• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, June 21, 2017

It’s not because I don’t want to attend all of the parties or because I don’t have any yacht invitations. My inbox has been full of them.

It’s not because I don’t have the right clothes. I have several sets of linen shirts and light cotton pants — I spend a lot of time in Mexico — and I still have those awesome lightweight blue suede loafers that I bought in Cannes four or five years ago.

It’s not because the Cannes organizers bought MediaLink. If anything, running into Wenda and Michael a dozen times a day each as they crisscross the Croisette, terraces, hotels, tents and main stages doing their thing is probably one of the Cannes experiences I’ll miss most.

It’s not because I don’t like rosé. Hoisting ridiculously big (and expensive) bottles of rosé on the Carleton Terrace has always been one of the highlights of my Cannes experiences. I like wine.

It’s not because the organizers are now requiring event badges if you want to drink on the Carlton terrace. I’ve always spent lots and lots of time on the terrace (see above), but I’ve also been good about always getting a badge, too, even if it’s expensive — and even if I don’t go into the venue itself very much when I’m there.

It’s not because I’ll be at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 event.

Yes, Nielsen’s annual ad and marketing thought leadership event, which combined clients from both the media and marketing businesses, has caused me to miss Cannes more than once before. It was always one of the very strongest annual consumer marketing and advertising events that I’ve attended – and I attend a lot.

However, the event has been retired and been replaced with more focused events for each of its major practices.

Why am I missing Cannes this year? I’ll be meeting with clients. I’ll be on airplanes, but instead of crossing the Atlantic, I’ll be crisscrossing the U.S.

It occurred to me that this week is a good week to meet marketers who aren’t making the trip to France. So many don’t. There won’t be nearly the competition for their time and attention I would face from other technology companies at the dozens of cabana parties and hotel terraces otherwise on my agenda.

Fortunately, I have several colleagues that will be at those parties and on those terraces fighting for that attention in the crowds, which lets me fish where the other fishermen aren’t.