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Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Cannes Lions 2025: The Business Of Influence Takes The Stage
Travis Kelce, NFL Superstar and Cultural Icon featured at Stagwell's Sport Beach at 2024 Cannes ... More Lions Festival of Creativity Cannes Lions will have more creators than ever, a clear signal that the C-suite is finally buying into creator marketing as a serious growth strategy. What's accelerating the change? Consumer behavior. As digital spaces get more crowded and less trustworthy, it's harder for brands to reach people effectively. Creator partnerships are the exception. They continue to deliver results, earning a permanent place in the core marketing mix. Cannes Lions is a chance for marketers to learn directly from the creators, agencies, and platforms shaping what's next. And the best way to understand what's working is to see creators in action across the festival. YES THEORY: Ammar Kandil, Thomas Bragg, Business Partner, Zack Honarvar, Moderator Jamie Gutfreund Now in its second year, the Official Creators Rooftop at the Palais has become the place where marketers and creators meet and collaborate. This year's rooftop sponsors include LTK, Meta, Dove, YouTube, Ogilvy, Microsoft, DNY, Billion Dollar Boy, and Adobe. The rooftop will also feature speakers from Rare Beauty, Mattel, Heineken, Sephora, Unilever, Benefits Cosmetics, and Duolingo. The creators rooftop was built for business. It's where brands and creators connect with intent through curated introductions, strategy sessions, and working roundtables that open the door to commercial opportunities. 'We're deepening our matchmaking efforts with curated networking formats to foster meaningful collaboration between creators, brands, and agencies,' said Ed Davidson, Chief Growth Officer, Cannes Lions. The official Creator Rooftop at the Palais from the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2024 'You'll find creators everywhere, Davidson added. 'It's not just about visibility; it's about giving creators real access to the conversations shaping the industry's future.' Confirmed creators include Amelia Dimoldenberg, Camila Coutinho, Colin & Samir, Grace Beverley, Haifa Beseisso, Ifeyinwa Mogekwu, Jake Shane, Kai Cenat, Robyn DelMonte, Coco Mocoe and Keith Lee. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 16: Amelia Dimoldenberg attends SNL50: The Anniversary Special on ... More February 16, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by) A highlight of the week: Wednesday night's Social & Creator Lions awards ceremony, the festival's top honor for creator work. The expanded awards now reflect what sets creator marketing apart from traditional advertising, with new categories like Community Building, Cross-Platform Storytelling, and Excellence in Craft. Three years ago, Stagwell recognized a simple truth: athletes gain their influence through consistent high-performance and leadership. Their brand of influence is unique, forged through competition, and strengthened by community support. But most marketers still saw them as talent, not business partners. Stagwell's Sport Beach 2024 featured all-star speakers including Draymond Green, Golden State ... More Warriors, Conal Byrne, IHeart and journalist Taylor Rooks. 'The fundamental idea of Sport Beach is that we take athletes seriously as business people and marketers as serious partners to those athletes,' said Beth Sidhu, Chief Brand and Communications Officer at Stagwell. 'We treat brands and athletes as equals and create spaces for them to do business.' And it's working. Dozens of deals have started at Sport Beach, from equity-backed ventures to creative roles with long-term commercial value. 'Some athletes secure commercial deals, some are forming new brand partnerships, some are creating foundations,' said Sidhu. 'People have closed significant business deals at Sport Beach.' Beth Sidhu, Stagwell's Chief Brand and Communications Officer (left), and Regan Considine, ... More Stagwell's VP, Brand (right). The global calendar adds urgency. 'Between now and 2028, the U.S. will host the World Cup and the Olympics,' Sidhu said. 