For most in the industry, the Cannes Lions festival is a mix of watching from afar, skimming influencer-packed recaps, and wondering what real insights will emerge from the panels, parties, and palm trees.
This year, I had the chance to be there in person - zigzagging between meetings, panels and networking events along the Croisette. Expectations were high: game-changing revelations about artificial intelligence (AI), bold predictions for the future of marketing and breakthrough thinking across measurement, media and creative. And while there was some of that, the truth is - Cannes was also hot, humid and occasionally overwhelming. The fan I picked up at the Google Beach? Easily the most useful item in my bag.
But once you push past the sizzle, there were meaningful takeaways, especially around how marketers are trying to make sense of a rapidly evolving landscape. Here are a few that stuck with me.
One thing became clear across multiple panels and conversations: the customer journey is anything but straightforward. The industry has long preached the need for omnichannel strategies, but we’re finally at the point where that’s no longer just aspirational; it’s reality.
In an Adweek panel on retail media, speakers from brands like Albertsons, Bayer and Purdue Farms emphasized the need to meet customers in specific moments with tailored formats. The idea of “right person, right message, right environment” came up repeatedly, reinforcing a familiar goal. What stood out was the underlying challenge: very few marketers have a clear view of what their customers actually did along the way. That’s not for lack of effort - it’s a reflection of the reality we’re operating in.
Today’s measurement tools are constantly evolving to keep up with the complexity of a world where privacy-first tech is the norm and attribution paths are more like tangled webs than straight lines. So it’s no surprise that strategies like Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and Incrementality are making a comeback.
Incrementality, in particular, was everywhere. And while some treated it like a shiny new strategy, it’s really a more mature approach that’s having a moment; one that acknowledges the need to zoom out. In a world where granular tracking is harder to achieve (and harder to trust), marketers are turning to broader tools that help them spot trends across the forest, even if they can’t examine every pine needle.
Of course, none of these methods work without a solid data foundation. Several brands mentioned building more sophisticated attribution models or layering in predictive tools, but all of it hinges on getting your data house in order.
That might be the biggest takeaway of all: before you chase the newest tech or the latest buzzword, make sure you’ve solved the right problem. The most advanced tool in the world won’t help if it’s built on disconnected or incomplete data.
I won’t lie, when I first heard the words “Agentic AI,” I had to listen a bit more closely to understand what the panelists were talking about. None of us were surprised that Cannes was rife with AI and the buzz surrounding amazing things brands are doing with it. However, that doesn't mean the majority of us truly understand the future implications of what all of this actually means.
Steven Bartlett (of Diary of a CEO) noted in a panel that he tries to represent the audience, acting as a curious stand-in for the experts. Following his lead, I wanted to get to the bottom of it.
So, what is Agentic AI? I asked Gemini to explain it simply. Here's what I got:
“Imagine you have a super smart assistant, but instead of just answering your questions, it can also do things. Agentic AI is like an AI that can:
Think of it as AI with agency — acting purposefully and independently to reach goals.”
In the numerous meetings and panels I sat in on, what became clear is that brands and agencies are using AI agents to ping various language models - from their own proprietary systems to open-source ones like Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude - to better understand what customers are saying about a brand or what trending discussions are happening across platforms.
Many are still trying to grasp what everything centered around AI truly means. Headlines about AI taking people’s jobs are often clickbait, but the real message is this: if we don't learn how to use AI effectively in our roles and work, the industry will push forward and we'll be left behind. Those who learn how to work alongside AI will be better positioned than those who ignore it.
Creative is still a big issue across our industry. It’s rare that you’d have more creative than you know what to do with. The increased interest and activation across streaming platforms, along with the surge in influencer marketing, highlight how assets need to be adapted to fit various formats.
Sometimes we make it too much about the tech when we need to focus more on the data, environment and content. Steven Bartlett, on the YouTube Stage, shared his insight when talking about which formats drive engagement:
“Every stage requires a different type of content.”
Having different channels for different video lengths not only allows you to set the stage accordingly, but if we think back to having that 10,000-foot view of your customer, being able to adjust the length, message and delivery for platforms like YouTube Shorts, Connected TV (CTV) and Online Video (OLV) means you're personalizing ads to your customers without necessarily requiring months of research.
If you’ve run CTV campaigns recently, chances are you or your client have struggled to get the data you actually need to tell a measurement story.
The rise of ad-supported streaming hasn’t solved this challenge: no one platform gives you a full picture. But Cannes introduced an idea I hadn’t fully considered: using clean rooms to unify data across multiple providers. We’ve advised clients to use Google’s ADH for YouTube, but I hadn’t realized similar approaches were viable for platforms like Tubi or Samsung.
No single platform delivers everything, but genre-specific insights are out there. You just need the right setup to access them.
Outside of data, there’s growing demand from clients to run ads during live sports. Why? Few audiences are as actively engaged as sports fans watching in real time.
But it’s not just any sports, the opportunity in women’s sports stood out. A panel at the Female Quotient spotlighted the high brand affinity that comes from supporting underrepresented sports.
As Damaune Journey, Global Chief Growth Officer at 72andSunny, said:
“A dollar used today is more valuable in women’s sports than a dollar used tomorrow. This is your chance to throw the weight of an NBA investment into the WNBA - and get outsized returns.”
Whether you attended Cannes or followed along from afar, the one thing I heard repeatedly was the importance of eliminating guesswork.
Rather than going with your gut, let your data guide you. That’s how we move from noise to meaningful outcomes. Curious how others are navigating these shifts? Check out our latest case studies and insights for real-world examples of data-led transformation.