At this week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, less was more. Companies that generated the most attention were also the most elusive. Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino was the talk of Cannes, despite not even being at the ad festival. Apple advertising leaders were there, but they were almost as hard to find. And Netflix kept its operations guarded from the rooftop of the J.W. Marriott.

One thing that was front and center—and getting the most buzz—was AI. The emerging technology has struck both fear and immense intrigue from the ad world with everyone from TBWA\Worldwide President-CEO Troy Ruhanen to Spike Lee talking about the implications of AI on the future of advertising and creativity. 

According to many ad leaders in attendance, the interest in generative AI, along with topics such as data, measurement and retail media, overshadowed, in many ways, the point of the festival—to celebrate and appreciate the creative work. 

Here's a look at the top trends and hottest topics from the Croisette. 

AI phenomenon

AI was the unofficial winner of Cannes. Almost every company had a spin on generative AI and products for marketers to tap into the technology. Omnicom Media Group made AI the focus of most of its Cannes announcements, revealing integrations with Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon. “It’s touching the commercial market for the first time in advertising,” Jonathan Nelson, CEO, Omnicom Digital, told Ad Age last week, referring to Google giving agencies use of its AI models for text and image creation and more.

Ahead of Cannes, Google announced a slew of new AI features in its ad platform, and it plans to roll out “demand gen” tools globally in August. Demand gen uses AI to adjust creative and target ads across YouTube, Gmail, and other Google settings.

“I consider that to be the true pistol start of the race for AI in brand advertising,” said Jon Halvorson, VP of consumer experience at Mondelēz International.

Meta talked about how AI could assist in messaging and its ability to instantly edit ads. Meta is working on AI that could alter digital video ads on the fly, tailoring them for any occasion.  

Related: Inside Meta's sales pitch at Cannes

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, was featured in a panel with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, discussing the implications for advertising jobs. There are widespread worries that machines could take over creative pursuits.

But some are skeptical about the technology, including Spike Lee, who said during a session at Cannes that using AI for artistic work can get “tricky” and is “scary.” 

Read more: How AI showed up on the Croisette

Where was Apple?

Apple could make the case for the biggest Cannes presence with the lowest visibility. While Netflix planted a giant, glowing red “N” logo on its roof at the J.W. Marriott, and TikTok hung a banner on the Carlton for all to see, Apple’s logo was absent.

Todd Teresi, VP, Apple advertising platforms, was in Cannes, according to people who had meetings with him. And Apple marketing chief Tor Myhren did hold a session at the Palais, the main expo center in Cannes, where he acknowledged Apple’s role in digital ad markets. Apple has twisted the screws on ad tech by altering iPhone software to restrict data-sharing. The entire ad tech ecosystem is being rebuilt to accommodate these changes. The upcoming iOS 17 will have even more privacy functions.

“Some of you in this room probably hate that. Sorry, not sorry,” Myhren said.

Earlier this week, Ray Cao, TikTok’s managing director, global head of product strategy and operations, told Ad Age that developing for iOS and Apple’s SKAdNetwork was a priority.

As Apple frustrates rival internet services, it is creating an ad business, which right now mostly sticks to search ads in the App Store and ads in Apple News settings. Advertisers expect Apple to release a demand-side platform, and to serve more connected TV ads through Apple TV+. Streaming giants, including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and NBCUniversal, all attended Cannes, and the timing was smack in the middle of upfront negotiations with brands. Some advertisers were skeptical that Apple could capture any real ad dollars for connected TV this year, given its late start and muted Cannes presence.

One marketer from a major brand met with Apple but said it was only for 10 minutes with no hard details about ad products.

Read more: Apple’s Tor Myhren on the secret to doing great advertising that works

Influencers invade

For years, the creative side of Cannes complained about a creeping rise of media giants coming in and changing the face of the festival. Now, it’s influencers who are starting to takeover.

“There were some rumblings that media has become such a strong presence here, which is positive in lots of ways,” said Ellie Bamford, chief strategy officer at Wunderman Thompson, a WPP agency, “but taking away from the heart of what this is about. It feels a little bit overrun.”

This year, creators have a larger footprint. Influential, the creator marketing firm, took over the beach spot vacated by Twitter. Whalar and Captiv8, two other big influencer marketing firms, were in Cannes. “Influencers are pretty much part of every brand’s budget,” Bamford said, “and it feels like the next thing coming into the festival.”

Influencers including Rod Thill, Emma Chamberlain and Christina Najjar (aka Tinx), were in attendance. 

