There are millions of dollars in potential partnerships sitting in my inbox this week because I spent four days at Cannes Lions. That's the thing about rooms like Cannes. You don't go to close deals. You go to start conversations that eventually become them.
I often get asked why creators spend thousands of dollars to attend Cannes. After all, it’s a $5,000 ticket before you’ve even booked a flight or a hotel and the answer is actually surprisingly simple.
They go to make more money and meet the right ambitious people.
Everything else, the panels, the yacht parties, the rosé, and the Instagram stories, is just the vehicle.
This week, I spoke on a panel about how creators are beginning to leverage traditional media, particularly out-of-home advertising, met with some of the world's largest consumer brands, and interviewed my business partner and investor, Steven Bartlett, founder of FlightStory and host of The Diary of a CEO, in front of roughly 50 of the most influential executives at Cannes. Around the table were leaders like Dan Shapero, COO of LinkedIn, Airbnb's Head of Entertainment & Partnerships, the CMOs of Wayfair, Delta, and Intuit, leaders from Snapchat, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
Walking into Cannes this week, I had one goal: to be the dumbest person there and to learn everything I could to grow my business x10.
So let's skip the gatekeeping (and the $5,000 festival pass, the $10,000 in travel, and the $20,000 in a concierge experience for the full) and get to what actually mattered.
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