Cannes Lions 2025 felt like a pageant in flux. Sure, there have been nonetheless the yacht events, beachfront billboards and branded rosé bars. However beneath the glitter and glow, the true conversations have been totally different this yr: extra grounded, extra pressing, and extra human.
From AI and algorithm angst to the pressures dealing with unbiased creators, the Croisette buzzed with massive questions: What does creativity appear to be in an age of automation? How will we construct belief, not simply consideration? And what is going to it take to not simply survive this second – however form what comes subsequent?
This is our roundup of the largest tendencies and takeaways from per week the place creativity, tech, and humanity collided – and the place the quietest voices typically had essentially the most highly effective issues to say.
AI shouldn’t be the enemy and is right here to remain
Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the dialog, however the temper has matured. The sentiment was extra about, “How will we work with it in a approach that feels human and useful?”
Inventive entrepreneur Solar Yi, founding father of Evening Owls, put it succinctly: “When you’re a artistic and you are not adopting AI, you make an enormous mistake. AI cannot exchange artists, however it will possibly energy business artwork. Which means studying to make use of it to promote your self higher, inform your story extra clearly, or just work sooner.”
There was additionally a rising urge for food for nuance and moral adoption, resisting the binary of “AI good vs AI evil”. Lucy Guo, CEO of Passes, mentioned the potential for creators to enhance – not exchange – their creativity.
Solar Yi, at Future Gazers: AI and the Creator Financial system, Consideration is Straightforward, The Magnificence Ripple
Lucy Guo, at Future Gazers: AI and the Creator Financial system, Consideration is Straightforward, The Magnificence Ripple
That mentioned, the rise of AI was additionally met with a quiet countercurrent: a renewed need for real, in-person connections. Oleha Riden from startup Uberall famous, “Amongst the AI hype, there’s an enormous urge for food for extra immersive, human model experiences.”
Ala Ho, founding father of AndHuman, agreed: “The moments that caught with me weren’t on the primary stage. They have been in model homes, attending aspect occasions, and fascinating in lengthy conversations. That is the place the longer term took form – slowly and off-schedule. What stands out is the stuff with soul – the friction-filled, very human course of behind it.”
Creators are the brand new cornerstone
Two years in the past, the pageant launched creator and startup passes – and this yr, you could not miss the affect.
From keynotes to collaborations, creators weren’t simply attending – they have been driving the programming. However it’s nonetheless not an equal taking part in discipline.
Charlotte Stavrou from SevenSix Company was invited to talk this yr to unveil their 2025 Influencer Pricing Report, which revealed a 21.5% racial pay hole between black and white influencers within the UK, with persistent disparities linked to race, age, pores and skin tone, incapacity, and hair kind.
Croisette Confidential tour with Rob Mayhew. Picture courtesy of Cannes Lions
Croisette Confidential tour with Rob Mayhew. Picture courtesy of Cannes Lions
She additionally highlighted the pressure attributable to unrealistic model calls for – from sooner turnarounds and shifting briefs to lengthy fee phrases, usually between 30 to 120 days, leaving creators beneath disproportionate stress.
“When you’re a creator, model, company or platform, use it to set higher expectations, push again, and construct one thing fairer,” mentioned Stavrou.
Her name to motion for the longer term? Overtly share pricing frameworks – and transfer past variety as a performative PR line.
Constructing Owned Audiences
Certainly one of Solar Yi’s most screenshotted slides learn: “One e mail is price 100 followers.”
He is a part of a rising refrain urging creators – particularly underrepresented expertise – to supply long-form content material, reminiscent of newsletters, books, or podcasts.
“A lot of the profitable folks aren’t essentially the most gifted,” he mentioned. “They’re simply the very best at promoting themselves.”
Solar inspired all creatives, no matter their medium, to cease counting on algorithms and begin investing in neighborhood and long-form storytelling. “Quick-form would possibly get consideration, however it’s long-form that builds belief.”
The Rise of the Creator CEO
There’s rising momentum for founders and leaders to construct their private profiles – not simply their corporations.
“Even in B2B, folks need to join with folks,” mentioned Solar. “It is not about turning into an influencer; it is about being seen in the proper neighbourhoods.”
Future Gazers: AI and the Creator Financial system, Consideration is Straightforward, The Magnificence Ripple
Whereas authenticity has turn into one thing of a artistic cliché, Solar pressured that it deserves a revival – not as a buzzword, however as a strategic software for development.
“Your weak point is your power,” he mentioned, sharing a private story about undercharging purchasers early in his profession – and the way overdelivering helped him construct a portfolio that attracted main manufacturers.
As a substitute of attempting to repair your faults, he suggested: “Ask your closest family and friends: The place are my strengths? What are my blind spots? Then use these traits – even the uncomfortable ones – to face out.”
The long run seems to be brilliant for the deliberately human independents
Cannes Lions 2025 may need had the same old glamour and model theatre, however a brand new narrative was rising beneath all of it. Cannes Lions judges noticed 18% extra submissions from unbiased businesses than within the earlier yr – a transparent signal that smaller gamers are gaining floor and getting seen.
What’s the true benefit going ahead? Not simply utilizing expertise – however utilizing it to reinforce what makes us human.
The creatives who present up, converse up and share what they know on their very own phrases are well-placed to form what comes subsequent.
