Detch Singh’s Cannes Diary #1: Creator Buzz, Beach Clubs and Rob Mayhew’s Croisette Tour

In his first-ever Cannes Lions experience, Hypetap Founder and CEO Detch Singh (above left) arrived just in time to feel the festival buzz kick off. Here, Detch shares how day 1 played out on the ground in Cannes, exclusive to CB.

Got in Sunday afternoon, and my first impression of Cannes was the buzz along La Croisette. Everywhere I looked, teams were hustling to put the finishing touches on their massive brand setups. You could really feel the energy building for the week.

The official creator track was pretty light for day one, which suited me. Being my first time here, it gave me a chance to wander and get my bearings. I spent the morning checking out the different beach clubs and HQs that the big partners have set up along the water and the surroundings. I kicked things off at Stagwell’s Sport Beach, listening to a panel on fandom. It was great to hear them talking about building real communities, authentic connections and the co-creation of social content with sporting celebs. It’s all the same stuff we focus on in the creator world and you can see the lines blurring further with the creator economy and everything else.

With the gaps in my day between catch ups, I dipped into the major social platform setups. TikTok, Meta, and Pinterest all have a huge presence here, with some pretty epic beach and garden installs. Major focus on creators as you’d expect, and of course, loading everyone up with swag. Not sure how I’m getting all this stuff home on my budget Ryanair flight.

Ended the day with Rob Mayhew’s ‘Croisette Confidential’ tour. He gave us a bunch of genuinely useful tips for the week and how everything works. We finished up at the Gutter Bar (which I’d imagine some of the readers would be very familiar with) and he bought everyone a round of tequila before we spilled out into our different parties. Solid welcome to Cannes and a great way to ease into the madness of the coming days.