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By Mike Shields 

REALITY CHECK: No wonder consumers are blocking ads. According to Brad Jakeman, president of PepsiCo's global beverage group, the internet has become a "digital landfill" of "crap content that gets produced quickly and cheaply." Mr. Jakeman, who called the death of bad advertising, was part of a Wall Street Journal panel during the annual Cannes Lions ad festival, where Vice Media CEO Shane Smith argued that the 30-second spot doesn't work and that consumers don't mind watching sponsored content produced by Vice as long as it's compelling. CMO Today also reports that Martin Sorrell revealed during the panel that WPP will spend about $5.5 billion with Google this year and $1.7 billion with Facebook. Facebook has been collecting a trove of user data to better target ads, yet privacy remains the top priority, said Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The panelists also weighed in on the heated debate over agency "rebates" and the need for better third-party ad measurement.

MIXED MEDIA: Investments in digital native companies like Vice, Vox and BuzzFeed give TV giants like NBCUniversal and Walt Disney Co. lots of cool buzz. But do they bring anything new to the table in terms of audiences or business model? That's the provocative, potentially painful question many a legacy media executive has been asking themselves this week in Cannes. While there's no doubt that young people are watching less traditional TV and that ad dollars are shifting to digital, it doesn't have to signal doom for entertainment giants who can still fight for a cut of the action, writes The Wall Street Journal's media editor Amol Sharma. But to do so, they need to reposition themselves as factories of content not just on TV but also on Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube. And that's going to take a lot more commitment than just an association with a digital publisher.

TALENT POOL: What is it that lures talent away from advertising agencies to the likes of Google or Facebook? Are the tech companies dangling higher salaries or promises of access to more ping-pong tables? Sarah Hofstetter, CEO of digital agency 360i, says money isn't usually the motivating factor. The agency loses employees when they think they "didn't have a manager that was looking out for them or they look to get out of the industry," she said on this week's WSJ Media Mix podcast. "Last week, I had a guy resign -- he was 23 year old -- because he was going to see the world. I can't compete with that." Ms. Hofstetter also described how her agency became one of Madison Avenue's more diverse workplaces, where 60% of employees are women (including in management positions) and a third of the staff is nonwhite. Check out the podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify and Stitcher.

REALITY CHECK: Once again this year, virtual reality has been on display at the Cannes ad festival in a big way. Google is using the event to plant a flag in the ground (technically, on the beach), touting that YouTube has more VR videos than any other platform. Yet, isn't that a bit like being the biggest maker of self-driving cars? Google executives were frank that VR has a long way to go before there's mass adoption among consumers, while content companies and advertisers like BMW are in the rare position of being well out in front of consumer demand rather than reacting to it, reports CMO Today. As Clay Bavor, Google's vice president of virtual reality, put it: as much hype as there is in the VR sector, "it's going to be a slower ramp than people appreciate."

Elsewhere

Twitter executives are in Cannes this week looking to recoup the $10 million rights fee the company paid to stream 10 NFL games this coming season, so they are seeking ad commitments as high as $8 million from top brands. [ Recode]

The pay TV industry is bracing for the release today of two reports from Senate investigators, which are expected to be critical of how cable and satellite TV companies treat consumers who have been overcharged or who are trying to cancel service. [ WSJ]

The Brexit vote is upon us, where the U.K. will decide whether to remain in the European Union, and WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell is firmly in the "remain" camp. In an interview in Cannes, he also criticized the ad industry's recent report on the lack of transparency in media buying, saying it should have been handled by an independent third party. [ CMO Today]

The social ad agency VaynerMedia and Thrillist are apologizing for an email blast that said an invite list to their party at the Cannes ad festival was for "attractive females and models only." The companies say the email was created by a local party promoter without their knowledge. [ Adweek]

Meanwhile, the consumer packaged goods giant Unilever pledged at Cannes to avoid sexist messaging in its ad campaigns. [ The Drum]

Republican leadership cut off the C-Span live feed from the House floor as democrats staged a sit-in over the GOP's refusal to allow a vote on gun control legislation. Democratic representatives instead turned to Periscope and other live video streaming to get their message out. [ Politico]

CBS's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" will broadcast live each night during the Republican and Democratic National Conventions this summer. [ Adweek]

The replacement of five Viacom board members is on hold while a Delaware court awaits discovery in a related lawsuit in Massachusetts and scrutinizes 93-year-old controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone's mental competency. [ WSJ]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2016 08:02 ET (12:02 GMT)

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