I listed 14 must-meet power players at Cannes Lions, profiled YouTube daredevil Michelle Khare amid her Emmy push, wrote about Hollywood’s dumb-money creator gold rush and covered Netflix’s podcast ambitions and Spotify’s pivot to video. I’m natalie@theankler.com
Salut from Cannes Lions, where it’s going to be a scorcher — and I’m not just talking about all the deals that will get done. Bring your pocket fans, and stay hydrated!
Amid the splashy branded takeovers of the cafés, villas and plages along the famed 1-mile Croisette, there’s so much programming packed into this five-day festival that I’ve tapped Ankler contributor Claire Atkinson to help me cover all the biggest news, buzziest panels and chicest parties. You’ll hear from Claire below with her dispatch from Ankler Media CEO Janice Min’s interview with Roku Media president Charlie Collier, where he gave his first public comments about the company’s sale to Fox. Plus, Claire has a report on TikTok’s presence here, and I’ve got a spotlight on four brand marketers who really get creators.
But first, there’s no better way to kick off a week of networking than with… a little networking, over an iced café américain and pain au chocolat. And that’s exactly what I did here on Monday morning at a brunch I co-hosted with Avail co-founder and CEO Chris Giliberti and Mad Realities CEO Alice Ma and head of content Emily Tess Katz. The gathering was a real cross section of the Cannes Lions attendee list this year, including Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian, Adweek executive chairman Rich Battista, CAA’s Brent Weinstein, FOX Entertainment’s Billy Parks, Spotify’s Jordan Newman, Gold House’s Bing Chen and Creator Vision’s Jamie Gutfreund.
