Papyrus SVP Shirlene Chandrapal to Cannes Lions 17th — 20th June 2018

June has arrived, and I hope you are all enjoying the summer. June is also the month of Cannes Lions, the largest and most glamourous advertising event in the global calendar. Cannes Lions is a bit like the ‘Oscars’ of advertising in terms of awards and provides a huge business and networking opportunity for advertising companies from all over the world. As a relatively new company, this was Papyrus’ first Cannes Lions. Four of us were in attendance, Igor Alferov, our CTO and Founder, Abeed Janmohamed, our CEO, Patrick Dawson, CEO of Bionic and a Papyrus Senior Advisor, and me, Shirlene, Chandrapal, SVP Strategic Business Development. The weather was beautiful, and the rosé flowed freely, as it does every year at Cannes Lions.

We decided to get creative and rented shared space on a rather classic 100-foot yacht with several other companies.

Meeting space is not just rather expensive, but is also very limited during Lions so a boat is a great option for meeting spaces in the day that can then double up as a venue for networking in the evenings. A lot of digital companies do this, and the marina is packed full of branded boats, moored side by side, providing an easy way to do business in the day and a great way to sample all of the music and partying in the evening, as you can hop from boat to boat and network under the stars. Some of the best networking is done in the evenings over dinner and at the numerous beach tents owned by the digital media giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify etc.

Everyone who is anyone in the advertising world, normally attends Cannes Lions but this year it was a rather quieter affair with numbers estimated to be a about 25% lower than last year. The CEO of holding group Publicis Arthur Sadoun banned all employees from attending any trade or industry events for 2018 including Cannes Lions, in a cost saving exercise and there was generally a more prudent approach to attendance this year. You couldn’t keep Martin Sorrell away however, despite all the controversy.

We set up a number of meetings to discuss the Papyrus project with advertising companies from all over Europe and USA and contributed to three panel discussions:

1. A Voyage around: Loving Relationships

As the old forms of Media agencies’ engagements with brands are over, the new digital relations take their place. The panellists discussed the problems and failings of digital engagements, and how the upcoming newest forms are going to tackle them.

2. A Voyage around: Crypto

Led by two of the most successful pioneers in the world of Crypto, in a form of short talks and then an informal Q&A among some of the world’s Blockchain masterminds.

3. Block(chain) — What’s going on?

With a market worth over $350 Billion, blockchain has been called Web 3.0 and the New Internet while the pace of innovation, adoption and investment is steadily gaining momentum. It would appear as if blockchain technology is here to stay. The panellists discussed the impact of blockchain on digital advertising: Can the blockchain live up to the hype? Will tokens be adopted as default payment mechanisms? Can smart contracts replace legacy arrangements? Is decentralisation the new normal? To node or not to node? The panel will discuss all this and more

The last of these discussions was moderated by Patrick Dawson, CEO of Bionic and Papyrus Senior Advisor. Our panelists were Richard Bush, President NYIAX, Dora Michail, MD Digital, Telegraph Media Group, Wilfried Schobieri, CTO of MediaMath and Abeed Janmohamed, CEO, Papyrus.

The panelists were in agreement about the opportunity that blockchain presents for the digital advertising industry, given the opaqueness of the current ecosystem and the issues regarding fraud and brand safety. Transparency was hailed as a much-needed solution to battle some of the poor practices that have been taking place in recent years. There was also consensus as to the transformative nature of the blockchain promising improved efficiency through smart contracts, better ROIs for advertisers and an increase in revenues for publishers. The panelists however had different views on industry adoption timelines and whether advertisers would move to a token model for payment.

In addition to business meetings to secure Papyrus partnerships, we also enjoyed comparing notes with a few of our competitors. A nascent industry such as this one, needs to work with the competition to push and promote the value of the technology and the philosophies of the blockchain to help drive wider adoption. The advertising industry drives huge revenues and there is plenty of room for several players to get involved. Besides healthy competition drives innovation and better value for its clients. We all need to be working together and collaboration is the back-bone of a decentralized business and we need to walk the talk.

The Papyrus team were there for four days and after ninety-six hours of meetings, dinners, non-stop networking on the beach or the boats, sometimes dancing under the stars, it was time to go home. The advertising world is famous for working and playing hard and Cannes Lions is the biggest advertising event after all and a lot of the advertising heavyweight companies fly in some big-name artists to entertain their clients. It is Cannes after all and it’s not all work. This year Duran Duran, Common, Mos Def, Paloma Faith, Kylie Minogue, Fat Boy Slim, Edris Alba, Billie Joe Armstrong, Travis Scott (with girlfriend Kylie Jenner in tow) and The Killers were all in Cannes performing at various events. You need a lot of stamina to get through all of the things that take place during the week. . . My personal favorite was Paloma Faith who had an amazing voice, dynamic stage presence and a floor-length silver sequined outfit with feathered sleeves, that I wish I owned. She sang at an intimate event hosted by the Telegraph Media Group on an outdoor terrace for about 30 minutes.

The Papyrus team had a very productive Cannes Lions but those of us who have worked in the advertising industry for many years, felt that Cannes Lions seemed to change. The more somber and reflective mood in Cannes this year points to an industry that has become less frivolous, more accountable and in desperate need of change. The blockchain presents a significant opportunity for an industry that needs to reinvent itself and deliver better value for the advertisers that fund this $230 Billion ecosystem. After all, if it doesn’t, who is going to pay for the rosé in Cannes Lions in the years to come . . .?

Shirlene Chandrapal,

SVP Strategic Business Development