Magic, packing tips, buzzword bingo, and news from elsewhere
Good morning, delegates!
Welcome to Côte d’Azur. Or if you’re making a fashionably late arrival, see you soon. This daily email from Quartz is your guide to all the news and chatter from Cannes Lions 2016. I’m Zach Seward, your Cannes correspondent for the next eight days. It’s truly a hardship post. Email me your news, tips, megayacht sightings, and bouillabaisse recipes.
Today starts off sunny, with the temperature rising to 23°C (73°F), but pack an umbrella because light rain may disrupt the afternoon. Sunday will be similar. The rest of next week is looking flawless right now, but let’s not jinx it.
What to watch for today
Magic on day one. The biggest name on the calendar is David Copperfield, who’s offering a mix of magic and Q&A at 4pm in the Debussy Theatre. Also, “Zen and the Art of the Publicity Stunt,” at 1pm in the same location, is promising the appearance of a “full-size, adult polar bear,” which may be magic or may be a stunt, and that’s probably the point. Here’s the full schedule of events throughout the festival; there’s an app for that, too.
To your health. It’s the first of two days of Lions Health, a conference within the conference about “life-changing creativity.” There’s a panel on the partnership between Tinder and the UK’s National Health Service that you may want to swipe right on (Health in Focus Stage, 2:45pm). And the award for today’s most provocative session title goes to “Augment My Body with Your Brand” (Health in Action Stage, 1pm). Santé!
Getting ready for the festival
Fly like your boss. If you haven’t taken off yet, consult our guide to packing the perfect carry-on. And if you’re not riding up front, here are some ways to improve the experience and feel like you’re in business class, anyway. (For more tips along these lines, subscribe to our weekly lifestyle email, Quartzy, which is currently in beta.)
What to eat, what to drink, what to wear. Eater has you covered on restaurant recommendations, though good luck getting reservations. AdWeek has solid spots for drinking and lounging. There is more to Cannes than rosé, but if you must, consider getting on the orange wine bandwagon. And you can dress yourself, but should you need help, Ad Age and Digiday pried into CMO suitcases and found plenty of linen.
Don’t mispronounce Cannes. You were too embarrassed to ask, but that’s OK, we are here to help: The correct pronunciation of Cannes is somewhere between ”can” and “ken.” Don’t say “kahn,” or people will silently judge you.
Bingo. No need to trek to Monaco. You can play buzzword bingo during the festival with our card below, marking any of the words, phrases, or pictographs that you overhear in Cannes. The first person to email me their completed bingo card, including where you heard each term, gets a shoutout later this week. (Bigger version.)
What everyone is talking about
Awards. Of course. Cannes Lions announced there were a record 43,101 submissions for the festival’s honors this year. The first winners, in the categories of health & wellness and pharma, are announced tonight. Here’s the full schedule of awards. AdWeek previewed some of the favorites to win big this week.
Facebook’s new ad tools. Making news before the festival even began, the social networking giant is unveiling a new “Creative Hub” intended to simplify the process of setting up campaigns. Instagram is a particular focus, as it opens up to more advertising. Facebook said the majority of Instagram users follow at least one business on the platform.
Snapchat for olds. Sure, it was the hot app last year. But it’s not just your children and forward-looking creative director using Snapchat, anymore, new data show. (Case in point: You can even follow Quartz on it.) Ahead of Cannes, Snapchat released a very grown-up video for marketers that essentially claims it has replaced TV for millennials.
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News from around the world
Russia’s track and field team was banned from the Olympics. It was a surprisingly sweeping decision by the sport’s governing body, which said doping by the Russian team was so systemic that none of its members could be considered clean. Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned what he called ”collective punishment.”
The odds of a Brexit rose. JPMorgan said its analysis of recent opinion polls suggested a 3% to 5% margin in favor of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. The referendum is on Thursday.
Salesforce said it also bid for LinkedIn. That was before Microsoft clinched its $26 billion acquisition. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said he was interested in LinkedIn’s recruiting business. “We gave it a solid look,” he told Recode.
Republicans in the US sought a gun control compromise. They’re under pressure to support a bill that would prohibit gun sales to people who are already on terrorist watch lists.
Beach reading and listening
The nagging paradox behind Trump’s rise. The billionaire celebrity’s success reveals an astonishing loss of control by the party’s elite over the selection of their presidential nominee. Yet, as Quartz’s Gwynn Guilford shows, it stems in part from leaders’ attempts to increase their control, beginning back in 2012 when they stomped out an insurgency staged by Ron Paul supporters.
Why is a South American soccer tournament behind held in the US? This week, our podcast Actuality shows how the US became a major market for global football despite the haters. It’s a combination of demographics, cultural change, even the internet destroying the media business. We talk to players from the US men’s and women’s national teams about how they became pros, and to a soccer marketer about how to pay for it all.
How Yahoo lost Tumblr. In the three years since Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion, Tumblr has undergone a staff exodus and chaos on the sales side. Much of that is thanks to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who analysts, media buyers, and current and former employees say is mismanaging the 11-year-old social network, as Seth Flegerman details for Mashable.
Did Jesus have a wife? A seemingly ancient scrap of papyrus records Jesus referring to “my wife.” Ariel Sabar set out to track the artifact’s chain of ownership, and in the Atlantic recounts an extraordinary odyssey through the world of Egyptology, forgery, and, um, Florida pornography.
Our best wishes for an inspiring day at the festival. Quartz for iPhone is the best way to keep up with the news while you’re on the go. If you enjoyed this email, sign up to receive the Quartz Daily Brief every morning by clicking here.