Cannes 2025 - Festival of Accountability?

By Joe Campbell, Senior PR Account Manager

Last week I attended the Cannes Lions Festival. As it was my first time on the Croisette in person, it’s difficult to benchmark against previous years (though it was a scorcher), let alone distil its many themes into a few paragraphs. But across the panels, pub debates, and poolside conversations, one undercurrent ran strong: accountability.

Of course, AI was the buzzword, but even this was constantly tied back to driving value and holding partners to a higher standard. As one yacht deck panellist put it, Cannes 2025 was ushering in a ‘renaissance of trust.’

You could feel it in the discussions surrounding the latest trials and tribulations of the holding companies.  Their ossification in the face of big tech, AI-native start-ups, and more nimble indies loomed large. There was a strong sense that brands were reevaluating their dependencies not only against the yardstick of creative excellence, but also transparent, flexible and measurable outcomes. 

Where ‘efficiency’ has sometimes been the banner, Cannes-goers were breaking down this slogan as a dangerous cover-all for diminishing headcount and a race to the bottom. Instead, the industry seems to be shifting towards ‘effectiveness’: doing things better, not just cheaper. That includes using quality media and smarter tools to drive real results - commercially and sustainably.

Here, AI emerged as the great leveller, not the great job taker. When it was discussed, which was all the time, it was refreshingly attached to human control. Control over budgets, media plans, and metrics. In contrast to the fear narrative around AI inequality, there was real optimism about democratisation. With better creative, decision-making, and optimisation tools now within reach of both legacy brands and SMBs.

That optimism extended to the buoyant emerging channels. Retail media and CTV providers made their presence felt in a big way this year. Retail media, in particular, powered by extensive first-party data (I didn’t hear “cookie” once), positioned itself as a partner brands could rely on. By collapsing the funnel and offering visibility across branding, performance and business outcomes, it drew frequent comparisons to social, but with a much clearer link to actual sales.

CTV, while still maturing, was another big talking point. There’s work to do around measurement, but there was a clear consensus - standardisation and industry collaboration will close that gap. Programmatic OOH also stood out. With smarter contextual data, from weather triggers to real-time location, OOH is shaking off its blunt-instrument past and entering a more agile, responsive future.

If accountability were the mantra, there are still areas where it can improve. Sustainability, while present, didn’t dominate the narrative in the way it should have. Meanwhile, for all the talk of the practical use of AI, there were lingering questions as to who would be doing the work, particularly around making sure that teams are effectively trained to get the most out of it.

Cannes still celebrated creativity, but the applause came with a caveat: Show us the impact. With economic uncertainty still looming over marketing budgets, accountability will only become more important. Every pound spent will need to prove its worth - creatively and commercially. As the industry now looks to H2, the event has set the tone: clearer outcomes, better standards, and more trust.