How a Culture Clash Hindered Netflix’s Ad Push

The ad industry’s annual Cannes Lions festival in June is an occasion for the entire media and ad industry to gather together at parties, on yachts, at beach clubs and in private cliffside villas. Outsiders may wonder whether any real work gets done, which seemed to be a question Netflix’s new ad president, Amy Reinhard—a newcomer to the ad industry—had when she attended this past June.

At one point during the week, Reinhard asked her underlings how many ad deals the company had struck since arriving in the French Riviera town, according to people with knowledge of Netflix’s ad operations. To the sales executives, who see the endless socializing as a way to meet as many existing or potential advertising clients as possible in a short amount of time and talk up the value of Netflix, Reinhard’s question was a sign of how little she understood the ad industry, which thrives on relationships.