Tech Invasion at Cannes Ad Awards

Estimating digital marketing spending to reach up to $100 billion in a few years, Microsoft’s chief of advertising strategy Yusuf Mehdi was one of hundreds from the company to fly to Cannes, France for the annual Cannes Lions advertising industry awards event. Executives from Yahoo and Google are also expected to attend, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One reason they’ll be there is to recruit. “My executive team from around the world…will be there scouting the digital talent,” JWT’s Bob Jeffrey told the Journal’s Suzanne Vranica. Like the film festival, the event draws a diverse and international crowd.

As the money shifts from traditional television and print campaigns to online efforts, so will the participants at advertising events. Microsoft will be giving a presentation reporting that younger viewers — whom brands are desperate to court in order to build lifelong loyalties — are avoiding traditional video advertising models.

A recent report from Nielsen covered in TV Week confirms that assessment, stating that while Americans are watching as much if not more television, ratings and advertising impressions are down because of Digital Video Recorders. The report also states that people are watching an average of only 2 minutes of online video a day, whether streamed or downloaded, though admitted it was hard to estimate.

Entries to Cyber Cannes, the category for online advertising efforts, have risen in recent years, while television and film entries have fallen. One juror, Bob Scarpelli of DDB Worldwide, suggested that the television category be expanded to include all motion picture advertising including spots produced for web and mobile, but was turned down.

Seems to me that he’ll have a more receptive audience next year. After all, what’s the difference between a spot that airs on Canal+ and a spot that’s broadcast through Joost?