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Yachts have been stripped of their adtech signage, trophies polished and placed proudly in cabinets, ADWEEK House has closed for the season, and (for some) the rosé wine headaches have eased off. Cannes Lions is over for another year.
Whether you were there or not, you likely noticed the specter of AI looming large over the festival of creativity.
On the Palais main stage, it was the topic du jour with speakers including OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta. But in jury rooms, human creativity won out.
WPP and S4 founder Martin Sorrell summed up the dichotomy. “AI is top of people’s agenda,” he told ADWEEK, adding that 2024 had been about building use cases.
“Clients have been doing audits. They’ve been doing workshops. Have they really been building very big, transformational projects [though]? Not yet.”
While adland stands on the edge of an AI revolution, platforms, brands and agencies used the occasion to unveil innovations and launch products that harness the tech.
Scroll down to see some of the big stories and announcements you might have missed from the week.
1. AI influencers land on TikTok
Over the last few years, creators have taken over the Cote d’Azur. Now, AI creators are set to take over your TikTok FYP.
With gen AI high on the agenda, TikTok blurred the lines between the festival’s two top themes, announcing a suite of AI-powered tools for advertisers, including customizable digital avatars and language dubbing features. Building on its recently announced Symphony generative AI ad suite, TikTok said these new tools would let brands “add a human touch to their content,” replacing real models or presenters with computer-generated digital personas.
