Digiday Podcast at Cannes: Ad networks take center stage at Cannes — are buyers buying in?

Ad networks, retail media networks and the bevy of ad tech companies that support them seem to have carved out a bigger space for themselves along the Croisette. For example, Chase Media Solutions has cozied up on ad tech row, along the pink carpet. A stone’s throw away, Instacart has a pop-up experience. Not to be outdone, DoorDash Ads has commandeered a storefront further down the Croisette.

To Peggy McCann, chief media officer at GSD&M ad agency, all signs point to one thing: retail media networks aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“It’s a lot easier to buy across the retail media networks,” McCann said on a recent episode of the Digiday Podcast at Cannes. “Now, they’re figuring out again: how do they become that full-funnel ecosystem and really compete against the other ecosystem platforms like the Amazons, the Googles, and position themselves no longer as a data source, and attach purely to retailers, but more as a big marketing ecosystem.”

It’s a tall order, but perhaps fits within the expectations of Cannes’ pageantry. For media planners like McCann, the question is: is the Cannes flash enough to attract ad spend?

Recorded in Spotify’s studio on the beach at Cannes Lions, tune into the conversation with McCann.