The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 was abuzz with energy, insights, and – as our Senior Director of Advertising, Emma Cranston, succinctly put it – “Rosé”.
An Ozone delegation attended the world’s largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry in the south of France for various reasons, including partner meetings, attending insightful sessions, and hosting our own Cannes Connections event at the brilliant WACL Empower Café.
While the sheer extravagance and “brilliantly bonkers” atmosphere were undeniable, key themes emerged, particularly around the pervasive presence of AI, the enduring importance of personal connections, and a nuanced perspective on creativity.
AI: The undeniable dominator, but with caveats
“AI dominated Cannes – narratives around ‘compute’ and ‘agentic’ capability were everywhere,” observed COO Danny Spears. This sentiment was echoed across the team.
Emma noted that AI was “the standout topic in most of the sessions I attended,” while Charlotte Seagers, our Director of Customer Success & GTM, felt it “dominated the festival’s overall narrative.” However, the general consensus was that while AI was ubiquitous in conversation, the “how” of its implementation was often overlooked.
Craig Tuck, CRO, felt that “underneath the AI headlines and titles, very little was discussed beyond a keen focus to deploy AI for more creativity and efficiency.” He also sensed an industry “trying to convince itself – even remind itself – that AI is not the threat it is being made out to be.”
Paul de la Nougerede, our Senior Director of Commercial Operations, also picked up on this, noting that among the chat about AI and signals there was “no talk of the human impact of this, the number of jobs likely to be impacted in our industry.”
A significant concern raised by Danny was the lack of discussion around “data sourcing, permissioning or value exchange with IP owners.” He sensed that “whilst there was a lot of focus on acquisition of chips, and power, discussion around quality data as the third critical input – and the IP ownership consideration that is attached – was notably absent,”
Jhan Hancock-Rushton, Client & Strategy Director, pondered the future of search in an AI-driven world, asking – “Is the age of search behind us?” With AI already impacting SEO, he believes “brands must optimise for discovery everywhere – not just on Google, but across YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, retail sites, and beyond.”
Despite the hype, Charlotte felt that many companies appeared to be using AI as a “buzzword rather than demonstrating true innovation.” However, Emma offered a more optimistic outlook, believing that “if used thoughtfully, AI could potentially bring a more human touch to marketing – enabling unprecedented levels of personalisation and precision by drawing on deeper insights.” Emma also highlighted a shift in thinking, noting that “the classic marketing funnel is officially outdated,” largely as AI follows patterns and signals, not rigid frameworks. Good news for businesses like Ozone that are built on meaningful consumer connections.
Creating a connection advantage… in real life!
Amidst the tech-heavy discourse, the importance of human connection remained a strong undercurrent. Jhan, attending for the first time, found the festival a place to “reconnect with old media friends and – most importantly – make new ones.” Paul echoed this, calling it “a key event for conversations, a chance to get in front of senior leaders and make new connections.”
Charlotte highlighted the positive sentiment towards Ozone from international publishers, who view our publisher-led proposition “differently – we’re not just another ad tech partner.”
Given that Ozone had launched in Cannes seven years ago, it was interesting to see other media channels announce new alliances. For example, Sky, ITV, Channel 4, and Comcast coming together to help SMEs spend more on television “is testament to the fact that what we do at Ozone is ahead of its time, and much needed,” said Craig.
Can creativity shine through the tech noise?
Despite not venturing inside the Palais where the Cannes Lions were awarded, CMO, Bryan Scott, was struck by the “dominance of big tech messaging over creative excellence” along La Croisette. Bryan observed that tech companies’ straplines blurred into the “same pool of adjectives, irrespective of whether it’s elevating or reimagining.” This observation served as a “big reminder to check myself and our own work on that basis.”
However, true creativity still managed to shine through. Bryan gave a ‘hat tip’ to Kargo’s exceptional drone display that “shone brightly above every beach along the strip night after night.” Under the strapline of ‘Must CTV’, Bryan found it so captivating that he would “even forgive their launching of the word ‘Outcomes’ into the night sky.”
However, true creativity still managed to shine through. Bryan gave a ‘hat tip’ to Kargo’s exceptional drone display that “shone brightly above every beach along the strip night after night.” Under the strapline of ‘Must CTV’, Bryan found it so captivating that he would “even forgive their launching of the word ‘Outcomes’ into the night sky.”
Creative context remains a hugely important tool for brands. Craig’s diagnosis of brands still needing to “lean into culturally important themes and real passion points, sport being a big one” was very evident in the content streams from audience-led media channels. We also saw a healthy amount of noise from publishers and allies – such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Ad Fontes Media, and Stagwell – largely centred on the importance of news and journalism as key to engaging the consumers that marketers genuinely covet.
And that’s a wrap!
Cannes was super busy, more so than previous years, and as extravagant as ever. The sheer volume of content meant that there was a lot of attention for eyeballs, with sessions and talks often competing for the same headlines and the same crowds.
There were queues, wristbands, and yachts! And there were people everywhere. Nowhere more so than in the toilet queue at The Gutter Bar, where, according to Emma, “the two Euro charge to use the loo was quite literally a p*ss take!”
Cannes Lions, on se voit l’année prochaine…
