Fresh from her travels to the south of France last week, Jane McDaid writes about the week-long festival of creativity, innovation and ideas as well as the usual schmoozing, boozing.
Cannes is a funny one. A mix of things I love and things I don’t like.
Brilliant people, fun, creativity, innovation & tech, sunshine, good food and great conversations with some of the most talented people I know. At the same time, there’s the in-your-face, crippling ostentatiousness that feels right out of whack with ‘normal’. We’re talking Super Yacht Parties, Champagne-Fuelled-Super-Dinners on Private Islands and Peak Penthouse Vibes.
Mad Men? Indeed.
Cannes is a reminder that, maybe, not much has changed.
But what has changed is that Cannes has woken up to the fact that the Creator Economy is changing advertising and marketing.
I got a Creator Pass for the week – a new type of festival pass for Creators, or those that specialise in the Creator Economy. It was the place to be. Young, brilliant creators learning from brands; and brands learning from creators. From TikTok superstar Hayley Kalil to Jake Shane and Alix Earle – the festival was alight with next gen talent telling the boomers how it really is.
And I was there for it.
Over the last two decades, I’ve witnessed, and evangelised, the power of the Creator Economy. Now, it seems even the Advertising Boomers are finally recognising their brand-building capabilities.
Cannes’ Creator Terrace hosted insightful conversations and gatherings over four days, all in a secluded corner of the Palais. I used the space as my base for the week and this was where I made my new festival-friends; creators from across the globe who have amassed eye-watering follower numbers and built great personal brands that have given them unimaginable opportunities – often in just a matter of just a few years.
It was here that I caught Katie Welch, CMO of Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez’s beauty brand. She told the Creators on the Terrace that “We’re at an inflection point. Don’t forget that you are the pioneers. The brands are still playing catch up.”
On Thursday, I caught the research work by System1 and Mark Ritson which also reinforces the importance of emotional, creator-led advertising in effective brand building. The study, “The Creative Dividend,” combined System1’s extensive ad testing data with Effie’s case studies to produce a fine piece of work that shows that Emotion, Fluency and Time are the key indicators for profit-driving work. The strategy to deliver that, according to Ritson is to “build emotionally to everyone, but build small animated groups in culture. This is how you build brands.”
Fluency, he explained, is “like distinctiveness. It’s about knowing what brand this is for.” He said “Your brand has to own every pixel, from beginning to end.” On ‘Time’, he encouraged brand leaders to “Make less ads. Run them for longer…. make more money.” and talked through the perception of wearout claiming that, according to the research; “ads don’t wear out: ads need time.”
He continued: “Old beats new. Stop making ads, it’s stupid. Unless you have a shit ad. If you’ve a good ad, quit. Because it will work better. Good ads keep working.” He concluded that “ads developed in collaboration with creators tend to be more entertaining and emotionally engaging, leading to higher effectiveness.” Something I’ve witnessed first hand, for many years.
AI was a major theme. Unsurprisingly.
I got lucky. I was invited to a tiny, intimate gathering with Sir John Hegarty – what a privilege. I’d seen him before and thought ‘meh’ but this time – in a safe space with no recording happening, he spoke so openly and freely – he was incredible. A true creative. On the subject of AI, he said: “AI will be profound because it democratises opportunity.” He continued, “I work in advertising, I don’t live in advertising and when it comes to AI, the more interesting you are, the more AI can do for you.”
Some other thoughts on AI that I liked came from the independent agency and creative leaders that gathered on LBB’s beach. Meiji Alabi from RSA Films claims that “AI won’t kill the storyteller” and Michael Nyman from Acceleration Community of Companies said: “Young People need to start mastering the software and they’ll have an advantage.” He continued: “Holding companies have legacy issues they’re dealing with. People, real-estate and systems that are built on yesterday. Indies can respond to the change faster.”
In predicting the impact of AI, Adobe’s director of Gen AI Jay Ganaden said “We’ve gotta hit deadlines faster, we’ve less people and we’ve gotta cut our cost by 30%.” Fern Millar, R/GA’s former Exec Strategy Director predicts that “AI will impact client roles more than agency as AI automation unfolds.” With some great wisdom, Robin Bonn, CEO of independent agency Co:Definery and author of ‘Market of One’ said we’d all be better off focusing on “What’s not going to change?”
In some ways, for me, Cannes 2025 was like watching a legacy industry wake up. But not fully. The industry’s got a little dribble on its face and it’s still sleep walking a little. Yes – the industry is waking up to the power of Tech, Social and Creators. Yes – it’s waking up (perhaps naively so for some) to the impact of AI on our industry. But when will our industry fully wake up to the power we hold to impact the world positively? When will we unlock our industry’s full creative potential to protect our biggest, shared asset – planet earth?
It was not on the main stage, but instead on the outskirts of the festival, the edges, where I witnessed this wide-wake ambition. I was part of a small group of like-minded people, from every continent, who gathered for dinner to explore how the world’s best agencies / holding companies / major consultancies and the Cannes Festival of Creativity itself can work together to unlock our truest collective potential in service to a thriving future for all. “Our best work is yet to come” is something our industry is known for saying. To me, that’s never rang truer. If not us, who? If not now, when?
Jane McDaid is Founder & Head of Creative Innovation at THINKHOUSE which is part of Heineken Ireland’s interagency team that took home 8 Cannes Lions last week for Pub Succession and Pub Museums. The campaigns were developed by Publicis Dublin and Le Pub and delivered in partnership with THINKHOUSE and We Are Romans.
