Cannes Film Festival is
perhaps the most popular festival of its kind. With a high
concentration of celebrities and the movie stars it attracts 24×7 media
attention. It has become a platform from where one can highlight and
showcase new high end products. The luxury car makers also seem to have
jumped on the Cannes bandwagon. Last year, at Cannes one could see
Maybach embellished with diamonds and this year Mercedes Benz has
brought in cars that are covered in gold. The golden wrap job will
appeal a lot to the affluent customers from the Arab world who like
everything made or covered in gold.
It is the luxury car maker’s way of celebrating the awarding of the
65th Palme d’Or (Golden Palm). The golden Mercedes Benz, and there is an
entire fleet of them operating in Cannes, is being used to shuttle
guests who are mostly celebrities and stars. A future model of the car,
a 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG has also been covered in gold and brought
into Cannes for display. The special car has been stationed at the
legendary Cinema Against AIDS Gala being organized by the amfAR
foundation at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on May 24. The car maker feels
that the model will get good exposure here as the people assembled at
Cannes for the festival are all part of their target market.
Mercedes’ performance arm AMG has become super active and organizing
high profile events to maximize the exposure to their vehicles. They are
sponsoring the legendary “Le Club by Albane” at the J.W. Marriott hotel
and the “IWC Filmmakers Dinner” at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. They have
put together a fleet of their vehicles from different models to provide
exclusive shuttle service to the guests wanting to participate in the
events. AMG has brought in some of their latest models and are providing
test drives to public along the French Riviera. They have set up a
Mercedes-AMG desk in the lobby of the Hotel InterContinental Carlton
Cannes where guests can register for a test drive.