Atlantic New York offers free rides from Nice airport to Cannes—if you’ll hear the agency’s pitch

We don’t see enough fun agency stunts at Cannes Lions, but here’s one: Atlantic New York will be operating its own car service next week, offering free rides between Nice airport and Cannes to any prospective clients willing to hear the agency’s elevator pitch along the way.

Atlantic Car Service—it even sounds like a legit taxi company—is now accepting bookings. A van will be making runs Tuesday to Thursday (June 20-22) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The agency’s four top principals—João Coutinho, Marco Pupo, Daniel Greener and Suzanne Barbosa—will all be aboard. One of them will drive (they’ll take turns) while the other three pitch the agency’s services.

They’ve built the website out into an amusing take on car-service sites. “Ranked #1 in car service in Cannes,” the site blares near the top, next to a golden steering wheel icon. An asterisk clarifies this ranking is among “car services run by New York City based advertising agencies in Cannes.”

Other perks, per the fine print:

• “Our drivers are business drivers. C-Level executives.”
• “We’ll always go the extra kilometer for your business. Literally.”
• “Save 120 Euros from your marketing budget. Right in our first meeting.”
• “We take care of your baggage. And your emotional baggage from prior agency experiences.”

There are some great fake testimonials as well—e.g., “Had the best experience with Atlantic going from Nice to Cannes. All I had to do was to watch a couple of their case studies and pretend I was interested! Strongly recommend!” 

The one thing they request is some serious inquiries. “Our time is limited, so please take the bus if you’re not currently looking for a new agency,” the site reads.

And, in true Cannes form, the site also helpfully confirms that the Atlantic execs will be sober. Hey, you never know with all that rosé around.

The stunt is right on brand for Atlantic, whose playfulness is evident in brand work from Prime Video’s elongated football to Blockbuster’s Super Bowl ambush.

“We see this as a funny awareness idea within our style, but we're ready for the ride!” said Coutinho, who shares the chief creative officer title with Pupo (Greener is creative director, and Barbosa is managing director). “The van is waiting for us at the airport and for prospective clients!”

Coutinho told Ad Age that the team is excited about its adventure, even if it means missing a bit of the festival proper.

“We’ll divide and conquer after we get a sense of interest and volume and coordinate schedules from there,” he said.

Atlantic graciously offered Ad Age a ride, but alas, we arrive Sunday.