Amid the yachts galore and the brands and agencies jockeying for the South of France’s best activation spaces, AI has become an increasingly common topic at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

But this year, at least one thing could be different: the conversations around the future of AI could have fewer buzzwords and pie-in-the-sky claims, and more practical takeaways, execs told us.

“We’re a year smarter than we were last year, one would hope,” Ivan Kayser, CEO at the Stagwell-owned consultancy Redscout, told us. “We have a year of experience implementing AI in our workflows. So I think you can now go on stage and talk about how AI is going to change the way agencies operate, feeling pretty good about the fact that it’s not going to make you sound stupid in three months, which was definitely not the case a year ago.”

ChatGPT only hit the market in 2022, but since then, adland has raced to make sense of AI technology and find out how it can fit into marketing operations. As AI has matured and agents have become more widely used, AI has been the talk of the Croisette for at least three years. But this year, executives say they expect discussions that detail clearer, more actionable approaches to using AI in marketing—ones that can deliver outcomes and unite various parts of the AI ecosystem while still centering creativity, according to agency executives.

“In a way, it’s going to be less hyperbolic, but maybe much more transformative,” Kayer said. “It feels like we’re going to get a lot more actionable information about where the category is going—if indeed there’s a correction for hyperbole and an emphasis on tangible change.”

Continue reading here.—JS

When they warn you that Cannes Lions is hot, they mean both the temperature and the conversation.

Jennimai Nguyen here, reporting from day two on the Croisette. My day kicked off with a TikTok press briefing, where I made a custom perfume based on the TikTok trends and aesthetics that resonated most with me (Cottagecore Fairy, in case you’re curious) before execs and creators took the stage to walk us through new AI solutions for advertisers and talked about what makes brand-creator partnerships work.

Creator Henry Smith, better known as @henryhenryhenryhenryhenr, highlighted his partnership with Sephora, which he said worked because the brand helped make a natural moment in his content—when he went shopping at Sephora and declared that “boys can go to Sephora too”—into a long-tail partnership. An inspiration to boys and brands everywhere!

Creators continue to be the theme of the day (and the festival), because I then trekked over to Tubi Cabana, where I chatted with Kudzi Chikumbu, VP of creator partnerships, about the current landscape for creators in entertainment. We talked about the appeal of full-stack creators coming onto streamers, and he’s particularly excited about what that means for storytelling.

“You can then start to bring a lot more of those untold stories to platform,” he said.

While creators are top of mind, I haven’t actually spotted too many of them out in the wild. They’re on panels and attending events, sure, but I’ve quickly realized that Cannes isn’t necessarily the place that creators—especially consumer-facing ones—are out making content, despite the idyllic beach backgrounds. B2B creators, though, seem to be walking and talking on the Croisette, at least based on my own feed. But if you were hoping to hear a firsthand account of how Brandon Edelman, aka @bran_flakezz (and whom I have walked past twice—hi, Brandon!) makes his videos, it’s hard to come by!

Next up, I’m heading back over to Creator Beach for a couple more meetings before a happy hour with the folks at NBCUniversal—and then later, I’ll be going to a concert at Spotify Beach, headlined tonight by RAYE. I’m already plotting out exactly which spots will have AC, and which ones require my mini fan to be running full-blast. If I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that mini-fans make Cannes go round.—JN

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Spencer Burke is SVP of growth at Braze, a customer engagement platform, where he’s been for nearly 15 years. Before that, he worked at PwC.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? A campaign that caught my eye recently is Equinox’s New Year’s campaign, which took the conversation around AI slop and turned it on its head. I have long admired their bold marketing (they are one of our customers), and this campaign was no exception. The campaign centered around the tagline, “Question Everything But Yourself,” which felt intentional, provocative, and reflective of a bigger conversation happening across marketing right now about how to use AI in a way that feels creative, deliberate, and distinctive.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I’m most optimistic about how the role of marketing has continued to evolve in the face of disruption. The current proliferation of AI draws parallels with the rise of mobile and cloud that we saw at the time Braze was founded in 2011. AI is the next evolution, the next frontier. It is not just an opportunity to do things faster, but it’s an opportunity to pursue projects that just weren’t possible before.

Like many, I’m least optimistic about the flood of low-quality, AI slop content. The real opportunity isn’t simply producing more, but using AI to build better relationships and experiences.

Continue reading here.

We examine if brands have actually pulled their support for Pride month, or if they’re just keeping it private now. Some are still shelling out money, others are making their presence known at parades, and others…just aren’t talking about their involvement. But when it comes to Gen Z, some brands will prove they want to be loud and proud about their support for the LGBTQIA+ celebrations.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Penske Media completed its acquisition of former Vox Media brands, which include The Verge, Eater, SB Nation, Popsugar, The Dodo, and Thrillist.
• Papa Johns partnered with Disney and Pixar to create a retro arcade for the release of Toy Story 5.
• La Colombe, the official coffee partner of US Soccer, debuted a new platform in time with the USMNT’s first World Cup game win last week.
• Procter & Gamble is working with Albertsons Media Collective on a microdrama called Rico’s Tacos.

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