Cannes' new chief has little time for croissants: Franz Prenner believes the ad festival is still value for money. (Newsmaker/Franz Prenner).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Talk about a baptism of fire. No sooner had the fax machine finished spitting out the news that Franz Prenner is the new chief executive of the Cannes Advertising Festival, than the phone erupts, spilling forth Campaign's front-page splash: "O&M to boycott Cannes."

So instead of being introduced to the coffee machine, Prenner is introduced to the world's trade press, demanding to know his response. Initially, it's cagey and defensive. "I make no comment," he says in a stern Austrian accent.

This isn't an approach likely to get the press and industry on Prenner's side. After all, the threatened boycott was a big deal. Scam advertising has been a bone of contention for years and when last year's jury president, Saatchi & Saatchi's Bob Isherwood, introduced the idea of a President's Log (a list of entrants guilty of submitting work that has never run), it was welcomed or at least acknowledged as a necessary evil.

So Neil French's declaration seven months later that it's "disgusting" and that "it sucked" came as quite a shock. The Ogilvy worldwide creative director explained to Campaign last week: "I am against this politicisation of advertising. By doing this they exclude small agencies and you don't even know if you have been excluded."

French had been in talks with the former chief executive, Romain Hatchuel, for some time about ditching the blacklist. Hatchuel refused and, last week, when his resignation was announced, the Cannes office was keeping quiet about its views on the issue. French remained adamant: "Unless they scrap this, we're not interested."

Ogilvy doesn't exactly hog the stage on the big night so, creatively at least, the stance would make scant impact. Financially, however, it's a bigger story. Last year, the network submitted around 1,500 pieces of work for judging -- at a cost of $500,000, not to mention delegate registration fees.

So, we go back to Prenner, who is now friendly, open and helpful -- and keen to defuse the issue. "The President's Log was Bob's idea, it's what he told the press, it's perhaps his personal opinion, but it was never the idea or strategy of the festival. This is why I didn't want to comment on it."