The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has traditionally served as a gathering point for the advertising industry’s top executives, agencies, and media buyers.
In 2025, the event highlighted a broader industry shift—one in which digital creators, AI-powered tools, and platform-driven innovation are transforming the way brands engage with consumers.
This year’s festival highlighted the growing influence of the creator economy, the mainstreaming of artificial intelligence in advertising, and a shift from traditional performance metrics toward audience relationships and brand trust.
As global ad spending exceeds $1 trillion, Cannes Lions has become a critical forum for companies recalibrating their strategies in a shifting media economy.
Key Takeaways:
Met Issa Rae at Cannes Lions and got her reaction to my art. Inspiring talk and great vibes all around.
#CannesLions pic.twitter.com/H5jz3IJ5Si
— ENIL (@Enilart) June 18, 2025
1. Creators Lack a Universal Currency
Brands and agencies at Cannes repeatedly highlighted the absence of a standardized metric to compare creator-led content with traditional media. A recent NBCUniversal audit found only 15% of digital ads are universally tracked, underscoring the gap between measurement promises and reality. Meanwhile, IAB Tech Lab’s new Ad Creative ID Framework—backed by major players like FreeWheel and Paramount—aims to create a “digital passport” for ads, allowing campaigns to be traced across platforms.
2. YouTube Launches “Open Call” to Democratize Brand-Creator Pitching
ADVERTISEMENT
At Cannes, YouTube unveiled a feature called Open Call, available through BrandConnect, that allows brands to post campaign briefs directly to over 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program. Creators of all sizes can pitch video ideas; if accepted, their content can be promoted as official partnership ads. YouTube reported nearly 2.53 billion active users and around $8.9 billion in Q1 2025 ad revenue—data points signaling the scale of this new tool.
3. TikTok’s Symphony Suite Advances Generative AI
TikTok’s Symphony suite now includes Image-to-Video, Text-to-Video, and Showcase Products, designed to help marketers generate TikTok-ready clips from photos, text prompts, or product images. Integrated with Adobe Express and WPP Open, these tools aim to reduce creative friction for agencies and brands.
Andy Yang, TikTok’s head of creative products, said the goal is to “empower a global community of marketers, brands, and creators to tell stories that resonate, scale, and drive impact.”
@shou.time TikTok at #canneslionsfestival ♬ France Accordion Swing – MIZUSATO Masaki
4. AI Becomes a Strategic “Teammate” in Advertising
AI has become part of the core toolkit at agencies and platforms. Meta’s leadership framed AI as essential for small business campaigns, while adtech firm Teads emphasized AI-driven creative production and measurement in Cannes presentations. Yet the mood was balanced—Automation may support volume, but creative decision-making remains human-led.
JPMorgan CMO Carla Hassan told Yahoo Finance at Cannes Lions 2025 that AI will “only take over some mundane jobs.” pic.twitter.com/8dTuUM7IFJ
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 21, 2025
5. Connection Trumps Attention
ADVERTISEMENT
Industry veterans reiterated that “eyes don’t pay invoices”—brands now prize community and resonance over raw impressions. Axios highlighted that sports sponsorships like F1 activations and Uber-branded F1 rides drew stronger engagement than standard digital campaigns.
6. Retailers, Airlines, and FinTech Usurp Ad Budgets
A striking trend at Cannes: non-traditional companies emerging as media owners. United Airlines promoted its Kinective Media ad network, boasting access to 165 million travelers and multi-channel ad inventory across flights, lounges, and app screens. PayPal, with 400 million users and integrated Venmo data, recently launched programmatic ads across its platforms and the open web. Digiday noted that retail media networks from Chase, Instacart, and DoorDash were strategically positioned along Cannes’ Croisette—a clear signal that the “everything is an ad network” era is now.
