meeting on different floors in these hotels. And you can see a lot of people. That said, Tim, the shirt off at the gutter bar at 4 in the morning is a very real thing.

[Jim Cooper]

Fantastic. This is why I've never gone. I have no interest in that.

[Crystal Scanlon]

I think you. I think, Tim, I think this is a missed opportunity for you. The video you could shoot there would be epic.

[Tim Peterson]

Oh God.

[Jim Cooper]

The lawsuits we would get would be also epic.

[Crystal Scanlon]

That's probably true, actually.

[Kameka McCoy]

That's a really, really good point you bring up, Tim. I think there are. I want to backtrack a little bit. And Tim, given that you've never been. What is your interpretation of CAN and why it matters to this industry that.

[Jim Cooper]

It'S like the frat house version of ces?

[Kameka McCoy]

That's fair. And I want to kick it back to Seb and Jim. I've been. I want to say. I want to say this is probably my fourth or fifth year going. It gets kind of foggy when you start talking about Cannes during COVID and being on the present there. That is one way to describe it. Tim, from my pov, I would say the proper can, right, is the one that takes place in the Palais where the award shows happen. Everybody gets honored for their creativity. And the other part is the meetings, the wheeling and dealings and the then deal makings that happen on the ground. But that's just my pov. I've only been there four or five years. Seb and Jim have me beat as far as how many times they've gone.

[Jim Cooper]

Do people go to the award show? Is that actually I'm aware that there is awards that are handed out. I don't know how much that actually figures into the week for anyone beyond the recipients.

[Crystal Scanlon]

So Cannes been funny. I tried to count the number of years I've gone and I missed one year. But this will be my 13th year going. And during that time we've seen a really interesting sort of evolution of the festival in that tech, ad tech specifically, and media, big media take up the first half of the week. They've sort of marched into what has traditionally been a sort of creative festival. And so they dominate Sunday to Wednesday and it's even creeping into Thursday. But what happens then is an inflection point and they'll leave. They'll go back to New York or LA or London and the creatives descend. These are the guys from Sao Paulo in their Havani flip flops and the creatives from Stockholm and Oslo with neck tats. The Viking creatives. And they are the people that sort of like hang out at the Palais. Look at the work. This is a festival of creativity, so it's really not a tech and media festival in its origins, but those people are there. But the back half of the week people are in the Palais and lining up to watch the creative awards being handed out over the weekend.

[Tim Peterson]

That does draw a lot of parallels.

[Jim Cooper]

With ces because CES started out as Consumer Electronics Conference and then the tech and media and advertising folks invaded and basically have their own conference within the auspices of ces. It sounds like there's a similar thing going on where there's the auspices of advertising creative. But then for a lot of people it sounds like it's just meetings, meeting meetings, shirts off at the gutter bar.

[Crystal Scanlon]

That's completely correct. And there's a lot of rose consumed along the way. And so people are sort of like sort of a little blissed out on that. But the media and tech people do take a lot of meetings. There's the ad tech armada in the harbor there where you have yachts lined up, where you sort of go and hang out and drink. And they do dozens and dozens of meetings. You can go to the Double Verify yacht or the tea jot and get lunch and have a meeting. But those executives are there and they have meetings stacked up like cordwood every half an hour. People see people there and there is connection being made. It's not all creative executives getting hammered throughout the week.

[Jim Cooper]

Seb, why do the ad tech folks insist on meeting on yachts?

[Seb Joseph]

I think it's about flexing. Right. And also because they were never like the most welcomed of sort of groups, you know, within, you know, the kind of festival, the kind of harbor. The marina was the place for them to sort of be particularly, you know, a decade or so when they, you know, first started to kind of surface at Cannes, there was all of the money that was kind of pouring into it. And so that was the way they could show up and sort of grab attention and bag all the sort of. The kind of the best meetings of sort of clients and that sort of thing. I think it's interesting cause you can probably judge the state of the ad tech market by the size of the yachts and the number of them that are in the marina. So that's always a good kind of bellwether for the state of the industry. Just have a look at the marina when you go down there and you'll kind of see who's doing well and. And who's not.

[Jim Cooper]

Who's got a rowboat, size of the yacht?

[Seb Joseph]

Yeah, the paddle boats. Yeah.

[Crystal Scanlon]

Another thing is they get you on the yacht and it's sometimes hard to get off the yacht. So they ply you with excellent food and you're there. God forbid you actually leave the marina. Then you're stuck and you're out in the water and you can't ever get back.

