Creators Take on Cannes

A pool party at a past Cannes festival. Photo by Getty.

This weekend, I’m heading to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the glitzy and celebrity-studded advertiser conference in the south of France where creators have become a growing presence.

Major platforms favored by creators will be at the conference, including Meta Platforms, TikTok, YouTube, Snap and Spotify. Many of them are bringing along creators to attend their events and speak on panels. Spotify, for example, will host discussions with online stars including podcasters Alex Cooper and Emma Chamberlain, who started her career on YouTube. Top leaders will be there, too, including Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and Pinterest CEO Bill Ready, along with actors such as comedian Kevin Hart. (I’ll be moderating a panel on Tuesday about the art of brand building with executives from Roku, Peacock and Walmart. More information on that below).