Episode 179: The Good Vibe(s) at Cannes, Plus UTA's Michael Burke on the Creator and Influencer Takeover

**Jeremy Bloom** (0:00)
Oh, hello, I'm Jeremy Bloom, co-founder and CEO of Marketecture Media. And boy, do I have news for you. Marketecture Live is back. And if you've been watching from a distance, thinking, that looks phenomenal, but a trip to New York is just a bridge, or several, too far. We've got great news for you. We're bringing Marketecture Live to the beating heart of AdLand. That's right. On September 23rd, 2026, Marketecture Live is coming to Chicago.
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**Ari Paparo** (1:26)
All right, welcome to The Marketecture Podcast. We're recording from Cannes, from the UTA Beach. I am looking out over the Mediterranean and some yachts and some other good stuff. And also to my friend, Michael Burke, who is the principal of UTA MediaLink. Michael, thanks for hosting us, and thanks for being the guest this week.

**Michael Burke** (1:45)
Thanks for having me. This is great. This is lots of fun.

**Ari Paparo** (1:47)
You can kind of hear the little clinking of the silverware in the background as people are enjoying their breakfast here on the first day of Cannes, right?

**Michael Burke** (1:54)
Yes, the activity is going on right now. It's fun.

**Ari Paparo** (1:57)
And we're in like a double decker, you know, basically like a mansion on the beach that you assembled in days and will then be put away for storage for 11 months.

**Michael Burke** (2:08)
It is crazy how big this structure is and how quickly they put it up and then, you know, how quickly thousands of people run through it and then how quickly it all comes down.

**Ari Paparo** (2:18)
And the real amazing thing is that you're able to keep it air conditioned, right? That's kind of the miracle.

**Michael Burke** (2:22)
This air conditioning is the hardest working thing in all of Cannes right now. It is.

**Ari Paparo** (2:26)
It's like it's struggling and we're only at day one.

**Michael Burke** (2:29)
Right now, it's just pushing, pushing. Come on, come on.

**Ari Paparo** (2:32)
Well, I wanted to ask, you know, why the investment? Like it's a big investment. Why would a company like yours do this investment?

**Michael Burke** (2:40)
So UTA investing this much into Cannes is really, it's a reaction to what's going on in Cannes right now, right? Because so much of what Cannes has become is around culture and what's happening in culture and the people who are creating culture, right? From celebrities and talent and creators and athletes and musicians. And so that's what the market wants, that's what marketers are looking for. That's one of the biggest asks and interests in Cannes this year. And so UTA, which represents so much of that industry and so on, you know, from musicians to actors, to athletes, to authors, to creators, and everyone in between, they represent this industry from UTA standpoint, from UTA advisory standpoint, where we work, where MediaLink is a part of. We help the marketers in the industry and the media companies understand how to leverage all of that, right? So that's why we're here, because the market wants it.

**Ari Paparo** (3:36)
It seems like a really good positioning, because media hasn't gone away. It's not like there's no media, but it's this kind of like triangle approach. You have the brand, the influencer, slash athlete, slash whomever, plus the media to accelerate the message.

**Michael Burke** (3:51)
Who's creating the content these days? Who's engaging audiences? Who's capturing attention?

**Ari Paparo** (3:56)
Right.

**Michael Burke** (3:57)
Is what's happening, right? And so culture, it's still an aspect of like, same thing, the goal of media. How do I reach an audience I'm trying to get in front of? Well, the audience is engaging with these folks across the channels that they represent and they're on.

**Ari Paparo** (4:12)
Right.

**Michael Burke** (4:12)
And so therefore, yeah, it is media. It's not going away, but this is the new content. This is the new publisher. This is what drives commerce.

**Ari Paparo** (4:20)
Can you give us a little insight into how brands think about it? Do they think, well, first step is I have to figure out who my influencer is to align with. Second step is I have to figure out my budget and media. Or is it the opposite? Like, I have a media plan and then I have to figure out who's going to accelerate.