Elon Musk launches a charm offensive in an attempt to win advertisers back to X, as he battles to quell a backlash against his erratic managerial style.
After missing the festival last year, the billionaire will return to the Advertising Festival in Cannes to reassure advertising groups and large brands about the future of social media platform.
Linda Yaccarino is the chief executive of X and a former NBCUniversal executive. She joined him this week at the event in southern France, and she’s using her connections to drum-up support for the ad funded platform.
One person who is familiar with X’s thinking says that the company wants to turn a corner after a difficult period when large brands abandoned the platform due to a litany controversies. This included loosening up its moderation policy.
Advertising bosses have said that the provocative use of the billionaire’s platform by him, which includes sharing rightwing conspiratorial views, has put brands off.
One agency boss said, “Advertisers are still concerned about X. He has the chance to explain why they should return to the platform.”
If you advertise on this platform, it’s as if you endorse him. “I think that he suffers more from this than other media platforms,” said the person.
X struggles to maintain its financial health, despite the drought in advertising, which has seen brands such as Disney, IBM, and Apple boycott the platform. It also faces internal turmoil.
The company’s executives have stated that over 60 percent of brands who had stopped advertising in the last few months have resumed, albeit in a small way.
Advertising chiefs, however, said that they did not include X on their “preferred” list of channels for their brand clients. It’s not an outright prohibition, but brands aren’t being encouraged to use X for their marketing.
One executive said that “there is still a great deal of fear in the business about how it’s being run.” When you have choices, they become less appealing. Nobody wants to deal that.”
One person said that some brands are beginning to think about X again but that others will never return.
He said that some people had drawn a line. “I don’t believe that some of our clients will return because of what has been said between the leaders of both entities.”
People familiar with the situation claim that Joe Benarroch suddenly quit X in this month. The Wall Street Journal reported the move.
Musk will be speaking at the main conference of Cannes on Wednesday, in a conversation with WPP CEO Mark Read.
X will announce plans to offer longer-form videos on its site. This is a departure from the curated feeds that are used by most, and a number deals with content providers will be made.
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