European Media: Postcard from the Cannes ad festival

Research evidence excerpt

European Media: Postcard from the Cannes ad festival

Barclays | European Media

Who did we meet?

We had >30 meetings, speaking to >50 people from the C suite and operating heads of HoldCos,

independent agencies and start-ups, CMOs and marketers as well as other industry players such

as pitch consultants. Overall, we met 9 execs from WPP, 6 from Publicis, 6 from Omnicom, 6

from Dentsu (not covered), 4 from S4 Capital (including the CEOs from WPP, Publicis and S4 and

the CFOs from WPP and Publicis) and 3 from Stagwell (not covered). We also met 7 CEOs of and

2 Chief Revenue Officers of AI-first start-ups and independent challengers; spoke directly to 4

CMOs and marketers, and heard from a further 5 in public forums (overseeing combined billings

of ~US$8bn). We also heard from the CEOs of Sky, Informa and Brandtech (private, not covered)

in a public forum.

Key takeaways

Mood music more constructive overall but...

The overall tone at Cannes felt more constructive than last year. In 2025, the dominant narrative

was closer to "AI posed an existential threat"; this year, the debate is more nuanced. Advertisers

are under clear pressure from CEOs, CFOs and boards to implement AI, with mixed success. With

agencies claiming they have cracked AI (and having more time, people and money to deploy

than many advertisers), most clients are willing to listen.

Several CMOs and agency executives pushed back on the idea of a world without agencies, with

the recurring message that AI can make work faster and more scalable, but humans are still

needed at both the front and back ends of the process. The large HoldCos bring something to

the table that large advertisers cannot and do not want to miss out on (scale, data, pricing,

creative insight/taste).