Emotion wins. Even in the AI era. Cannes Day 1 made that clear.
Apple, Mars, and Disney stole the spotlight
Zihan Lyu
June 17, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes
Hi there,
Hope you’re soaking in the Cannes Lions energy.
Day 1 came in bold and full of signals. Apple set the tone with a call to keep emotion at the centre of creativity. CMOs from Mars, Amazon, and Novartis reminded us that AI may be the tool, but people are still the engine. Meanwhile, Adobe rolled out headline-making innovations.
Here’s what you need to know from the ground.
️ Cannes Dispatch
What stood out as Apple opened Cannes Lions yesterday?
‘Make something wonderful and put it out there’
Image Source: @meerasc
Not the tech. Not the tools. But a bold reminder: feeling still beats function when it comes to creativity.
In a packed session, Apple’s Tor Myhren made a compelling case for instinct over algorithms. AI may be the most powerful tool in our kit—but it’s not the reason we laugh, cry, or click. That’s still down to the human mind.
A few standout moments:
AirPods, quietly reshaping hearing accessibility, backed by storytelling that sparked a global conversation.
⭐️ ‘6 out of 5 stars’—a campaign built entirely from genuine user reviews—turned raw feedback into art.
Privacy, reimagined through hand-built bird-cams (yes, really), showing that craft still matters.
And a nod to the decade-long legacy of Shot on iPhone, now powering full-length films.
Apple’s point? The best work doesn’t just land. It lingers. It earns love. And it still starts with the human touch.
CMOs in the Spotlight: Amazon, Mars & Novartis Talk Creativity, AI and the Future of Marketing
One of the most anticipated panels on the Rotonde Stage brought together three marketing heavyweights to tackle the biggest questions facing the industry:
How do you lead in a world reshaped by AI, changing consumer expectations, and creative complexity?
Featuring Gülen Bengi (Lead CMO, Mars), Claudine Cheever (VP Global Brand and Marketing, Amazon), and Gail Horwood (Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, Novartis), the session was moderated by Jim Stengel and packed with insight on how marketing leadership is evolving.
Key Takeaways:
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Creativity is a growth engine
Mars’ Gülen Bengi shared how the brand is moving from one-way messaging to co-creation—inviting consumers into the brand experience as collaborators. Creativity, she said, needs to spark conversation and community.
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AI is now operational
Bengi revealed Mars is scaling AI across functions—from predictive pet healthcare to tools that translate parenting skills into job-ready language for Dove Chocolate. For marketers, the lesson is clear: AI must go beyond efficiency and help brands deepen connection. -
Marketing teams are getting more integrated
Future-ready CMOs are rethinking team structures, blending creative, insights, data analytics, and tech under one roof—and shifting from agency silos to platform partnerships.
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Creativity still starts with people
Despite the AI hype, Bengi reminded the audience: “People are, and always will be, at the heart of creativity.” This message resonated across the panel—emphasising that tech should enable, not replace, human imagination.
What does this all mean for CMOs today? Data-led creativity, ethical AI use, and deeper consumer partnerships are becoming non-negotiables. Marketing’s next chapter will belong to those bold enough to reinvent how teams operate, communicate—and listen.
If you’re a senior marketer navigating similar questions, we’d love to hear how your playbook is evolving.
Andy Jassy named Cannes Lions 2025 Media Person of the Year
Cannes Lions has announced that Andy Jassy, President and CEO of Amazon, will receive this year’s Media Person of the Year Award—a recognition reserved for individuals reshaping the media landscape through creativity, innovation, and global influence.
Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Under Jassy’s leadership, Amazon has evolved into one of the world’s most powerful media platforms—spanning entertainment, streaming, advertising, and beyond. The award highlights not just Amazon’s scale, but its ability to set new creative and commercial standards across the industry.
“Amazon has created a new model for media,” said Philip Thomas, Chair of LIONS. “Andy’s leadership continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Jassy joins a prestigious list of past honourees including YouTube’s Salar Kamangar, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Google’s Eric Schmidt, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer.
He’ll take the stage on Wednesday 18 June for a fireside chat at the Debussy Theatre, before receiving the award that evening.
️ Measuring the Unseen Impact of Social on Amazon
Retail media may be booming, but it’s only half the story. Fospha’s Halo—a new feature in their full-funnel measurement platform—uncovers how upper-funnel campaigns on TikTok, Meta, and Snap contribute to final sales on Amazon.
With Unified ROAS across DTC and marketplaces, Fospha gives marketing teams a clear, privacy-compliant way to prove the real value of channels once dismissed as ‘just brand awareness.’
Fospha’s data shows that 42% of Amazon sales are influenced by non-Amazon media—proof that social is quietly doing more than it gets credit for.
As media budgets shift and retail platforms like Amazon gain even more ground, solutions like Fospha are becoming essential for teams ready to measure what really matters—and act on it.
Looking to see the full picture?
Adobe Unveils AI-Powered CX Orchestration Tools
At Cannes Lions 2025, Adobe launched a new suite of innovations designed to reshape how brands deliver personalised customer experiences—at scale and in real time.
The headline? Customer Experience Orchestration (CXO)—Adobe’s next evolution of customer experience management. Powered by Adobe’s generative and agentic AI, the CXO tools aim to merge creativity, marketing, and automation into a single workflow that delivers impact across every customer touchpoint.
What marketers need to know:
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Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing helps marketers instantly generate on-brand creative for paid and display ads, marketing emails, and short-form video. It integrates directly with platforms like Amazon Ads, Meta, LinkedIn and Google Campaign Manager 360.
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Firefly Services APIs enable faster asset creation (video, 3D, avatars) and simplify creative tasks like resizing and colour grading—while keeping everything on-brand.
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Adobe LLM Optimizer is built to improve brand visibility in AI-powered search and chat environments. It analyses and refines content strategies to help businesses surface more effectively in GenAI-driven discovery journeys.
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Agent Orchestrator, now live in Adobe Experience Platform, allows teams to build and manage AI agents that handle insights delivery, support tasks, and content routing.
These releases come as brands face mounting pressure to personalise at scale without losing creative quality. Adobe empowers creative and CX teams with tools that don’t just automate, but accelerate relevance.
On the ground in Cannes, Adobe is showcasing these innovations through interactive activations and partner demos—bringing AI-powered customer experience orchestration to life.
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