Welcome back. Today, the Cannes Lions ad festival swings into action in France; Starbucks builds buzz for its baristas with a global competition in Las Vegas; PayPal pitches similar products to different audiences; and the president rakes in revenue from crypto, licensing and other ventures.

Katie Deighton is in Cannes this week for the ad industry’s biggest annual gathering. She writes:

Good morning from the Riviera. It’s day one of Cannes Lions and naturally everybody is already complaining about the heat and humidity. Also par for the course: Travel delays by land (traffic) and air (delayed flights) that led to the cancellation of not one but two of my Sunday evening meetings planned for “before the chaos begins.”

I took the extra time to walk down the Croisette and check out which companies have splashed out on beach houses and hotel takeovers. The usual suspects are all here—Stagwell’s Sports Beach was already popping off (an internal cocktail party, so I’m told) while most others were still laying down the decking—with the addition of a giant chrome Mickey Mouse on the front of the Martinez (courtesy of—who else?—Disney) and a bright red DoorDash Ads storefront next to the Carlton.

DoorDash last week announced that it topped $1 billion in ad revenue over the last 12 months and had purchased the adtech startup Symbiosys for $175 million, so it’s a good time to to peacock its status as a retail media platform.

At a Sunday evening dinner with programmatic advertising company TripleLift in the Old Town, the entrees hadn’t even been served before someone at my table asked “So, is AI going to wipe out agencies by 40%?” Most everybody disagreed, but then we spent the next hour talking about which AI platforms we’re using to get our jobs done.

More Cannes: Cannes Lions will again spotlight the ad industry’s tectonic shifts. [BI]

Why CEOs of companies in any industry should care about Cannes Lions. [Fast Company] 

Performers at Cannes events this week will include Cardi B, Diplo, St. Vincent, Ludacris, Charlie Puth and 50 Cent. [Page Six] 

Katie Deighton caught up with David Lubars, the former global chief creative officer of BBDO and winner of this year’s Lion of St. Mark at Cannes—the festival’s highest honor for lifetime achievement. His answers have been edited and condensed.

How many years have you been coming to Cannes Lions? When did you have the most fun?

I’ve been attending Cannes for 25 years and always see and learn new things. The most fun was whenever I was a jury president. It’s stimulating to see lots of brilliant work and work alongside fantastic creative people. And, as any juror will tell you, it helps reconfirm the creative principles you believe in and apply to your own work.

Where’s the best place to go in Cannes for a drink away from prying eyes and ears?

Cannes itself is fine but it’s pretty much a convention town, like a nicer Las Vegas. So anywhere outside of Cannes is good.

You’ve been awarded the Lion of St. Mark. Do you feel like you’ve “completed” advertising now?

Yes! It’s funny how for years I saw myself as an up-and-coming young creative, whereas now I see myself as decomposing corpse taking a victory lap. It’s a lovely victory lap, though. I’m humbled by it.
 

Starbucks crowned its first Global Barista Champion after a three-day competition to show off employees’ skills and pump up the brand, Heather Haddon reports.

The coffee giant had winnowed 84,000 entrants to 12 contestants who faced off in Las Vegas, where hosts narrated the action for a cheering crowd.

For the semifinals, competitors had to make concoctions randomly assigned by a Plinko board. In the signature drink round, an Italian barista crafted a “Golden Ticket Milano Express.” The final four used drink additions including apple juice and a secret sauce of Japanese yuzu.

Japan’s Nobuki Shimode won with his “Blooming Yuzu Espresso.”

“I think you are destined for the Food Network next,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said to Shimode after his win.

President Trump earned around $57 million from his stake in a family-backed cryptocurrency firm last year, according to a new financial disclosure form, showing the early returns on a burgeoning digital-asset empire, Sam Goldfarb, Anthony DeBarros and Vicky Ge Huang write.

Some have argued that Trump has promoted his private businesses in unprecedented ways for a sitting president, presenting conflicts of interest. His ventures into crypto, in particular, have drawn scrutiny because the president has simultaneously moved to create a more friendly regulatory environment for the industry.

Trump also earned $1.3 million in licensing fees from the Trump-branded “God Bless the USA Bible” with country-music singer Lee Greenwood. The president earned $2.5 million from licensed Trump-branded sneakers and fragrances, another $2.8 million from watches and about $1 million from a Trump-branded guitar.

Related: Sponsors of Saturday’s military parade in Washington included Palantir, Coinbase and Dana White’s new energy drink. [NYT]

PayPal is banking on multi-brand, generational marketing to fight the growing crowd in digital payments, a sector it once had almost all to itself, Patrick Coffee reports.

The company is positioning its namesake service to appeal to young families just settling down and seeking stability, according to CMO Geoff Seeley. The PayPal ad campaign now in heavy rotation stars Will Ferrell.

Venmo, which PayPal acquired in 2013, “is very much for a mobile-first, younger, potentially slightly more affluent audience,” Seeley said. For that crowd, the company ordered up ads starring Aimee Lou Wood and Patrick Schwarzenegger, fresh off their star turns in HBO’s “The White Lotus.”

“They have such a palpable sort of friendship and chemistry that is highly representative of the people who you will Venmo every day,” Seeley said.

A bill advancing through Congress would limit the sale of “trigger leads,” which lenders use to deluge mortgage applicants with phone calls and texts offering competing loans. [WSJ] 

Weather Channel owner Byron Allen agreed to settle his lawsuit accusing McDonald’s of discriminating against Black-owned media companies, heading off a trial that was scheduled to begin next month. [Variety]

Brooklyn Brewery is redirecting its usual Pride-related marketing spending into direct grants for trans and non-binary New Yorkers. [Fast Company] 

Marketing for “M3GAN 2.0” is designed to bring in the gay fans who made the original a sleeper hit. [THR]

H&M is betting on upgrading a slimmed-down store network to regain ground lost to rivals that sell purely online, and using AI to improve the physical and digital customer experience. [WSJ]

Charli XCX fans have discovered that the Ford logo flipped backwards spells “Brat.” [Creative Bloq]

Correction: Mars moved its media account to Publicis Groupe from WPP, not from Omnicom as I said in a link here Friday.