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Cannes Lions 2025: Day 3 – Debating human creativity, AI and the ‘force for good'

Day 3 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 witnessed conversations getting very real about the balance between artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for growth and the case for creativity. Strong opinions were voiced – for and against each of these – with marketers agreeing that the industry needs to, ultimately, keep its 'eye on the prize' of brand and business outcomes. While, on one hand, CMO panels in The Rotonde and keynotes at the Théâtre Claude Debussy called for brands to lean into the power of human input in creative marketing strategies, on the other hand, conversations down the Croisette and at Carlton Cannes focused on the power of AI-driven tech and automation. A lot of these insights also found their way to Campaign Middle East's MENA Mixer event held at Campaign House, Canopy by Hilton Cannes, which brought the who's who of the Middle East brand and marketing industry together, in partnership with TheVantage and Hearst Global Solutions. Balance between human-inspired creativity, and technology-led automation and innovation Speaking to Campaign Middle East, Nassib Boueri, CEO of VML MENA, said, 'Creativity will always be at the core of this industry. We may navigate towards technology, like we navigated towards social media a few years ago, but this industry has a self-correction that will bring us back into the pure creative realm. Ten years ago, the talk was around the launch of social platforms; today it is AI. However, the industry has always found its way back to focus on the core of creativity.' Sprinkling a healthy dose of business outcomes into the conversation, Fabio Silveira, Managing Director of Havas Creative Middle East, and a jury member on the newly added Creative Business Transformation category at Cannes Lions 2025, said, 'Creativity is still the first and, probably, the most important piece, but business transformation also has a huge role to play.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) He added, 'This new awards category added in 2025 – as well as CEO panels that we've seen for the first time Cannes Lions – is representative of this shift in conversation from mere creativity to reviewing its very real impact on business outcomes. We've been evaluating and awarding work that demonstrates real impact on operations, research and development, HR, as well as all the other facets of the business chain.' Not mincing words in his chat with Campaign Middle East, Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and Chairman of Vayner Media, said, 'Most of the people at Cannes should be worried about AI if they're not contributing to business outcomes. A lot of people want to sell the idea of creativity as a disguise to what marketing should be, which is an engine to growth for business. This entire Palais should be disrupted if they've been audacious and delusional and non-contributive to the brands that have been paying them to deliver these outcomes.' Should marketing be a 'force for good'? Leaders also shared differing opinions on creativity and marketing as 'forces for good'. While some called for marketing to drive real-world social impact and catalyse change, others called for marketing to 'do its job' of driving business outcomes. Talking to Campaign Middle East, Siddarth Sivaprakash, Head of Brand & Marketing , Home Centre, Landmark Group, said, 'If we are in a world and in an industry where we believe that creativity can solve world problems to some extent, or atleast bring awareness to it, I think we're really missing out on an opportunity. I feel like at Cannes, this year, we've not heard about that sufficiently from Middle East agencies and what they're doing for clients and used cases around that.' During the CMOs in the Spotlight session on Day 3 at Cannes Lions 2025, Josefien Olij, Senior Director Marketing Communications, Philips, echoed these thoughts. 'We truly need to take a step in the right direction,' Olij said. 'We need to look at technology and creativity for good with strategies that are caring and courageous. AI is a part of that. It needs to be an enabler, and it is not something that replaces. We need to find away to continue finding solutions to real-world problems, truly collaborate, do the strategic thinking, but always with a human touch.' However, Vaynerchuck had a slightly different take on it, calling out agencies who are hiding behind the 'force for good' conversation as a disguise to not being accountable to business outcomes. 'Giving back is meant for non-profits,' he said. 'If you want to give back, go spend your time, money and energy on non-profits like I do. Don't bull***t me about giving back because you're scared of technology. It's time to hold marketing accountable to what it should be: an engine of growth for business. Everyone, including me, will be disrupted by AI. Either we learn how to deal with it or we go out of business.' MENA Awards at Cannes As of Day 3 at Cannes Lions, the MENA region remains short of a Grand Prix in its collection of wins, despite taking its tally of coveted Cannes Lions trophies to 20, with BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh still leading the pack and contributing to five of the region's total tally with 2 Gold Lions, 1 Silver Lion, and 2 Bronze Lions. With two days to go in the festival, the region is only two metal cats short of its tally of 22 in 2024. Khaled AlShehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication at the UAE Government Media Office, and PR Jury panel member was also seen handing over the Gold Lion to DAVID, New York agency for their Clash of Clans entry at Cannes Lions 2025. The MENA wins include: AUDIO AND RADIO CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Second Release Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh CREATIVE B2B CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Recipe for Change Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: Arla Foods CREATIVE DATA CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Recipe for Change Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: Arla Foods DESIGN CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: Sounds of the Land Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh DIGITAL CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML, Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Campaign title: Agency: Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Read Better Agency: FP7 McCANN, Dubai / McCANN, Bristol Client: Waterstones DIRECT CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Safe at 3AM Agency: VML, Dubai Client: Dubai Tourism ENTERTAINMENT FOR SPORT CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The 4th Judge Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: The Ring Campaign title: Agency: Client: The Ring 1 GOLD LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season FILM CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Everything or Nothing Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season HEALTH AND WELLNESS CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation OUTDOOR CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Not For First Dates Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: McDonald's PR CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Sponsored Balls Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: Testicular Cancer Society 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Not For First Dates Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: McDonald's PRINT AND PUBLISHING CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: NOTES ON NOTES Agency: IMPACT BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: THE GREAT INDIAN DUNK Agency: LEO Dubai Client: NBA India The festival also welcomed its share of star power with the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Reese Witherspoon, Paris Hilton, Serena Williams, Mo Farah and Noah Lyles, among many others making appearances at Cannes Lions 2025. Tune into Campaign Middle East's social media channels to stay updated on the latest of what's happening at The Palais, the Rotonde, The Carlton Hotel and stay tuned for exciting events at the Campaign House Hilton Canopy.