[Tim Peterson]

Jesus.

[Seb Joseph]

That actually happened to me one time, to be fair.

[Tim Peterson]

Yeah.

[Jim Cooper]

Because I'm curious how you all think about scheduling meetings and giving yourself time to get from one meeting to another. And then also just the domino effect of. I feel like anytime there's these big events where everyone's got a bunch of meetings and everything's spread out. You get meetings that get canceled or pushed back. And so there's a lot of calendar Tetris that goes on. Kimiko, how do you kind of manage your meeting schedule? Do you try to give yourself a certain amount of time between meetings?

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah. To Jim's point earlier, the great thing about Cannes is that it's Walkable. But the bad thing about Cannes is you're walking everywhere, right? If you've got a meeting down closer to Yacht Row or Ad Tech Row where that's at and then you've got another one down by like Yahoo on the beach. That's to me and my little legs that seems like a mile long walk. So you gotta really huff it. I give myself maybe like a 30 minute buffer to get from place to place. One just on account of like you know, the, the walking. But two also just to give yourself a brain break, right to be able to account for the next wing that you got coming up. But it's, it's not an easy feat to get from place to place. It's really a spread out situation. So you've got to give yourself that buffer time.

[Jim Cooper]

And do you all have like survival packs that you keep like if you want it seems like that's freely available but you're going to dehydrate or blackout at some point. Like do you all go with like packs of I don't know, Clif bars, water bottles, like one of those freaking Camelbacks maybe.

[Crystal Scanlon]

My rule of thumb is with is that for every glass of I drink, I try to drink a glass of water to counter it because dehydration can be a real problem. So I have a big bottle of water that I carry around in my bag. I also have Advil and I have kind bars that just sort of gobble along the way because you're not guaranteed. You're guaranteed but you're not necessarily guaranteed.

[Jim Cooper]

You know, a decent lunch sep. What's in your survival pack?

[Seb Joseph]

Aside from the kind of the usual stuff, I kind of keep it pretty, no frills, like comfy kicks are a must have, you know to kind of Kimiko and Jim's Point there's way more walking than people expect. Sunglasses, you know, a charger, a portable kind of charger for you know, my mobile phone. And to Jim's point a bottle of water always comes with me. Yeah, kind of nothing fancy, just the basics to keep me moving. And then in terms of like food and stuff like that, I tend to just follow the catering. Given the abundance of like food and stuff like that that's there I think otherwise it's so expensive there. Yeah, you end up spending a fortune on a croissant.

[Crystal Scanlon]

To Seb's Point a mophie charger is crucial because the outlets are few and.

[Jim Cooper]

Far between and you gotta make sure you have the adapter too. For those of us coming from the States can We go. Anything fancy in your survival pack?

[Kameka McCoy]

Well, we're in France so naturally I've got a baguette stashed away in my bag as I'm walking up and down. Just take a bite of that every once in a while to keep me going.

[Seb Joseph]

Oh, could we cut?

[Kameka McCoy]

But no to the other points I do keep an adapter, I do keep a mophie or something like that to keep my phone charged, my laptop charged and I also given I've been there so many times at this point I've got checkpoints where I know there's going to be food at, on the yachts there's going to be food. Any of the houses there's going to be AC and food. So I kind of track around, around those things. But you know, in addition to my, my notebook, my laptop and that type of thing I keep in my survival bag and like I said, addition to my baguette.

[Jim Cooper]

What's the dress code for like obviously 4am Got her bar. It seems like no dress code but like to what extent is the rest of it? No shirts, no shoes, no service.

[Kameka McCoy]

I will say I pack just straight dresses. Just straight dresses. It's way too hot to be trying to like I've seen people dress to the nines where they've got these gorgeous, you know, outfits and whatnot. I will say this is a hard learned lesson that Sarah Jordy and I got last year. There are some really nice events that happen there. So in addition to Steps Point about having comfy shoes, you want to have some gear that's going to be nicer for some of these other, you know, events. But yeah, anything that allows a breeze to come through is going to be in your best interest.

[Crystal Scanlon]

Yeah, you're on the move a lot so you want to, as Seb said, you want to have really comfortable shoes. Sneakers are totally fine. I kind of dress like a 12 year old when I'm there. It's like, you know like khakis and sneakers and like a not quite a T shirt but like a, you know like a polo shirt. That's about as dressed up as I get because otherwise you're going to be uncomfortable and it's a long day to sweat through.

