Mark Penn, the chairman and CEO of Stagwell, has miraculously turned his company into a household name at the Cannes Lions Festival in just two years.
The marketing agency’s Sport Beach, which is in its second year, has become the place to be in the South of France, with celebrities including Elon Musk and Travis Kelce making appearances.
Penn spoke to Pvnew about the vast array of conversations taking place at Sport Beach this week, including the rise of women’s sports, why brands should advertise on news sites and whether Taylor Swift will make a surprise appearance on the Croisette.
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Q: There have been a ton of celebrities, athletes and execs at Sport Beach this week, including X owner Elon Musk. Can you tell me about his stop by Sport Beach today?
Mark Penn: We’ve been a supporter of his transformation of X. I tend to agree that what was going on before he took it over was a constraint of free press. The New York Post certainly felt that way probably, given what happened with the Hunter Biden story. I’ve long been sympathetic to new ownership and renaming to X with a plant on free speech really made sense. I really do think that more advertisers should get back to the platform because the platform – while a lot of readership is going down – is actually going up.
Q: It’s interesting because he doesn’t use advertising for Tesla and some of his other companies, yet he’s come here, which is the advertising Mecca for the week. Is this a moment where he felt like he needed to speak to the advertising community again, or re-approach or reengage and come back?
MP: I do look at him coming back. I think he’s had progress on the platform. I think he’s put in innovation. I think some of the original dustups are kind of history. Americans never remember anything for more than six months. It was a good move for him to come here and be direct. I’ve never seen anyone try to just answer any question asked as best they can, no talking points, no canned speeches. It was very honest and it was really good for him to come. I think obviously X [CEO] Linda Yaccarino thought so, too.
Q: Sport Beach is bigger and better this year. Is there anything you’ve been able to do this year that you couldn’t do last?
MP: I think several things. We do say it’s bigger, better and bolder. I do think that we do have yet to come some of the best athletes – especially coming up tomorrow. I liken it a little bit to “The Godfather.” You know, “Godfather I,” everyone thought that was amazing. They never thought “Godfather II” would be better and then it was.
Q: But then “Godfather III” wasn’t so great.
MP: I don’t know what “Godfather III” is going to look like but I know that “Godfather II” is even better. I try to say look, we are a marketing company. We came up with the all the ideas, we came up with the branding, the design. We built it, we staff it. We build the website, we build the app. It’s a demonstration of what we can do for clients and how we can build a brand. I think Sport Beach is now an independent brand that we can begin to market.
Q: Who have been some of the most interesting people who have come by that you’ve enjoyed listening to the most?
MP: I think Carmelo Anthony was really a big hit here. Sue Bird was a big hit. I think we’ve had a surge on women’s sports here as topic companies can get around and market. We are having Travis Kelce here [Thursday] and it’s going to be a sell-out. People can speculate if he’s bringing somebody.
Q: Do you think he’s bringing [Taylor Swift]?
MP: I doubt it, but all speculation is good in marketing.
Q: With your background as a pollster, what are your thoughts on the upcoming election?
MP: Polls are snapshots in time. Right now, [Donald] Trump has the edge. He’s winning in most of the swing states. He’s winning by a couple of points in the national vote, which means in the electoral college he would win by a margin. If the election were held today, I think he clearly has the edge. Does that mean he is going to win? No. There are so many events here that can shake the election up beginning with the June 27 debate. I think will probably be between 50 and 100 million people tuning into [the] event. That is of the scale that it can change minds and change votes.
