Davy Rennie.
Digitas CEO Davy Rennie
First timer in Cannes. First-timer in France, actually, which baffled most, given I’m a Celtic cousin.
Now, given I wasn’t privy to previous years, I wasn’t quite sure if they had been dominated by tech brands like they were this year. Not only was AI the word of choice for the week, but it’s clear that big tech also wants a piece of the pie when it comes to creativity. What was also clear is that the world needs the creative minds that walk the Croisette. And that leads me to my first point:
AI isn’t the enemy, yet.
AI isn’t about to kill creativity; it needs it now more than ever to figure out what we do with it, and Cannes is the place to debate that with our peers and partners. The narrative is clearly still very divided. 50% of the content was “don’t worry, it will all be ok, we are creatives,” and the other 50% was “it will take jobs, but we need to evolve what creativity means”.
Both statements are absolutely true, but defence doesn’t win games; attack does. I think we are all a little scared about AI, but not because it will change the workforce, but because it poses a threat to our ownership of creativity as humans and within the creative industry.
A colleague hit me with a quote that was so spot on: “We have to attack it like we attacked the internet”. Attack means we have to own the narrative and technology and tell it what to do, not ask it or even worse, wait for it to tell us.
A not E
Commerce that is. The rise of aCommerce will be fast; Agentic Commerce will be where brands compete, and it absolutely has the potential to level the playing field again if brands aren’t on the front foot with Agentic Commerce solutions for consumers.
It's safe to say that this was on full display this year, with companies launching thousands of agents to drive growth. But it creates a dilemma when it becomes A2A instead of B2B and B2C: who owns the decisions?
Loyalty 3.0
A2A needs contextual data and decision-making to succeed.
That’s where a killer loyalty program is essential, not just so we know what our consumers love, but what they actually want. Loyalty will need to be integrated into personal agents, so when they say, “Hey, order me a burger,” the agent knows it’s a double cheeseburger with extra onions, a steamed bun, and, of course, a side of nuggets, and it doesn’t just order what is closest by.
Loyalty 3.0 will provide the context AI needs to create individualised utility.
First time for everything
As a Cannes newbie, I leave with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Creativity allows me to meet the world’s most amazing people in incredible places, and work with the best teams and clients every single day. Creativity is a gift. One that I will hold a little closer again as it faces another evolution.
This week felt like the week that we were asked to find meaning for the machines. That’s Creativity. It is the key, dominating with AI, not AI domination.