Brandon Blake 

The Big Shift

For the last few years, we’ve seen the Cannes Lions shift from an ad-dominated event into a much more shiftable “Festival of Creativity.” In an era obsessed with collaboration, that’s always an interesting mix. And one thing that is very clear is that media and tech are fast becoming synonyms, and now the “creator economy” has joined the fray. And AI is right behind it.

In fact, AI was pretty hard to escape this year, from OpenAI executives in every keynote to specific panels to tackle what AI means for the industry. Google DeepMind was in the spotlight, of course, given its recent partnership with A24, on which there was a presentation. But the flavor of the day was definitely newer agentic tech. 

From new ways to build ads into Alexa (and sell it as a plus) to AI in microdramas and vertical video in general, it was hard to escape how brands want to use AI for pretty much everything, especially raking in the advertising bucks. Though the dangers of using social media and technology did get their own shout-out, with a focus on so-called “doom scrolling” and the rise of misinformation.

Blake & Wang Lawyers

Awards and More

Of course, there’s the Cannes Lions awards as well, and its famous “activations” and fringe events. Probably of the most interest was Tubi’s presence, as they prepare to take over the Roku Channel lineup due to Fox’s recent acquisition of the company. 

For the awards proper, it is perhaps worth noting that, after last year's controversies, entries were down by a sizeable 25%, although a tougher set of criteria for the awards this year also has a lot to do with that. 

The Film Lions this year went to Anthropic’s Claude, via their advertising agency Mother, for an ad series illustrating how AI chatbots can help with everyday questions, while Hyundai and BBDO Puerto Rico scooped up the Audio and Radio Lions for an ad campaign around the viral frog, “Coqui.”

Apple TV’s rebrand, handled by TBWA/Media Arts Lab, earned the Design Lions. Given this one was shot in camera using actual glass slabs to promote the new branding, it probably deserves it for the craft alone. Talking about which, the Digital Craft Lion went home with Google for Project Genie, their AI research prototype for 3D generation from text and image prompts.

Film Craft went home, interestingly, with Coinbase for their “Your Way Out” campaign, run by Isle of Any. Again, rather than turning to AI or CGI, this one was shot in camera. Probably the last place you’d expect the Industry Craft award to land would be on a coffee brand, but De’Longhi walked away with this one for its intricate coffee shop sculptures, brought to life by a name familiar to most in the film industry, Simon Weisse. 

All in all, the Cannes Lions wrapped with one very clear message: digital tech and entertainment now go hand in hand, but it seems that the art of video and camera craft is still being rewarded where it shines.