Advertisers meet in Cannes amid global downturn

By Cyril Altmeyer

PARIS (Reuters) - The tough economic present is hitting the turnout by ad industry future gazers debating hot topics like mobile advertising and smart phones at this week's Cannes festival.

The advertising sector gathering is renowned for its lavish boat trips and all-night beach parties.

But in a sign of tough times, organizers this year have multiplied incentives to lure belt-tightening delegates, giving tips on how to book cheap plane tickets and hotel rooms or advising participants to share cabs from the Nice airport.

Around 12,000 ad agency employees, art directors, marketers, producers, clients and other industry executives were initially expected to attend the week-long Cannes Lions 2009 festival which runs until June 27.

But according to some press reports, the number of registered ad professionals is down 40 percent this year. Asked to confirm the figure, a festival spokeswoman did not respond to a Reuters e-mail.

High-profile participants still include Maurice Levy, the head of France's Publicis and Martin Sorrell, who runs WPP, the world's largest advertising group by revenue.

Sorrell will moderate the "Cannes Debate" seminar where ad officials will discuss how the recession is affecting the industry.

Some companies such as Havas or outdoor advertiser JC Decaux have cut down on their presence at the festival, now in its 56th year.

Neither Havas Chairman Vincent Bollore nor Chief Executive Fernando Rodes will be spotted on the scenic La Croisette waterfront.

The festival also awards excellence with the so-called Lions trophies and hosts seminars and workshops. The number of projects in competition is, however, down 19.8 percent to 22,600, organizers said in a statement.

BATTLE FOR WEB SEARCH AD MARKET

In a recession-hit ad sector, digital advertising is still a bright spot with projected growth of 8.6 percent in 2009 while the global ad market is expected to fall 6.9 percent, according to ZenithOptimedia, which is owned by Publicis.

This is the reason why Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software company, launched its new Bing search engine in May, in a bid to counter the dominance of Google Inc in the lucrative Web search and related advertising market.

Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer and Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt will be in Cannes but are not due to appear on the same panel.

As more consumers embrace new technologies and devices such as smart phones, personified by Apple's iPhone, advertising on mobile phones looks like a promising market.