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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is where the ad world’s creative stars light up the French Riviera, exchange ideas, and then drink, dance and network all night. Following the drama of the Cannes Film Festival — which was marred by two jewel heists and a man brandishing a fake grenade and gun loaded with blanks at Oscar winner Christoph Waltz — the Cannes Lions 2 a.m. curfew for loud music on the beach has been moved up to 1:30 a.m. Beach parties going ahead include Google’s Creative Sandbox soiree, the Xbox Music Party at the Microsoft Beach Club — and the inevitable appearance of Sean “Diddy” Combs. Ad Age reports that boozy beach bashes can sometimes turn ugly, such as when a group of tipsy Swedish creatives buried their Gold Lion statue in the sand, losing it forever despite offering a $1,000 reward. But despite the hangover, the many speakers worth getting up for this week include Lou Reed, Vivienne Westwood, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, Annie Leibovitz, Conan O’Brien and Tumblr’s David Karp.
Martha tweets sober
MARTHA Stewart says people think she’s been drinking when she mangles words on Twitter. She told a panel at Cannes Lions, “Some people assume I am drunk if I accidentally misspell something.” The domestic diva was joined by comedian and TV host Nick Cannon and Spice Girl Melanie Brown to divulge their Twitter tactics. Cannon admits he’s gotten into Twitter fights with people, while Stewart reveals, “Some of the tweets I receive are obnoxious. I don’t answer them ever.” And while Stewart never tweets pictures of her grandkids, Cannon said he and wife Mariah Carey post pictures of their twins because, “We’ve taken the power away from the paparazzi. Five years ago, they used to sit outside and chase us around. Now our pictures aren’t in high demand.”
Jack takes on Net
LOOKING rather ruffled after a late night on the Croisette, Jack Black (right) was up early for a Monday morning Yahoo panel. Black admitted: “Um, I drank a little bit too much last night. That’s what’s up!” But he did manage to pull it together to announce the Internet will be the venue for his next work, a project with Yahoo that’s a scripted Web comedy about female ghost hunters. “We’re excited about dipping our toe into the Internet world,” he said. “The show is about two really hilarious, beautiful girls who have a talent for contacting the other side. It’s kind of a ‘Ghostbusters’ for the new generation.” He said the Web is a great medium for comedy as it can allow more experimentation and cater to those with short attention spans. Black explained, “I think about the way I like to watch content on the Internet. I watch it on a small screen over short periods of time. I find that the smaller the screen, the shorter my attention span. And comedy nuggets are good in shorter time spans.” Black was joined by Yahoo’s Erin McPherson and whiz Nick D’Aloisio, who sold his news-aggregator app Summly to Yahoo for $30 million.
Yachts the place
Cannes Lions parties roar into action the second the daytime sessions end. On the Clear Channel mega-yacht, MediaLink’s Wenda Harris Millard threw a glamorous Power Women’s “girls night out” bash with longtime friend Carolyn Everson, Facebook vice president of global marketing solutions. Guests on the 130-foot Sensei docked in Cannes Harbor at sunset yesterday included Facebook’s Nicola Mendelsohn, AOL’s Brand Group CEO Susan Lyne, Conde Nast Entertainment president Dawn Ostroff, Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange CEO Shelley Zalis, Clear Channel Outdoor president and chief operating officer Suzanne Grimes, Starcom’s Laura Desmond and Coca-Cola’s Wendy Clark, MTV founder Bob Pittman and Clear Channel president John Sykes. They were treated to a mind-bending experience by top mentalist Lior Suchard, who was astonishingly able to accurately guess the names of the first conquests of some of the ladies. Their embarrassment faded as the rose wine flowed. Meanwhile, over on AT&T’s yacht Artisan, AT&T AdWorks’ Michael Rosen and Chris Monteferrante kept the champagne flowing for guests including GroupM Global chief digital officer Rob Norman and the School of Marketing’s Nicholas Primola.