Three marketers will be judges at this year's Cannes Lions adfest -- the first time clients have sat on the awards panel.
Bernard Balderson (Procter & Gamble's associate director of media in the UK), Scott Berg (worldwide media director at Hewlett-Packard) and Nils Larsson (Ikea's Swedish marketing director) are all joining the Media Lions jury to reflect marketers' growing input into this field.
"Media is the area where clients are getting the most involved," explained a spokeswoman for the festival, which this year will take place on June 21-26.
After years of largely ignoring the agency knees-up, clients are beginning to take a serious interest. Last year, Procter & Gamble sent two dozen executives to the festival [WAMN: 30-May-03], and McDonald's is planning a similar delegation for the 2004 event. According to Cannes managers, Campbell Soup is also mulling an appearance.
Data sourced from: AdAge.com; additional content by WARC staff
