If you visit the Stagwell Sport Beach at the Cannes Lions Festival next month, you’ll get a chance to stimulate your body and your mind.   

And you’ll have an opportunity to hobnob with past and present professional sports greats like World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, and 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony. They will join tennis  grand slam winner Maria Sharapova, 7-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix and Champions League winner Patrice Evra. 

It’s a first-time event for Stagwell that will bring together creatives, brands, marketers, coaches, athletes and leagues, to play sport (Pickleball anyone?) and discuss the future of fandom and how sport shapes global culture. 

Stagwell has become a big fan of fandom over the past year as it markets an augmented reality platform called ARound to professional sports franchises. Part of its Marketing Cloud division, the platform provides in-stadium entertainment via smart phones. 

The company has also recruited some brand marketers to help sponsor the Cannes activation including Wison Sporting Goods, U.S. Track & Field and Recess Pickleball. Recess will be orchestrating a pickleball tournament at the venue during Cannes week. Other physical activities will include morning workout sessions and a variety of pickup games.  

Sport Beach will be produced by Team Enterprises in partnership with Cheerful Twentyfirst. Lots of Stagwell agency folk will be on hand from shops including 72andSunny, Anomaly, Allison+Partners, Assembly, Code and Theory, Colle McVoy and others.