Dive Brief:

• Facebook is announcing its new vision for mobile advertising in response to advertiser’s requests for a more interactive mobile experience. 
• Microsoft is debuting its augmented reality tech, HoloLens.
• Snapchat is taking advantage of the venue to feature its new ad platform.

Dive Insight:

Facebook is taking advantage of the Cannes Lions audience to preview its upcoming mobile advertising offerings with a deeper dive into brands with interactive sites within the social media platform including full-screen video, product information and other marketing content. Microsoft is going a bit more ephemeral, offering a demo of its augmented reality device, HoloLens. Augmented, and virtual, reality technology is an as yet unexplored marketing arena aside from a few early campaigns although the space is getting attention and budget dollars. Snapchat is announcing more immediately relevant news with a new video ad platform that features vertical views -- preventing users from having to re-orient their phones -- and also placing ads in the middle of the video stream rather than up front. Snapchat’s 100 million daily users watch around two billion videos.

Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer, Facebook, said in a Wall Street Journal article, “You’re starting to see a lot of new interactions [on mobile] … We’re trying to spend a moment looking at some of these trends and imagining what they’ll look like in next few years.”