Amazon returned to the Cannes Port during the Cannes Lions this year, with a bigger and better activation that brings its digital businesses to life in the physical form.
A’Maison, as the brand calls it, began four years ago when they decided to build out a space and could only find an empty parking lot to the left of the Palais.
“It was a bit of a risk when we started. But we decided we’re customer obsessed at Amazon and we wanted a place that our customers could come and have as a respite and hear great content, be inspired, plug in their laptops, have a drink, have lunch, meet with their customers,” said Claire Paull, Vice President, Global Marketing, Amazon Ads at Amazon. “So we did it four years ago and every year built upon it, made it a little bit bigger.”
The space included a stage with content including the Kelce Brothers talking about their podcast and Jamie Lee Curtis on stage talking about authentic storytelling. The site also included physical spaces where visitors could interact with various Amazon services IRL. Twitch, Wondery, Prime Video, Fire TV, Amazon Live and AWS were all brought to life as experiences. For instance, attendees could visit Prime Video and catch trailers for the popular show “The Summer I Turned Pretty” while sipping on a slushie. They could visit AWS and use an AI interface to design their own fragrance or drink a rosé from a fountain in the screen-free Plaza of Passions.
This year’s space, designed by Salt and Pinch, was inspired by Amazon Ads’ “Beyond the Generational Divide” research that is focused on breaking down demographic research.
“We just launched a research study on generational theory and marketing and this experience is meant to highlight all of the various interests that customers have,” said Paull. “For example, in communities like Twitch, Wondery, Prime Video, content interest-based marketing and how that coupled with generational-based marketing is what drives more performance business results versus thinking about audiences from generation alone. Really leaning into customers’ interests, habits, communities and values is what drives more personalized marketing.”
This year Amazon counted more attendees than ever with 3000 people visiting on Day 1. Experiential is a really important part of the marketing mix for the brand, said Paull.
“It’s hard to bring to life something like Twitch, Wondery, Prime Video, Fire TV, Amazon Live,” she explained. “To do so in a way that a press release can’t describe is what this space is for. And so that’s also why we invest in this. We really want to bring this to life for our customers.”
