Variety, Google TV to Co-Host Two Cannes Lions Events
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- Variety and Google TV will co-host two exclusive events during Cannes Lions focused on the intersection of entertainment, technology, and culture.
- On June 23, The Industry Innovators Cocktail Hour will feature a keynote with Carmelo Anthony, moderated by Variety Co-President Ramin Setoodeh and co-hosted with co-Editor-in-Chief Cynthia Littleton and Google's Shalini Govil-Pai.
- On June 24, Variety's Brand Visionaries Happy Hour will feature a keynote with will.i.am, founder and CEO of FYI.AI, followed by a "Brand Visionaries – Making Moments Matter" panel on how brands use entertainment to drive fan engagement.
- The June 24 panel includes Govil-Pai alongside CMOs Carly Gomez of Crocs, Laura Jones of Instacart, and Selena Kalvaria of Fanatics.
- Govil-Pai said Google TV is "pushing the boundaries" of discovery and personalization, and that the events will showcase the platform's "latest discovery and entertainment frameworks" to marketers.
- Michelle Fine-Smith, SVP of Global B2B Partnerships at Variety, described Cannes Lions as the place where "entertainment, marketing, and technology converge," positioning the partnership at that exact intersection.
Why it matters: The events put Google TV directly in front of the CMOs of Crocs, Instacart, and Fanatics — brand decision-makers who control entertainment sponsorships and ad budgets — and alongside high-profile talent like Carmelo Anthony and will.i.am, giving the platform a premium Cannes Lions stage to pitch its streaming-discovery tools to the marketers who shape how brands show up in entertainment.
