For the last couple of years Stagwell has been on a mission to convince advertisers to invest more in legitimate news content which it asserts correctly is essential to a vibrant democracy.  

As part of that effort, it has conducted research showing that marketers’ concerns that trusted news content would hurt their brands was misplaced and that overall brand safety concerns are overblown. 

The firm has made its own commitment to boost its ad spend in news content by 22% this year. 

Now Stagwell is bringing its Future Of News crusade to Cannes with a full lineup of discussions, panels and other events to the Lions Festival in June.  

Stagwell will kick things off with a “Future of News” panel at RTL Beach on Monday. Other publishers are getting involved as well, sponsoring various events including The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Axel Springer and more.  

There’s even a couple of discussions about the interconnections between news junkies and sports enthusiasts at Stagwell’s Sport Beach, which is making its third appearance at the Festival this year.