I never went to Cannes. Instead, I tracked everything leaders said about AI

Well, firstly, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Big tech has been an unmissable presence in recent years. Big budgets, big names, very big stages. Ambition writ large in just two letters, ‘AI’. Not much seems to have changed this year – or has it?

If the threat of AI has been the big story of the last couple of years, much now seems to have been made of ‘living with AI’. It’s a turn of phrase that sounds like grim acceptance. But the spin hits different.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Katie Deighton remarked, “After several years of small experiments with AI and big anxieties over its impact, advertising executives got with the program at this week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity … Raging against the machine was firmly out. Any remaining rank-and-file worries about job losses were mostly voiced far from official events.”

But while the AI genie is well and truly out of the bottle, exactly how AI will be deployed remains a hotly contested matter. There were plenty of advocates to be found in the camp of deep AI integration. Don McGuire, chief marketing officer at chip maker Qualcomm (and therefore at the inclusive end of the AI spectrum), summed up the shift in the 2025 Cannes edition. “We’ve moved beyond the promise and the fear to the practical application.” What might that mean? Well, Yannick Bolloré, CEO of Havas, had an idea, asking that his staff refer to AI agents as “teammates.”

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun, who’s famously on a bit of a roll right now, called for AI to be grounded in tangible business outcomes and utility-focused creativity. “Agencies need to provide immediate, practical business solutions for clients, moving beyond theoretical discussions and celebrating creativity for its own sake.”

Other opinions were also making it into my feed. There was plenty of support for AI as a creative co-pilot. Not as a replacement for human craft, but instead, an enhancer of it. Marisa Thalberg, chief customer and marketing officer, Catalyst Brands, explained how she thought AI and human creative craft could co-exist. “My optimism comes from knowing how much creativity is—and will remain—so fundamentally and uniquely human, even if the ways we harness and express it continue to change.”

AI as a support for craft or as an integral driver of creative business? My money’s on both. I suspect this is one that Cannes and the LinkedIn algorithm will be wrestling with next year as well.

What then of the rest of the festival? Did the 2025 version appear different from previous editions? In some respects, no. Purposeful work has won big in recent years, and despite feeling some industry heat prior to Cannes, it kept delivering the metalware this year with both Dove and AXA winning big.

But a change in creative emphasis certainly seems to have swept through the Palais this year. John Rudaizky, global chief brand and marketing officer at EY, observed that “this one (Cannes 2025 Festival) felt different – not just AI, but the rise of creators, influencers, sport.” He added, “Traditional print posters? Brilliant, but quietly in the corner. Lions truly broader.”

So, another Cannes has passed. This one lived through a feed. I liked this quote from Tom Beckman, global chief creative officer, Weber Shandwick & PR Lions Jury President. “The internet gave people access to information, social media gave them access to expression, and AI is now giving them access to production… Agencies and brands are still playing catch-up.” That sounds about right. We have 52 weeks to fix it. I might even be there to see the results.

Get in touch with Gareth on LinkedIn.

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