This year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was as notable for what wasn’t said, as what was. It was as busy as ever. This is the ultimate in Fomo; it doesn’t matter where you are and who you’re seeing, something else is going on and someone will inevitably tell you that’s where you should have been.

On the stages, beaches, yachts and hotels, the great and the good of the advertising and marketing world gathered to discuss how brands can thrive.

While remarkably little was said about Trump, despite the huge business ramifications of his reshaping the geopolitical landscape, everything was being said about AI. Over the week the advertising industry’s relationship with AI showed itself – and it wasn’t always comfortable viewing. 

Buckle up for AI’s impact

A narrative has set in for a while now that AI is a tool to be embraced and experimented with, and this was often repeated at Cannes. It was brought entertainingly to life by advertising guru John Hegarty talking to a younger, AI-generated version of himself while Havas chief operating officer Vicki Maguire went for a gutsier approach: “Today is fucked…but it’s the most exciting time to be alive.”

But scratch beneath the ‘don’t be afraid of AI, use it’ default opinion and there were some depressing numbers being shared. Dan Schulman, board chair, Just Capital, and former chief executive and president of PayPal, said one of the roles of brands and leaders was to define reality (as well as inspire hope) because AI is going to change reality for most of us. His take was that it was very likely there would be 15–25% unemployment through most companies, with 70% of research and analytics jobs gone in the next three to five years. And it’ll be felt most keenly at entry level with up to 50% unemployment among graduates. “I don’t think most of us have accepted/intellectualised this,” Schulman said.

The doom-laden impact on jobs in our industry and beyond was echoed by Alex Jenkins, editorial director at Contagious, in his ‘How to Win in 2030’ presentation. Along with a string of companies now adopting an AI-first hiring policy (including Shopify and Duolingo), 37% of employers would rather hire AI than a recent graduate (Hult International Business School) and 41% of companies worldwide plan to reduce workforce by 2030 due to AI (World Economic Forum).

Generational insight

When things feel this grim, where do we turn? To the positivity of younger generations, perhaps. Amazon Ads and Strat 7 CrowdDNA presented new research looking at the relationship between consumers’ ages and generations and how that intersects with their values and behaviours.

While generational identifiers can be useful, 25% of its surveyed consumers identified with a different generation to the one they ‘should’ be in based on the year they were born –  four out of five surveyed said that their mindset defines them more than their age. People felt that brands try too hard to appeal to certain age groups ( 59%) and they appreciated it when brands feature people from all age groups in their ads ( 65%). Brands can reach more relevant audiences by focusing on shared values, communities and behaviours.

Building brands in a changing world

Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G, started his talk saying he wasn’t going to talk about AI and a cheer went up in the auditorium. He shared his five lessons for building brands in a rapidly changing world and number one was ‘know your customer better than anyone’ before championing the role of deep insight to create advertising that taps into human truths and resonates with audiences.

Richard Edelman, chief executive at Edelman, dared to broach the purpose word – but said it had shifted fundamentally from ‘we’ to ‘me’ thanks to the hammer blows consumers have faced in recent years (Covid, inflation, geopolitics, fear of job losses). “It’s not dead, it’s different,” he said, because people now most value feeling good, stable, accessing quality facts and feeling safe for the future – so this is what brands need to address, especially in the face of AI.

He wasn’t the only one to point to the opportunity for brands when distrust among people is so high.

Julia Glidden, president and head of public affairs, Ipsos North America, took part in a panel discussion about nation brands and talked about how its research shows the brand opportunity because distrust in organisations has never been higher. “The need for connection has never been stronger,” she said.

Unsurprisingly, she acknowledged that brand America has taken a substantial hit – Ipsos research found 37% of people said they would buy US brands – making it the least likely (it was 60% for EU). She said the US brands that were seen as international vs American fared best – brands such as Google, Amazon and Apple – while Tesla, Levis and Bud Light were firmly fixed in people’s minds as US brands.

This was a Cannes where purpose was talked about, but not as it used to be and in more hushed tones. Glidden said clients had a real fear of saying or doing the wrong thing but she countered: “The words we choose really matter” – adding that you should know your brand, stakeholders and values, and decide how far you push.

While the world order is changing and priorities have shifted, women held their place at Cannes. Two of the biggest stars making an appearance were Serena Williams (announcing a tie up with Reckitt to invest in female, community-based entrepreneurs in the health and hygiene space) and Reese Witherspoon (extending her Hello Sunshine media company with the launch of Sunnie, focused on Gen Z women). But in general, purpose was reframed, inclusion was off the agenda and you had to look long and hard to find any LGBTQ+ representation and discussion. It was an interesting but not necessarily heartening year.

Jane Bainbridge is head of content at Pumpkin PR and formerly head of editorial, Research Live