Penry Price, LinkedIn’s VP of marketing solutions, is what you’d call a Cannes Lions long-hauler. He has attended the festival near-annually since the mid-2000s to participate in the elbow-rubbing and hobnobbing that’s a cornerstone of the marketing industry—and by 2019, he was growing tired of the sun-soaked festivities.

“Before Covid, I was sort of dreading it a little—it got to be so much of the same,” Price told Marketing Brew. Later, he added, “When it didn’t happen, I was like, ‘Oh, thank God, I don’t have to go.’ It’s so hot. There’s so many people.”

But after a two-year hiatus, Price admits his tune has changed: “I’m really excited [for] this whole notion of reconnecting with the industry, reconnecting with my peers, reconnecting with partners of ours,” Price said.

Cannes you believe it?

After two years, marketing and media execs across the industry are once again packing their sunglasses and practicing their merci beaucoups ahead of the annual trek to the French Riviera, even after years of complaints about the value of the festival, last year’s drop in award entries, and one highly publicized (but temporary) departure from the festival.

• In past years, agency and brand staffers have “moaned about having to go to Cannes,” admitted Yusuf Chuku, NBCUniversal’s EVP of client strategy and insights, “which is unique to our industry—that people complain about having to go to the south of France for a week.” This year, though, “I’ve not heard any of that,” Chuku told Marketing Brew.

Times have changed: The resurgence in interest is born partly out of the desire among the marketing and advertising community to reconnect and reintroduce themselves after the industry has shifted considerably in the years away.

• Festival organizers told Marketing Brew that attendance levels are in line with 2019 numbers, when 12,000 registered delegates attended. Expectations are high. For one, attendees are expecting more business to get done this year than during previous festivals.

Keep reading here.—KS

Meleeing a grunt in front of a Mountain Dew display ad—that’s the future of gaming, potentially.

This week, the IAB announced major updates to its advertising measurement standards for video games, giving an overhaul and boost of credibility to an industry that advertisers are light-years behind.

• Rewind: In April, the IAB hosted its first-ever upfronts for the gaming industry, basically affirming that gaming audiences are, well, huge and diverse, not just guys “in the basement,” one media buyer told Marketing Brew at the time.
• It’s an antiquated perspective, but one the advertising industry seems to have legitimized, given the fact that the IAB hasn’t updated its in-game ad-measurement standards since 2009(!). That changed this week.

What’s new: Previously, an ad would need to be cumulatively exposed for at least 10 seconds for it to count as an impression within a video game. That’s been cut down drastically to one continuous second for in-game display ads and two continuous seconds for video ad units, so long as at least half of the advertisement’s pixels are in focus. Those are more or less the same guidelines for online display ads.

The new standards also expand upon initial guidelines that say a viewable in-game advertisement must take up at least 1.5% of the screen, be seen from an angle “no greater than 55 degrees,” and can’t be covered or blocked within the gaming environment. Basically, if a player can’t see the ad, it isn’t measurable.

Read what execs in the space had to say about the changes here.—RB

Future Social debuted this week, a newsletter written by Jack Appleby, a Morning Brew creator who’s worked in social media for 10 years at companies like Beats By Dre, Microsoft, and Twitch. Check out an excerpt from one of his pieces below, and sign up for Future Social here.

First, there were Snapchat Stories. Then Instagram Stories. Then Twitter, LinkedIn, Excel (wait, I think that was an April Fool’s joke…)—anyway, every platform’s tried their hand at 15-second ephemeral content. So, of course, TikTok made its own Stories. While they’re few and far between now, I actually think Stories are a smart play for their platform.

Casual content creation: TikTok’s starting to hit the same issue Instagram had back in 2016. Users put so much effort into their primary content that the casualness of social media’s getting a little lost. Insta battled the “is it grid-worthy?” thinking that creators applied to their photos by creating Stories, encouraging everyone to get more cavalier and candid about their lives. TikTok’s using Stories for the same reason. From its official guide:

• “This new tool is designed to support deeper engagement between you and your audience through a real and authentic look into your daily life. Stories will provide a home for existing relationships to flourish on TikTok, offering your friends and followers a more familiar lens into your world. Therefore, Stories on TikTok bring the creative expression true to platform without thinking too much about content strategy.”

That’s right. Use less strategy. Just be cool. Casual. That’s TikTok’s official advice.

Read here how brands can try their hand at TikTok Stories.—JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Stylish: Thinking about creating a style guide for your brand? Start here.

TikTok: The app “overwhelmingly stands out as an emerging key player” for SMBs’ digital marketing strategies, according to this report.

Real time: Need to live-tweet an event? Prep as much as possible with these tips.

Candid convos with industry icons: Hosted by Brew cofounder Alex Lieberman, the Imposters podcast delves deep into the personal and mental challenges some of the biggest names in biz have faced while reaching their most resounding achievements. Listen here.

Return to the Riviera: After a two-year hiatus, media and ad execs are celebrating the Cannes Lions comeback—but a lot in the industry has changed. See what’s in store for this year’s fête in our latest article, sponsored by LinkedIn Ads.

Planning a weekend job hunt? Be sure to check out the latest postings on the Marketing Brew Job Board!

Today’s featured openings:

• Social Media Design Associate at Zearn
• Customer Experience Program Manager at Deako
• Paid Search Manager at Crealytics

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Influencer marketing has a location scouting problem. The Scout App wants to change that
• Americans could soon be able to sue companies for misusing their data
• Yes, advertising students are working on Web3

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. This seltzer company wants to pay you $15,000 to ditch your roommates
2. The US Department of Defense is handing out aviator shades at theaters showing Top Gun: Maverick.
3. Elton John is an LGBT-QR code in this Pride fundraising campaign
4. Chobani launches intergalactic oat milk race on Roblox

Keep scrolling for the answer.