The diary of a performance marketer at Cannes Lions: AI, the Kelces – and free pizza

Cannes has always been a bucket-list event for any marketer – myself included. The appeal for me being the event’s focus on cutting-edge ideas and challenging ways of thinking.

Day 1: AI, of course

As I rushed from my first panel to participating in a group discussion, and then on to a one-to-one at Google Beach, it became clear that there was no shortage of opportunities in which to participate. Condensing my audacious schedule would be key.

The next obvious learning was that conversations about AI would be inescapable – much like at every other marketing event. Every stage had a half-hourly panel discussing the topic. There was no shortage of opinions, and the curiosity from everyone was palpable.

From Meta’s announcement on immediate AI expansion, to the entirety of Microsoft’s schedule centered on it, to the pushback on maintaining a human element in all creativity, notably demonstrated in the award results.

It’s clear that we all still have very little idea how the industry will look in a few years. Yet, there was more openness and less “claiming to be experts” than elsewhere – which led to actual debate on AI usage.

Day 2: influencers & celebrities

The Olympic torch started the day down the street, and what seemingly followed it was a stream of influencers populating the fringe speaking opportunities. It’s clear marketers are embracing gen Z and attempting to learn how this demographic thinks, how to reach them where they are, and how to win their trust.

Speaking of trust, a day ahead of Elon speaking, celebrities flooded the various activations, with more names around than I could fit in this entire diary.

I was grateful to step away from the chaos at the end of the day to have a purposeful conversation with a smaller group about the Microsoft initiative AI for Good. It left me feeling optimistic about the waters we are wading into. As marketers, we will all help shape how AI comes into people’s lives – and so have a shared responsibility to do more than just drive efficiency and scale.

Day 3: omnichannel networks

By this point in the week, I allowed myself to ask the dumb question at the top of my mind: where were all the creatives? The platform beaches and ad-tech yachts continued to dominate the attention.

While I was getting used to this, I didn’t expect the topic of programmatic buying to be at the forefront of conversation at a place like Cannes. But with retail media networks being announced left, right, and center, it seemed that everyone was trotting out a new solution – with CVS, Chase, and United Airlines just to name just a few. Even the Amazon Port was specifically designed around exploring omni-channel opportunities. In the increasingly crowded omnichannel space, being able to boast scale and touchpoints as a point of differentiation is necessary even for the biggest of players to speak to tomorrow’s consumers.

Talking about merging experiences, it would be amiss not to mention one of the best activations of the week – Uber’s free pizza, which served as a reminder of the lasting power of out-of-home (OOH) done right.

Day 4: sports & the Kelces

Sports are embracing the advertising community in a new way. Thankfully, as agencies and brands have utilized most of the common ways to reach captivated fans. It’s now about shifting to deliver an unexpected but authentic modern experience – specifically away from the TV set.

This was the focus of the last day for me and, due to the overwhelming response to having Travis and Jason Kelce on stage at Stagwell Sports Beach, an integral theme of the whole festival.

Not only was Sports Beach clearly the most visited fringe set-up, but it drew in much larger conversations around both authentic brand integration and ‘fandom’. How do we stop talking to customers and instead cultivate fans? The answer undoubtedly came back to taking risks and giving fans the pen – because knowing how to speak to fans can make or break a brand.

It was fitting that my final meeting in Cannes happened a little bit off the Croisette, in the early hours of Friday morning, where I discussed a brand partnership with Jason Kelce himself, as music blasted from the back of a restaurant.

After all, it turns out that it’s not creativity but connection that defines what Cannes has always been about.