'We're not going to get this kind of attention on sport again in a generation. We believe that intense focus on sports will drive a wave of marketing investment.' This year's all-star lineup includes Candace Parker, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Chiles, Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Tara and Hunter Woodhall, Alex Johnson, and Ilona Maher. The business success stories are evident in the week's progamming. In a live taping of the Prof G Pod, NYU Professor Scott Galloway sits down with Candace Parker, WNBA Legend and President of Adidas Women's Basketball, and Alex Rodriguez, Chairman and CEO of A-Rod Corp, on their journey from athlete to investor. Both have translated on-field excellence into boardroom success, leveraging their networks, strategic insight, and personal brands to build diverse investment portfolios beyond traditional endorsements. Carmelo Anthony, an NBA All-Star entrepreneur and philanthropist, knows life on the move: 41 road games, 30 cities, four games a week. He joins Anthony Capuano, President and CEO of Marriott International, and Dan Gardner, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Code and Theory, for a conversation on building a brand that travels, whether you're launching a startup or leading a global company. McLaren Racing takes the stage with CEO Zak Brown, CMO Lou McEwen, and Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri to share how the team's performance mindset—built on precision, adaptability, and resilience shapes business decisions and drives innovation across the brand. Influential put creators front and center at Cannes. In 2023, they moved first, betting that creators would define the future of marketing, and Cannes was the place to prove it. Their early investment, when few others were paying attention, successfully established a creator presence at the center of the industry's most influential global gathering. Now, in its first year as part of Publicis Groupe, Influential, widely recognized as the largest global creator marketing agency, is expanding its Cannes Lions presence. Sponsored by PayPal, their Cannes 2025 activation includes strategic content, executive programming, and the Forbes Top Creators celebration, which has moved from its traditional fall timing to Cannes in recognition of the growing importance of creators on the global stage. The event will spotlight the 50 most influential and entrepreneurial digital creators. Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity launched a dedicated Creator Pass in 2024 Programming includes a fireside chat with Eva Longoria and L'Oréal CMO Han Wen (in partnership with iHeartMedia), a new partnership announcement with YouTube featuring Global Director Celia Salsi and creator Adam W, and a spotlight on athlete-led innovation with Russell Westbrook and Deandre Jordan. Brand-led panels will feature Sephora, Ulta Beauty, LEGO, Heineken, Lyft, DoorDash, Salesforce, and Hilton. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 18: Alix Earle poses for a photo prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Las ... More Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 18, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Denise Truscello - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) This year's creator presence is broader than ever, with standout sessions highlighting the intersection of creativity, technology, and commerce. At the Microsoft Beach House, superstar creator Alix Earle will headline a special evening session with Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft EVP and Consumer CMO. Earle will discuss navigating the creator economy and leveraging new AI tools like Copilot to enhance her content and connection with fans. On the LIONS Creators program, the 'Voices of Africa: A Creator Conversation' panel will feature a group of rising talent and cultural leaders from across the continent. Organized by Adetutu Laditan, Founder and Creative Director of Woof Studios and a 2024 Social & Influencer Lions juror. Meanwhile, Epidemic Sound, a leading music tech platform for creators, will host 'Creating Without Permission in the World's Hardest-to-Reach Places,' featuring YouTubers Yes Theory and Drew Binsky. The panel will explore how they capture powerful, often unfiltered stories in some of the world's most remote or restricted regions. Creators will be everywhere at Cannes Lions. But access alone isn't the advantage. What you do with the opportunity is what matters. Use the time to go straight to the source, ask real questions, challenge your assumptions, and pay attention to how the best are building. The most innovative brands aren't just hiring creators. They're learning from them and building strategies that only work because creators are at the center.
