Cannes 2025: 6 hot takes from the shade of the DEPT® Secret Garden

But this year, the real action wasn’t on the main stage. It happened in hushed conversations, impromptu brainstorms, and low-lit corners, often in our own DEPT® Secret Garden.

Away from the sun-drenched Palais stages and the rosé-fueled networking, a clear message came through: Enterprise marketing is being dismantled and rebuilt. Fueled by tech, reshaped by AI, and forced to adapt to a volatile media ecosystem.

For decades, Cannes was synonymous with a singular vision of creativity: The Big Idea. But the vision of the storytelling masterpiece has evolved. 

This year confirmed that marketing excellence now lives at the intersection of what, where, and how, a belief that we at DEPT® have long championed. In other words, it’s no longer solely about pure creativity, but now equally encompasses media, technology, and AI. 

A creative idea is only as good as its ability to reach audiences and scale intelligently, and Cannes 2025 reflected that. Big tech dominated panels, attendees gravitated towards intimate discussions, and Shantanu Narayen was awarded the Creative Champion of the Year Award. 

LLM ads incoming: Meta arrived at Cannes with a full-throated AI story, openly touting a fully automated advertising future. 

While Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of small advertisers simply inputting “objective and bank account, no creative or targeting needed” might have caused nightmares, the reality is that AI is now undeniably at the core of Meta’s (and soon, everyone’s) ad business. 

Brands must move beyond theoretical discussions to actively strategizing how to harness these automated engines for optimal performance, while simultaneously ensuring their core brand narrative doesn’t get lost in the automation. This demands a proactive re-architecture of media strategy, not just a passive acceptance.

As Isabel Perry, DEPT® Global SVP Emerging Tech, noted: “It opens the door for hyper-relevance, but it also introduces real complexity for brand safety teams. Who’s approving what, when a model is serving 1,000 versions a second?”

At Cannes, we learned that Qualcomm’s AI writing assistant saves them 2,400 hours a month, and Havas committed €400 million to “AI teammates” without eliminating human jobs. 

But beyond team augmentation, AI is a disruptor of traditional team structures. 

As our Global CEO, Dimi Albers, said, “CMOs are investing in tech, proof of concepts, and upskilling, but their teams are often structured like it’s 2015. What they’re underestimating is the opportunity for true team transformation. They need AI-native marketers. Think architects, artists, even comedians, who think in prompts and operate without traditional marketing baggage.”

While the exact best way to build these teams hasn’t been perfected, leaders should consider how to nurture young talent who live at the crossroads of culture and tech. 

AI tools like Firefly and Pencil are making production faster, and it’s easy to focus on automation for speed. But Cannes reminded us that the real edge won’t come from automating faster; it’ll come from those who rethink the why. 

Jon Judah, SVP of technology at DEPT®, said, “This is reminiscent of the mobile app boom years ago. The winners weren’t those who raced to build, but those who used mobile to solve real problems and stand out (like Uber). Brands that invest in better creative strategy and take risks with more provocative storytelling will continue to win, as they always have.” 

As Sir John Hegarty captured in his keynote, “Giants can’t dance. Impact comes from being bold, not just optimized for global scalability.” 

Underneath the AI noise and industry uncertainty, another discussion emerged regarding the rethinking of agency business models. 

The days of relying solely on traditional Agency of Record (AOR) contracts are fading. Brands are now explicitly choosing agency partners who offer modern, flexible ways of working and have real commercial acumen and ROI baked into their approach. A procurement leader candidly stated that, “Agencies failing to provide this—and not just big discounts on the old way of doing things—will simply not be considered, especially when pitching new technology and methods.” 

This shift demands a strategic pivot for agencies to demonstrate clear value and adaptability beyond traditional service structures.

As with every Cannes, the trends and shifts discussed seem small at first. But they quickly evolve into strategic moves and impact the following year’s campaigns. 

The brands that will thrive next year and beyond recognize that this new era demands a fearless embrace of technology, a profound respect for human connection, and a willingness to reinvent everything they thought they knew about growth.