The party’s over at Cannes, at least for the Daily Mail.
Cannes organiser Ascential is cracking down on “inappropriate” behaviour at this month’s Festival and has singled out the Daily Mail/Mail Online for its raucous parties on yacht alley. The Mail says it’s not going anyway this year – so there.
Last year those of us queuing for News UK’s bash featuring Take That and Fatboy Slim were somewhat gobsmacked to see a squad of half naked male break dancers grinding and sweating away on the Mail Online boat. Some of the media experts in attendance wondered WTF that had to do with newspaper advertising. And how anyone on yacht alley ever managed to get any sleep.
But Cannes – Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to give it its full handle – is caught between two stools. It’s always been an alcohol-fuelled party in the sun but, increasingly, it’s a sober-sided tech conference, dominated by the Silicon Valley mob and their many imitators. You might get a glass or two of champagne but it will mostly be accompanied by an algorithm.
With security at the top of this year’s agenda – Cannes last year was followed by the terrorist truck atrocity in Nice – it doesn’t look like it’s going to be much fun.
Like many of the behemoths currently occupying adland’s world stage, it may have grown too big for its own good.
