The Night Has 600 Drones: LG and Kargo Light Up Cannes

It is, admittedly, no small feat to create any sort of buzz during the Cannes Lions Festival. 

You are up against a phalanx of celebrities, wildly over the top parties and the general too-cool-for-school vibe of the place.

Which is why it was more than a bit surprising that a late-night drone show put on by LG Ad Solutions and Kargo managed to, as the saying goes, break through the clutter.

Not that the show wasn’t all that. Titled “Sky Spectacular: The Evolution of Media” it used an army of 600 lit-up drones to tell the story of media’s evolution from traditional to mobile and CTV. 

But rather than listen to me describing it, take a look at the video below. Yes, it’s a promo video, but it really does capture the bigness of the show.

That was the real story—the way the drones did a “takeover” of the night sky in a way that was easily seen from pretty much anywhere in Cannes. The drone art (for lack of a better term) was not static either—it moved and the images morphed, playing out a silent movie of sorts about the evolution of media over the past 30 years. People definitely noticed and were talking about it the next day, which is really all you can ask for.

This being Cannes and all, the two companies were obviously doing more than just showing off the latest innovation in experiential tech. They were promoting a partnership they’d announced at the NewFronts that takes advantage of the fact that LG owns the glass—the first screen the consumer sees when they turn on the TV. This will allow Kargo, which recently stepped into CTV with its purchase of VideoByte, to collaborate with LG on unique display ad formats that take advantage of CTV’s sight, sound and motion. (Hence the sight and motion of the drones. Not to mention the sound of all those people telling their friends to “look at the sky.”)

Tony Marlow, CMO at LG Ad Solutions, encapsulated it pretty well, "We were looking for a way to really show how LG and Kargo are looking at pushing the envelope on what’s possible. And a show with 600 drones definitely felt like pushing the envelope.”

Harry Kargman, CEO of Kargo, was on the same wavelength, saying, "Kargo believes in our industry that Next Never Ends. The Cannes Sky Spectacular is a first-of-its-kind boundary-breaking exploration of the evolution of media and advertising painted in the sky." 

Now of course it is time for the two companies to deliver on the promise of the drones. Because it is one thing to light up the sky in Cannes and another to actually create an advertising program that promises to “shape technology to best serve our clients.”

Stay tuned.