Published June 17
For the last few years at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, AI has hogged the limelight as the topic du jour. This year will be no different. But as the industry gathers once again along the Croisette, the conversation is primed to shift. Marketers are becoming less interested in what AI can do and more interested in what it can deliver.
Call it ROI on the Riviera.
Collectively, the industry’s largest holding companies have committed hundreds of millions of dollars annually — and billions cumulatively — to AI transformation. Publicis spent $2.2 billion acquiring LiveRamp, following a series of major AI and data investments, while WPP has continued to ramp up spending on its AI-powered marketing platform, WPP Open. Across the industry, agencies, publishers and ad tech firms are racing to build the infrastructure they believe will underpin the next era of marketing.
After two years of investment, experimentation and no shortage of hype, Cannes will be the setting for a harder question: Where will the value accrue?
“For the last couple of years, there has been a lot of fascination with what AI can make,” Ellie Norman, CMO of Formula E, told The Current. “This year, I think the conversation shifts to what AI can move. Can it grow audiences? Can it deepen relationships? Can it create new revenue streams? Can it help marketers make better decisions faster?”
This builds on last year’s priority when marketers were focused on AI’s utility, not just novelty. Attendees crowded demos, grilled vendors on implementation and sniffed out evidence that it could solve business problems. One tech exec described the 2025 mood as “a shift from AI-washing to AI-built.”
Twelve months later, the festival appears to have caught up, introducing a new AI subcategory “to celebrate the sweet spot where human creativity meets artificial intelligence to create something neither could achieve alone,” according to a festival blurb.
These changes also reflect the change in architecture of the major holdcos, which see “AI as a force multiplier for creativity, not a replacement for it,” said Jon Cook, global CEO of VML and WPP Creative. “Brands and agencies using AI responsibly are unlocking net-new opportunities in addition to creating more relevant experiences and driving measurable business growth.”
At Cannes Lions, creativity is the traditional focus. But for marketers, it’s just one part of the equation as AI becomes embedded across media planning, measurement and optimization.
“The focus is shifting to how AI creates a real competitive advantage for marketers and agencies,” said Stephanie Doennecke, vice president of marketing and communications at VideoAmp. “Trust in the output is becoming the most pressing question.”
“Any AI agent can generate an answer, but the question is whether an agency team can confidently put it in front of a client,” she added.
Cannes has a habit of popularizing new buzzwords. This year’s contender is orchestration. “The most interesting AI conversations at Cannes are becoming less about automation for automation’s sake and more about practical orchestration,” said StackAdapt CMO Ryan Nelsen. “Brands want technology that can connect signals, creative, media and measurement in ways that actually reduce complexity for marketers.”
But orchestration is only as good as what’s being orchestrated, and that raises the industry’s other persistent problem: data signal. Identity has long been a preoccupation for marketers navigating the decline of the third-party cookie to the rise of walled gardens. Advertisers are still dealing with a loss of signal and a smaller addressable audience built around identifiers, according to Joe Root, CEO and co-founder of Permutive.
“The technology is here to improve signal quality, but we can’t expect AI to magically fix addressability,” Root said.
The growing importance of signal helps explain some of the industry’s high-profile bets. Publicis’ acquisition of LiveRamp was widely viewed as an AI play, underscoring the growing value of the data infrastructure that powers agentic models.
But the deal has also sparked another debate, likely to be front and center at Cannes. That of neutrality.
“Agency reluctance is a real and legitimate concern when a neutral infrastructure player is acquired,” Root said. “But the bigger story is what this moment reveals about where the industry is evolving as a whole. There is a clear trend of holding companies developing agentic operating systems focused on collaboration tools.”
The acquisition has accelerated conversations from both the buy side and the sell side, Root said, about the role independent partners can play in the next phase of digital advertising. Whether that infrastructure stays neutral, or consolidation ensues, will likely be one of the more consequential questions at this year’s gathering.
Two years ago, Cannes asked what AI could make. “A lot of these holding companies have invested millions behind their platforms,” said Stephen Larkin, managing director of growth and partnerships at GALE. “It’s been more of a CapEx. And so, the question is now how do they monetize it? That’s going to be the next wave.”
The platforms are built. At Cannes this year, attendees will be looking for proof that they can deliver value.
The Current is going to be on the ground at Cannes Lions all week. Stay up-to-date with all our coverage. No expensive yacht required.
