The annual Cannes Lions festival of Creativity has long stood as the benchmark for creativity in the ad industry, but as programmatic ad platforms grow in popularity, rising tech companies are starting to crash the agency party.
As the Cannes Lions festival has evolved beyond agencies and creative, this year there is more recognition that technology brands and platforms are leading brands to immerse consumers in personally targeted experiences- something creativity cannot achieve without a large dose of science.
Real time bidding platform Rubicon Project is hosting a glamourus rooftop party at the festival, while rival is sending about 10 of its executives to the South of France this year, spending a reported $100,000 to woo clients at other events of its own.
Meanwhile, MediaMath is sending 15 people to Cannes and hosting two events in a penthouse called Le Rooftop. Similarly Turn is sending more people to the festival than it did last year, including most of its senior executives. It too will host events and dinners for prospective and current clients, hoping to attract new business or to broaden existing relationships.
The rise to prominence of ad tech firms at Cannes has been quick and noticeable. Just two years ago many of the same companies attended but kept relatively low profiles.
A creative festival is also attractive to ad-tech due to the industry’s growing emphasis on personalised targeting.
With big data being used to deliver personalised ads, ad-tech companies’ pitch is that their software matters to creatives more now than ever.
