This morning, it was the egghead, Rachel Armstrong, a researcher who is speaking at the Ted Talk series Starcom MediaVest Group is sponsoring at the Cannes Festival of Creativity, and she's talking about some pretty heady stuff: "Synthetic biology."

Yeah sure, we all associated Coca-Cola Co. with the sweet stuff, you know, high fructose corn syrup, but the global beverage marketer innovated its product packaging and distribution model with sugar cane. Not as a sweetner, but as part of some new, environmentally-friendly packaging that also is boosting its sales, according to Joseph Tripodi, executive vice president, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of the Coca-Cola Company.

McGarry Bowen flies Jon Hamm to Cannes.

Actually, it's not such a sill idea advanced by Arianna Huffington during the "making brands matter" panel at the Mediabrands villa in Cannes.

Speaking duing a "making brands matter" panel at Mediabrands' villa in Cannes, France, Huffington Post Founder Arianna Huffington just annoucned that HuffPo will launch a live, 24/7 video streaming network in August, just in time for the major U.S. party conventions.

Omar Epps is a great actor. And having starred in the Fox's high-rated "House" series, he is also a celebrity, but he says he's not a brand. And that's a good thing. Speaking during Sapient Nitro's session during the Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, Epps said, "Believe it or not, celebs are human beings and brands are just companies."