[Tim Peterson]

I dressed like a 12 year old.

[Jim Cooper]

Where you're going to clothes.

[Seb Joseph]

The boss just basically said I just. Yeah, that's literally what I was going to. That's literally what I was going to say. Jim, you made me feel really bad. Now.

[Jim Cooper]

What'S kind of socially acceptable when it comes to how early you schedule meetings for or how late you schedule meetings for.

[Crystal Scanlon]

That's really crucial because my first few cans I was, you know, the eager beaver and I was like, yeah, I'll meet you for 9am breakfast. And they. You get completely ghosted. So I usually don't do anything before 10:30.

[Kameka McCoy]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I, I try my best to especially like navigating the, the ups and downs of the walking up and down the Croisset again. You give yourself that buffer time in the morning as well. So anything past like 9:45, 10:00am is pretty good for me, the sweet spot.

[Jim Cooper]

So how about you?

[Seb Joseph]

Yeah, I struggle to kind of sleep at the best of times, so I'm a bit different. I'm probably up sort of around nine and I'll sort of try and catch up with, you know, a couple of kind of key people that I know are going to be sort of slammed later on in the day. But yeah, normally my day doesn't really start in terms of like formal kind of meetings and that sort of thing, you know, until sort of 10 and then I, I try and sort of have everything sort of play out up until 4 and then that's between 4 and sort of 5, 4 and 6. That's my time to sort of write and sort of get all my notes together for like the briefings and the articles that we've sort of got to be turning around. But yeah, so between 10 and 4, that's probably the more intense part of my day. And depending on who's about, you know, I'll be out from like 9, 8:30 at the earliest.

[Jim Cooper]

Do you all have any don'ts when it comes to your Cannes agenda? I definitely don't go to this kind of party or this kind of dinner. I don't meet in this area of Cannes, anything that's just off limits. Given that you all have been to Cannes multiple years at this point.

[Seb Joseph]

As.

[Crystal Scanlon]

I said before, you don't want to be on a boat that leaves the harbor because you won't get back from the East Coast. The one thing you don't want to do to your point, Tim, is find yourself at the gutter bar when your east coast internal clock kicks in because you're like, oh, I'm wide awake and it's 4:30 in the morning. I can stay out for a few more hours. Try not to do that. Maybe take one of the days and not go out at all. Because we're there to work really and so we're not really there to sort of party very Hard. It happens. But you just want to sort of set yourself up to be able to survive the week, because if you don't follow simple rules of just taking care of yourself, it's going to crash and burn and never, ever convince yourself, I'm just going to stay up all night and go straight to the airport. Oh, God, that's bad. That's a bad idea.

[Kameka McCoy]

You won't. You'll be trapped in France forever. Yeah, I'm of the same mind. My don'ts are, if the yacht talks about leaving, be very cautious of that. That runs into other meetings that thinks that you have my set up. And then also they're not offering you water, they're plowing you with more rose, so there's a better chance of dehydration once you're on that yacht in the middle of the ocean. That's probably my biggest don't. But also, like, you know, to Jim's point, don't not make time for yourself. Make sure that you're getting the correct amount of rest, drinking the adequate amount of water, that, that type of thing to make sure that you're. You're functioning the next day.

[Jim Cooper]

How available are especially like, kind of the big wigs that go to can. Cause I know, like, ces, a lot of times the big execs from the tech companies, the ad agencies, the media companies can kind of be locked up in rooms at the Aria or the Cosmopolitan, and they aren't really mingling among the rest. How much are the top people mingling?

[Crystal Scanlon]

I would say they're more prone to mingle than CES because again, they're walking themselves to meeting to meeting, from suite to suite to villa to villa. So you see people that you might not see at, like, CES out and about, but that said, they usually have a phalanx of PR people around them, and that's something you have to schedule. I find that you can schedule meetings and they'll be more willing to take that meeting, but, like, serendipitously, not so much.

[Jim Cooper]

Kamika, I feel like when we did the kind of recession indicators episode back in April, we were talking about CAN having some of those indicators, one being the size of the yachts or just how many yachts are in the marina. I feel like another was just how many people go to Cannes and who goes to Can. Do you all have a sense on how this year's CAN is stacking up to last year's?

