A Firsthand Look at Mobile Media at CANNES 2012

I am currently visiting the 65th edition of CANNES along with 35,000 film industry professionals and 4,000 journalists from more than 100 countries, and seeing lots of mobile activities not only from the event organizer but also from exhibitors and industry trade pubs.

Here is a quick look at some of the many mobile activities from my visit as well as the event promotion:

In addition to the iOS and Android smartphone and tablet apps available for CANNES, the Marche du Film (Film Market), the co-located trade show, is offering an iPhone app and a mobile website for their film industry online networking hub called “Cinando”. Note the mobile website option here. Mobile web use is growing fast….Stay on top of your audience’s media habits here.

Prominent signage throughout the exhibit hall is promoting their Cinando iPhone app with QR code for quick download. Cinando was promoted in multiple emails, and a week before the event, the organizer sent out an email promoting the iPhone app at the subject line level, which offered the traditional link to the Apple App Store and QR code to download the app. The email also included a link to their mobile  website.

You certainly could not miss the marketing for Cinando, and, as I have said many times before, this type of strong promotion is key to driving mobile discovery and adoption.

The people passing out trade pub Variety outside the exhibit hall are wearing shirts with QR codes on them. Another industry trade pub, The Hollywood Reporter, created a free iPad app specifically for the event, which is updating real-time during the event and is being promoted with full page ads in The Hollywood Reporter’s CANNES Dailies. Screen International, another trade pub, is promoting its app on prominent signage in the exhibit hall.

I have seen multiple exhibitors deploying QR codes on booth signage. For example, the exhibitor promoting the new Christian Slater film “STRANDED” is running a QR code on a big banner in their booth, as well as on a display stand at the front of their booth and on collateral which is part of the display.

QR codes are also being used by exhibitors in ads running in the Dailies being distributed at the market. A full page uniFrance films ad on Monday in The Hollywood Reporter’s CANNES daily caught my attention… the QR code was the only call-to-action.

Posted on May 24, 2012