CANNES IS A BRAND Cannes, a small town with 70,000 inhabitants, symbolises luxury, prestige and the art of living more than any other town. Located at the heart of one of the most beautiful regions in the world, between Monaco and St Tropez, for leisure and business tourism it competes with some of the largest cities such as Barcelona, Miami, Paris...

Served by 2 airports, the Nice Côte d’Azur serving 10 million passengers every year and the Cannes-Mandelieu ranked second among the French business airports, Cannes offers an exceptional set of services.

Business tourism alone represents 45% of all the hotel activity and serves 512,000 people, out of which 282,000 move through the "Palais des Festivals", which organises 55 professional events every year, amongst which some of the great events contributing to the fame of Cannes can be found, such as the "Film Festival", the "Midem", the "Mipim", the "MipTV", the "Mipcon"... The total economic impact is considerable as it represents over 780 million euros and 15,500 jobs.

Led for the last five years by a new, dynamic and ambitious town council, the image of Cannes never ceases evolving and it has become a true icon.

Wishing to find out more about this development, we met with Mr. Jean-Jacques Lottermoser, head of Marketing and Sales at "Palais des festivals et des Congrès" in Cannes.

Sun Résidences: How would you position Cannes, which is a small town, in the world of highflying business and leisure tourism?

Jean Jacques Lottermoser: Without trying to plagiarise another advertisement, Cannes "is a small town that has everything a big town does". Indeed, it is a small town but also an international village that is often compared to the biggest cities. It is perfectly visible in business tourism, where we compete with cities such as Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam, which have millions of inhabitants. It perfectly demonstrates the strong illusionary value associated with a destination and its selection. What is presumed to be a weakness, such as the size, can turn out to be a strong point and an advantage that enables us to differentiate ourselves.

SR: Could you be more specific?

JJL: We just won a bid for a 4,000 person congress, in competition with Barcelona, for next February. How? We stressed the fact that the client would be the only client in town at that time and that he would benefit from our undivided attention; that the town would become their very own theatre. Whereas in Barcelona they would be one client amid many others. A little along the lines of "Smart is beautiful", the size of the town allows us to strengthen our qualitative positioning.

SR: Cannes is a sort of sanctuary?

JJL: Absolutely, to use the Mayor's key word, we work around this idea. A sanctuary is a preserved location, a haven of peace. Geographically speaking we are quite isolated. It is slightly difficult to reach Cannes but once arrived you don't want to leave. Everything revolves around the Croisette and the Bay, all within 800m. There is diversity in Cannes that cannot be found in other larger cities. This community likes to congregate here. It’s almost tribal.Our objective is to preserve this sanctuary of prosperity and life experience, in order to keep those who continue coming to Cannes and to bring back those who left. With that aim in mind, we revived the nightlife by opening the "Palais", which enabled us to attract 15,000 people this year and to reach the level of St.-Tropez, Monaco or Ibiza.

SR: Can it be said that Cannes is only interested in luxury?

JJL: It is luxury that makes you dream and our strategy is to fully utilise what we have to showcase in order to attain highflying customers. It is the luxury hotels in Cannes that make the rest of the hotel facilities work. It is the great brands that allow the other shops to function and the prestigious events that develop the local economy. For me, the top shelf drives the market. millionaires interest me as much as billionaires. We manage Cannes like a prestigious brand. We make use of the CANNES brand in every place possible. We are currently working on the creation of a perfume and designer glasses in association with some great names (YSL, Chanel, D&G…), which will enable us to expand our brand territory and to enter people’s lives through our products, benefiting from the distribution network and promotion campaigns of these great brands.

SR: What do you think will be the evolution of your tourism and event policy over the coming years?

JJL: We are convinced that the right development axis is the art of living and everything that gravitates around it. We are trying to change the exterior image of Cannes. To that end, we have been advertising for the last 2 years in over 15 countries. We also plan to expand the pool of interest, such as cultural tourism, which is in full expansion and that targets 35 to 55 year olds. In this frame of mind, in April 2008 we will be creating the first photo awards that will bring together more than 400 of the world’s greatest photographs for 3 days. During and after this event we are expecting a strong media fall-out. In September 2008, we are launching the "vendanges de la Croisette" (Croisette's harvest). For this occasion, the northern side of the Croisette will be privatised and you will be able to enjoy some of greatest Châteaux’s prestigious wines, by reservation of an invite provided by the boutiques concerned.

We manage Cannes like
a prestigious brand

Furthermore, technology will take a large share in our management. This year we have invested 250,000€ in Internet and next year we will launch a WebTV that will allow us to present our administration and create documentaries, each with a theme around Cannes: fashion, environment, art, culture... Our objective is to offer an important or a MUST event, giving the tourists a reason to come to Cannes every month.

SR: How will the residents of Cannes residents react to all this activity?

JJL: We came to power 5 years ago and we received many complaints from the residents of Cannes, amongst which the strongest idea was that they felt that the town had become an Exposition centre and that they did not feel at home. Today this frame of mind has clearly improved. We created events that the residents of Cannes can enjoy.

As in the case of the Cannes Shopping Festival that takes place in January, in which more than half of the 7,500 participants are from Cannes. Throughout the Film Festival’s 60 years, many residents of Cannes attend the film showings in the "Palais" every month. These events enable tourists and Cannes residents to meet more often. Finally, we noted a sensible increase in real estate prices thanks to the multiple activities developed through the attraction Cannes exercises in the world. This phenomenon benefits the people of Cannes and we let this be known. The people of Cannes love their town once again.

Interview recorded by Sylvain Réus, Publication Manager.