[Kameka McCoy]

Well, notoriously, the powers that be at CAN are real stingy with their. Their numbers. But in My own reporting as I'm working on like walk up pieces, the. The numbers of people that we're sending is about the same. Right. The numbers of delegates that we're sending is about the same. What's changing that I'm hearing is kind of the presence that some of these platforms, agencies and brands are having on the ground. Historically, they've been pretty extravagant. Some of the, like one or two of them are tapered. Others, they're coming for the first time. So they're having to really, really come harder to make sure that they're, I guess, taking up the correct amount of space at can to make sure that when they go back home that they're taking business with them.

[Crystal Scanlon]

I suspect, like it was interesting at Possible Possible. Like right after sort of the tariff news sort of kicked in, possible got a uptick in attendees. I think that what we heard there in Miami is that people are saying, okay, I'm not sure what's going to happen in the third quarter. I'm going to pull back my presence, maybe not send a full team to Cannes, but heavy up if possible. So I think that the just sort of uncertain economic climate might sort of suppress attendance at Cannes this year. That's just a hunch though.

[Jim Cooper]

Seb, what do you expect to be the big topics of conversation at this can?

[Seb Joseph]

Yeah. To kind of build on, you know, what, what sort of Jim was just talking about there. I think. I think we'll get that classic Cannes mix. You know, lots of unfiltered takes on the state of the industry. Right. Which is dealing with everything from the advent of AI to ongoing sort of economic sort of turbulence. I guess for me, I'm especially curious to see how the AI platforms show up this year. Right. OpenAI perplexity and others. You know, it feels like it's only a matter of time before they start going after ad budgets in a serious way, given the amount of kind of capital they're kind of burning through at the moment. And I think TikTok's going to be a big one too, especially with the, the US deadline sort of extension looming while we're out there. So I'll definitely be watching sort of how that plays out. And then there's sort of X. Right. Which, which you know, always brings drama. And the big holding companies, there's a lot of tension there whether it's what's happening with, with kind of Group M, you know, with a merger noise around Omnicom and sort of ipg. And that's not even touching, you know, on ad Tech players. Right. Or the fact that investment bankers and private equity folks are starting to have a bigger presence out there. Yeah. So it's going to be. It's going to be a packed week, that's for sure.

[Jim Cooper]

I guess if there's any like Fiji Simo spottings at Cannes, that'll be a big signal plans.

[Seb Joseph]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jim Cooper]

Kimika, for you, any topics of conversation you're looking for?

[Kameka McCoy]

Well, I'm still very much in retail media network mode, so my expectations are they're going to be a bigger presence than they have been passed to subsequent about some of the AI platforms. I expect there to be. Last year they just kind of showed up. They were there pitching their offerings. This year I expect them to have like activations and things like that to really make a pitch for advertising dollars more so than they have historically. So your Albertsons even like data brokers, Chase Media Solutions and things like that. I expect to see and be trending.

[Jim Cooper]

Jim, how about you? Because you'll be doing the video interviews. Is there anything you expect to dominate those discussions?

[Crystal Scanlon]

Yeah, I mean, I think that's. I'm going to try to really focus on sort of the CMO role. Marketers are there in mass and there are a lot of CMOs, which is. So it makes it. I'll have a lot of conversations about what their intentions are in the second half of the year regarding the economy, how AI is going to reshape, how they approach their ad tech partners, but also their media agencies and again, get a sense of how worried they are about the second half of the year. Just because Candle ends right at the start of the third quarter and we're expecting the third quarter to be a little bumpy and there are a lot of unknowns there. So trying to get a sense of where their priorities are will be sort of my mission for the week. And mission's a good word for camp because it's really important to have a mission ahead of time because if you just land there cold, the FOMO is intense and you can have a tendency to get lost. So, I mean, I like this conversation about how the three of us have different focuses for the week. That'll make our coverage really rich, I think.

[Jim Cooper]

Yeah. All right. Well, it sounds like you all have plenty to do between now and when you take off between meeting, scheduling, packing, maybe car bloating. I don't know if that's a thing pre can but appreciate you all coming on for having this conversation.

[Crystal Scanlon]

Tim, I know you want to go.

[Jim Cooper]

I've never said that in my life.

[Tim Peterson]

Thanks for listening to this episode of the JJ Podcast. If you enjoyed it, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening. Get more from Digiday with our daily newsletter sent out each weekday morning. Visit digiday.comnewsletters to sign up.