Influential helped produce Paris Hilton’s 10-minute TikTok ad for Hilton, which was up for four Cannes Lions awards.

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Unilever did well at Cannes with work focused on the harm social media can cause. Its “Cost of Beauty” work outlining how social media (specifically Instagram influencers) fosters girls’ eating disorders and backing a law regulating social media in the U.S. won a Gold Lion in Health & Wellness. Dove’s “Turn Your Back” TikTok campaign to battle the esteem-eroding effect of a viral TikTok’s filter won the Media Grand Prix.

So, is Unilever feeling any backlash from social media platforms? “No, not as far as I know,” said Alessandro Manfredi, global executive VP of Dove, when asked during a press roundtable, which happened to be held in a room in Meta’s sprawling operation at the Majestic. “We continue to have discussions, because we have been discussing sharing our data [on the negative impact social media can have] with them. We are very open. Social media are also good for many things and can be a force of good, but at the same time, there are things that we think that should be changed. So we continue to talk and be very transparent about what we think. It’s no hard feelings but stand by what we think is right.”

Pitch sessions

Pitching at Cannes has become a norm, informally or formally. At least two creative pitches were going on during the festival, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some jurors had to step out from deliberations to participate. And, beyond Cannes, a review pipeline that was nearly dry in the fall had become a “firehose,” said another agency executive.

But Patricia Corsi, chief marketing digital and information officer of Bayer Consumer Health, isn’t a fan.

Last year she recalled an agency person asking for tips on how to pitch in Cannes. “I said doing a pitch in Cannes must be nerve-wracking because there’s so much stimulus. Try holding somebody’s attention here, plus everybody in the world is here pitching your clients when you’re not.”

Corsi has a “no pitch policy” at Cannes, including random ones. “We want to make sure that we build relationships with our partners that we are proud of,” she said. “When it’s not working, we communicate.” She also has a “no surprises” policy, “so it would be disingenuous for me to come here and hear pitches.”

That included, last year, going to the lengths of refusing to open a message from someone with an unsolicited pitch. “I really had to say to the person I’m not going to open it, because I might love it. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to me, because the idea will be imprinted in my head. And it’s not fair to him because he worked on it, and if I love it, I should pay for it.”

Data, measurement and retail media 

Improving advertising efficiency and targeting and measuring campaign effectiveness were at the heart of many conversations this week. The impending demise of the third-party cookie in 2024 has publishers and advertisers rapidly seeking new ways to ensure they can still find key consumers online. 

To this end, Disney is integrating Google’s new ad tech product, known as PAIR, which provides another way for publishers to use data to power ads. PAIR could boost the effectiveness of major Disney advertisers by providing better targeting and measurement when they place ads on properties including Disney+ and Hulu. 

Read more about the Disney integration here

Omnicom announced a deal with Snowflake to create a multi-party clean room that utilizes Albertsons' data and data from several video publishers. And as retail media surges, Albertsons also proposed a standardization framework to improve transparency in retail media, with Omnicom Media Group, Unilever, Pinterest and R3 backing the idea.

Amid upfront negotiations, media and measurement companies debated the future of currencies. The U.S. Joint Industry Committee announced the scoring criteria for its process to certify measurement companies as transactable currencies in media deals, bringing it closer to its goal of approving Nielsen-alternative currencies for standard use in the 2024 upfronts.  And Byron Allen made the bold move to replace Nielsen with VideoAmp as Allen Media Group's primary currency.

Also read: Paramount's veiled threat to drop Nielsen 

Twitter takes a back seat 

Twitter had a toned-down presence at Cannes this year, the platform's first under Elon Musk.

Twitter sent its head of ad sales Chris Riedy to Cannes and announced preliminary steps to implement quality controls that could appease marketers. Brand safety is always a hot subject at Cannes. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a group that sets brand safety standards on social media, was founded at Cannes in 2019. GARM’s rules have a lot of weight among brands, and pre-Musk Twitter was an active participant in the process.

This week, Cannes attendees may have missed that a countermovement is forming against GARM. Republicans in the U.S. Congress want to probe GARM, alleging it unfairly uses its power to shape online speech, according to The New York Times.

Although there were whispers of Yaccarino being at Cannes, the Twitter CEO wasn't there, her reps and friends said. She was in San Francisco on Thursday meeting with EU regulators. Twitter must prove to Europe’s watchdogs that it will adhere to social media rules around moderation. Since Musk bought Twitter last year, his stance on moderation has been looser than that of rivals.

Contributing: Tim Nudd