At this year’s Cannes Lions advertising festival, human creativity took back the spotlight from AI.
The conversation centered around the effectiveness of AI, rather than the bold but vague predictions from last year’s events. They also touched on where AI is failing for marketers.
“People are a little more down to earth,” PMG CEO George Postefanov told me. “I’m hearing more and more people saying, ‘You can’t do this,’ which is great.”
Over iced coffee at the Martinez Hotel, EY CMO John Rudaisky said AI often gives the illusion of accuracy and comprehensiveness. That’s why he’s still not in favor of using AI for things like synthetic testing in market research.
Havas released research during Cannes that revealed 84% of brands suffer from “apathy” from consumers. The study covered more than 2,400 brands and included 1,000 consumer interviews.
“Apathy is a real problem,” Mark Sinnock, chief strategy officer of Havas’ creative group, told me. Creativity can create connection and desire for a brand, he said.
At the Palais, Chipotle Chief Brand Officer Fernando Machado gave a punchy talk titled “Creativity Must Fight Back.” He argued that the industry has become too obsessed with optimization, dashboards and AI hacking to speed up production and reduce costs.
He likened using AI to write summaries for agencies and select creative ideas to “thinking you can play the guitar well because you’re good at Guitar Hero.”
The event’s annual awards showcased a huge amount of creativity, but entries were down 25% from last year. Cannes Lions organizers have tightened application requirements after several of last year’s winners faced scrutiny over whether the big claims made in their case studies could be verified.
AXA France won the Grand Prix Lion Award in the ‘Creative Impact’ category for its ‘Three Words’ campaign, which saw the insurance company change its policy and add the words ‘and domestic violence’ to the list of covered incidents.
“Creative effectiveness really matters,” said Jane Wakely, PepsiCo’s chief marketing and growth officer, who served as a judge for the award. “That’s why we’re not here to win awards, but we should be here to impact business.”
Creators are working hard
It was also the year that Cannes’ creators took over, with an entire conference track and space dedicated to the art of influencer marketing.
The influence of creators is growing as marketers seek new ways to deliver content that consumers actually want to see. Ad spending by U.S. creators is expected to reach $44 billion this year, according to an April report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
“There’s a whole new energy coming in,” Cindy Gallop, a former advertising executive and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, told me on the terrace of the Palais.
“I love that they come here and say, ‘We’re going to do what we want,'” Gallop said. “This is a whole new relationship with brands and agencies.”
Marketers need to be open to letting creators make decisions, but some people are better at letting the reins go.
Content creator Adam Waheed, better known as Adam W., and Google’s Sean Downey spoke at BI’s CMO Breakfast about how brands can become better partners with influencers. Camille Kermarek of BI.
Speaking at BI’s CMO Breakfast, popular YouTuber Adam Waheed, known as Adam W, said understanding that partnerships are a two-way street is the path to strong business results.
“This is a collaboration, and of course there will always be pushback,” he said. “I’m not going to do exactly what I want to do, and I’m not going to do exactly what the brand wants to do. It’s somewhere in the middle.”
The biggest creators are taking on Hollywood and becoming their own media companies. Take “Insecure” star Issa Rae, for example, and Hoorae Media has a variety of deals, including a podcast and TikTok micro-drama “Screen Time.”
“The creator economy has matured into sophisticated media solutions that can build authentic cultural IP,” Becky Owen, CMO of social agency Billion Dollar Boy, told me.
The transactional nature of the influencer marketing industry was also evident at Cannes Lions.
A marketing executive received a stern reprimand when the 10 or so creators he invited to a “friends’ dinner” left the restaurant before their check for 8,300 euros (about $9,400) arrived.
“Influencers are not friends,” said one advertising participant who paid for part of the cost.