Campaign US, June 2025

I’ve attended the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for almost a decade in different capacities — as part of a big agency with a winning client, as a client brand-side and as a panelist from the Palais to the fringe events. It has always been about knowledge-sharing and random (or planned) industry connections.

But, what if we looked at Cannes Lions as a microcosm of advertising culture? Mainstream popular culture definitely sits at The Palais, the side of emerging culture on The Croisette and the subculture side of emerging culture is in the apartments further back and the villas up in the Cannes hills.

This year, it mapped across my framework I call the Cultural Pipeline — a system that explains how the stages of fandoms and communities in culture work.

The Palais: The established part of this culture, the big stages, the big brands, the established speakers, the big campaigns and the part of the pipeline where the awards happen. Here, present or past work from big advertisers gets judged through strict criteria. I have always looked forward to the talks here, where celebrities like ASAP Rocky and industry leaders deep dive into their areas of expertise.

The Croisette: Where the tech platforms rule. Along with the blistering heat and the long lines to get in (with or without an official badge). Overall, the vibe this year felt decidedly more sales conference than ever. It was AI-powered everything, shifting from last year's discussions on “what it is” to case studies on what brands are doing with it right now. It felt like the focus was for brands to do more content, to go faster, to sell more. From content at scale, ad personalization at scale, transaction innovation to scale shopping journeys and ever more creator / influencer monetization. This felt like both the key focus and the essential tool that hustling AI agencies of all types, armed with their clients to back them up, talked about…a lot.

It gave me pause about a few things around AI. What happens when we have tons of generic versions of what ultimately feels like a rapid editing tool that is causing more harm to the environment than any other industry? Do we really need 5,000 variations of your logo on a social post, with uninspiring visuals that just add to the wallpaper of content we already see online? How much more generic content do we need? Without curated taste or creative direction and as the craft of creativity flattens, will we see creative job loss and retail/ traditional media managers become “creative directors”?

The other theme this year was sports, with the line to get into Sports Beach even longer than the Supreme line at the height of its fame. The sports stars did shine though and it was great to hear from Noah Lyles, and get a glimpse of Ian Wright while Mo Farah cruised down the Croisette. It is awesome to see sports culture coming into its own and it personally and professionally validates that brands are and can be built by and through culture and communities.

On the other hand, if not handled with care, this highly commercial focus on sports may also mean that the culture could be changing, making the expectation around the entry level of athletes higher and the tickets to view these global calendar moments out of reach. That gap is getting wider and wider too.

The Hills and apartments: where conversations, connections and community gathered to talk culture and creativity in the face of the landscape we are currently in. At Brands&Culture, the Sunday Dinner community came together for a casual Sunday dinner — an opportunity to network with a thoughtful guest list by chief connector, Lindsey Slaby.

In the two sessions I was in — one as a panelist, one as a moderator — we talked culture as a brand-builder and a business strategy, with AI as a footnote. But it was at the calming oasis of Salon Culture Conversations curated by industry veteran Sharon Harris that really stayed with me. My second year on her stage, it felt like even more transformative conversations took place this time around. This is an “accessible for all” space focused on ideas, sharing, learning and curiosity, where unfiltered meaningful discussions are encouraged and meditation sessions are standard, and even featured Deepak Chopra.ai. For brands wanting to know what’s incoming, these spaces are where investment could and should also be allocated.

My main takeaways and confirmations this year: culture is a business growth driver which means your traditional brand playbook needs to evolve, brands and businesses need the right people inside the business to be able to translate the language of corporate and culture, and that content at scale without cultural context and creativity is not the way forward.

Leila Fataar is a consultant, founder of Platform13 and author of Culture-Led Brands