How influencer marketing will show up in Cannes

Influencer marketing is poised to have a bigger presence at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, as influencer agency Influential takes over the prime beach spot long held by Twitter. 

This comes as Twitter is expected to remain largely absent from the festival following its takeover by Elon Musk last fall. While influencer marketing has certainly been a topic of conversation in previous years, creators haven’t always been well-represented at Cannes because VidCon runs the same week, and is more known as a creator-focused event. That hasn’t stopped some influencer agencies from trying to have creators be a larger part of the Cannes conversation. Last year, influencer agency Whalar brought five creators, including Rod Thill, to Cannes.

Having an influencer marketing agency with a slice of prime beach space seems to nod to how creator marketing might be able to better weather economic headwinds, and underpins the social platforms. 

At its beach, Influential plans to host daily events and talks for creators and marketers, as well as happy hours and evening parties. Speakers will include chief marketing officers from Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Mastercard, Ulta Beauty, Bayer, e.l.f. Beauty, MassMutual, L’Oréal and Qualcomm. Paris Hilton, David Dobrik, Natalie Mariduena, Josh Richards, Adam Waheed and Bozoma Saint John are also scheduled to appear. Influential is partnering with Brand Innovators for its Cannes activation. 

“The Cannes organizers came to us with several choices, and when we saw the beach was an option, we knew it would be a reach because it’s prime real estate,” said Chris Detert, chief communications officer at Influential.

Detert said that the cost of the location was a “seven-figure endeavor” and that the companies will have right of first refusal and “plan to do this for many years to come.” Last summer, beach real estate during Cannes cost around $2 million dollars.

This will be both Influential and Brand Innovators’ seventh year of participating at Cannes. In 2022, Influential had a yacht at the ad industry's annual gathering on the French Riviera.

Last year, Amazon, TikTok, and Roku made their Cannes debut. The tech industry is now going through some turmoil as executives and shareholders react to recessionary fears and high interest rates, and look to cut costs. 

Twitter responded to a request for comment on the platform’s Cannes plans with a poop emoji.