From the freely flowing rosé all day to the lavish cocktail hours and concerts at night, Cannes Lions is all about excess. “What recession?” quipped Luma Partners founder and CEO Terence Kawaja in a tweet highlighting the many glamorous mega-yachts sponsored by adtech companies, publishers, and platforms that are once again a presence at the festival this year.

However…even on the sunny French Riviera, the storm clouds of a possible economic downturn have cast a shadow over conversations during the week of networking, deal-making, and creative celebration.

Even as industry bigwigs bask in a week of celebration and connection, “any marketer worth their salt” is planning for the possibility of an economic downturn and its effects on marketing strategies, said Judy Lee, Pinterest’s head of global brand experiences and programs.

“When I think about some of the things that people are focused on and what I’m focused on as a marketer, too, it’s, ‘What are the right investments to make?’” Lee told Marketing Brew. “What are things that aren’t experiments but are long-term bets?…We all need things to work harder for us.”

Planning ahead: The threat of a recession, which many banks have forecast will happen next year, means that many business conversations during Cannes have been focused on proven results. That may translate to less spending and interest in experimental platforms, Lee hypothesized, despite an outsized festival presence of flashy tech and concepts that brands can toy with, including NFTs and the still-nascent metaverse.

“People want to talk more to direct-response platforms or places,” explained Penry Price, LinkedIn’s VP of marketing solutions, and are less focused on the platforms whose main offerings hinge on top-of-the-funnel brand awareness.

Deals may also require more contingency planning. Marketers are looking for ways to stretch their dollars further and have the option to back out of deals if economic conditions deteriorate, said Laurel Rossi, CMO of the advertising platform Infillion.

“There isn’t a conversation that we’re having from a sales perspective that doesn’t include contingency plans,” Rossi said.

Read more about how marketers are trying to be recession resistant.—KS

Future Social is a weekly newsletter on social media, content, and creators from 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.

Most brands want you tweeting with the might of Mjolnir about their products. Marvel’s got the opposite problem—it’s trying everything to keep open weekenders from spoiling the movie before everyone’s seen it. The studio’s tried a handful of tactics, from open letters to cast videos to their latest, most extreme, and most cool move yet.

Turning off the comments: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a plotline undetectable from the trailers, a secret costar, and a surprise villain. Basically, you can’t talk about the movie without spoiling it. That’s why Marvel pulled the plug entirely for opening weekend, disabling replies and comments on every social network. It’s an incredible example of building social strategy around what’s best for your fans rather than simple social metrics—who cares about engagement numbers if that engagement upsets your fanbase?

But what if spoilers aren’t the problem? No, there aren’t natural places for fans to tweet or comment their Marvel thoughts in basic social media feeds, but maybe Marvel could build a special place for the faithful to congregate online whenever they want to talk plot. That’s where a new Twitter feature called “Communities” comes in.

Read how Marvel could build Twitter Communities for fan discussion.—JA

After a much more gentle Thursday night and only a few meetings on Friday, it’s exhausting to look back on the month this last week has been. Many folks left yesterday, though there are still awards to be given out. Don’t tell anyone, but I think I might go for a dip in the water tomorrow.

The rundown: Yesterday, I started my morning aboard the Criteo yacht with Todd Parsons, the company’s chief product officer. We chatted about why everyone’s talking about retail media networks and why the adtech industry can seem to purposefully make simple things complicated.

I then caught a car up the side of a very steep mountain (on a stomach full of only espresso) to the MediaOcean villa to host a panel alongside Matt Wurst, CMO and co-founder of Mint, and Zack Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of CatapultX, on the metaverse and the future of video. We got, uh….wet. But, we had fun.

Lastly, I caught up with Fred Levron, the global chief creative officer of Dentsu, who berated me for not staying up until sunrise. For Levron, this was his 14th (!) Cannes. I asked him what he thought of adtech’s presence at a primarily creative festival. “We’ll live a better life if advertising stays and grows as a creative business,” he told me, over branded Dentsu macarons.

Unlike many of the people I ran into, I had to work last night, cutting my night short, and though it’s embarrassing to admit, it felt kind of great to go to bed before midnight. As I said on Monday, I completely get the admiration for the festival, from a purely networking standpoint.

Everyone is here. Everyone wants to be here. And nearly everyone is drinking. It isn’t hard to leave a party with 15 new contacts. It’s also a marathon and not a sprint. I learned to savor the loose dinner roll; the cucumber water off to the side; where the shade might fall on the walk back to the hotel.

I only have one question: When will Morning Brew get a yacht here?—RB

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

Y to Z: YouTube released a 55-page “Culture & Trends” report on Gen Z and digital strategy.

Fake out: Weighing the ethical pros and cons of using deepfakes in marketing.

Think of the kids: TikTok has “offered a series of commitments” aimed at improving user reporting and disclosure requirements on ads following consumer and child-protection complaints in the EU.

Give us a minute and you might get $250 : Just take this quick survey to help us boost our brand partnerships, and you’ll be entered in a raffle to win a $250 AmEx gift card.*

Creativity meets uncertainty. As marketers celebrated a return to the Cannes Lions Festival, the possibility of an economic downturn loomed over the weeklong event. Learn how recession talks have impacted this year’s festival in our latest article, sponsored by LinkedIn Ads.

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Gearing up for a weekend job hunt? Don’t forget to check out the Marketing Brew Job Board for the best opportunities in the industry!

Today’s featured openings:

• Senior Brand Partner - B2C Tech, Media, Entertainment, & Gaming at Morning Brew
• Senior Media Planner at PPK
• Digital Marketing Analytics Specialist at Cal Poly Pomona

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

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

• Host-read podcast ads mean the host, not the brand, is in control
• The creative challenges of the metaverse
• With a recession on the horizon, streaming services could be in for a rocky ride

Consumer behaviors are rapidly changing. Insider Intelligence presents a can’t-miss discussion about how you should be navigating these major shifts in the digital landscape.

Watch the free on-demand webinar now.

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

1. Take a look at Kellogg’s ‘Pringles Cannes’ activation in France
2. Postmates made a bottom-friendly menu for Pride Month
3. Meta is launching an avatar store, and designer clothes are the first products
4. Kraft changes name of its macaroni and cheese to ‘Kraft Mac & Cheese’

Keep scrolling for the answer.