Forbes
28-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Influencer Marketing: How AI And Infrastructure Unlock Brand Growth
AI is changing how creator marketing works, from identifying talent to measuring results. But most teams still aren't set up to take full advantage. The reason? Creator marketing lacks the infrastructure other parts of marketing rely on. There's no standard tech stack, no universal system, and much of the work still lives in spreadsheets, decks, or tools brands don't even own. That's a problem. Creator marketing is no longer experimental. According to Deloitte Digital's 2025 State of Social Research, creators now account for nearly a quarter of all social media budgets, more than any other line item. With investments at that scale, brands need a system that works. At the recent event, Digital Entertainment World, leaders from Traackr, Grin, Aspire, Later, and CreatorIQ joined Edelman's Steph Money to explore how AI is closing the infrastructure gap and what brands need to run creator marketing like any other core function of their business. Creator discovery is evolving from instinct to insight. AI is helping teams go beyond manual searches to uncover patterns in content, sentiment, and audience behavior. 'AI can scan performance, content style, sentiment, and audience match, then generate a short list aligned to your goals,' said Olivia McNaughten, Head of Marketing at Grin. 'You might find a creator who performs well, but if they're difficult to work with, that has a cost, too. AI can't see that. Only people can.' AI allows marketers to identify creators with real influence in relevant communities. It enables a more strategic approach to building creator portfolios similar to how media teams optimize media buys. Because AI handles the repetitive work, marketers have more time for what only humans can do: build trust and shape creative ideas. For many brands, creator data lives in too many places or isn't easily accessed. When programs are outsourced or fragmented, data ends up in spreadsheets, PowerPoints, or platforms the brand doesn't control. That makes it hard to track performance or build on what's working. 'You can't build anything sustainable if every campaign starts from zero,' said Taylor Rodriguez, Global VP of Customer Experience at Traackr. 'We talk to teams who have been running creator programs for years, but they can't tell you which partnerships are worth reinvesting in or what moved the needle. Without the right system, all that knowledge disappears.' Jacob Clark, VP of Customer Success at Aspire, added, 'We treat creator relationship data like we would customer data. Centralized, searchable, and actionable. When you build that kind of system, you're not just tracking performance. You're capturing the full history of how a partnership evolves. That helps you see who to reinvest in, what works across markets, and where future opportunities are hiding.' 'With AI layered on top, these insights become even more powerful. The more signals you collect, creator history, engagement, and performance, the more innovative and tailored the strategy becomes,' added Rodriguez. More content is being created than ever before. But more doesn't mean better. AI is helping marketers understand which content is driving real results and why. 'There's going to be a massive amount of content, and that's going to change what performance looks like,' said Bill Stanton, Head of Enterprise Sales at Later. 'Certain thresholds, certain metrics that were important a year ago, might now be watered down or no longer relevant.' He added, 'It's not about more data. It's about getting the right signals to make smarter calls about what's working and worth scaling.' 'You can't just track what went viral,' said Nate Harris, VP of Product Innovation at CreatorIQ. 'You have to understand why it worked and who it worked for. That's what informs your next move.' Harris continued, 'AI helps identify patterns. What kind of content drives action, and for which audiences? That insight is what turns performance data into a strategic advantage.' AI makes performance analysis more than a reporting function. It becomes a feedback loop that helps teams optimize creative, distribution, and targeting with each cycle. As creator budgets increase, so does the pressure to deliver results at scale. AI helps teams move faster, reduce friction, and make decisions with more clarity. 'The goal isn't just automation. It's elevation,' said Steph Money, SVP@Edelman AI 'AI gives marketers the power to scale strategy, not just execution. The real unlock is when creativity and data flow through the same infrastructure. You're not just producing content faster; you're making better decisions at every stage.' When creator discovery, relationship management, and performance are connected, Creator marketing becomes a continuous function like paid media or CRM. 'If we set up the systems the right way, creators get to spend more time making, and brands get to learn faster from what they make,' said Harris. That approach turns creator marketing into a long-term growth engine, not a side project. Creator marketing is evolving, but many brands are stuck in trial-and-error mode. Budgets are growing. Expectations are rising. And AI is accelerating what's possible. But none of that matters without infrastructure. As the speakers from Traackr, Grin, Aspire, Later, and CreatorIQ emphasized, creator marketing lacks what every other discipline has: a dedicated tech stack. That absence makes it harder to learn, measure, and scale. Without structure, even the best creative strategies won't go far. The brands that succeed won't be the ones with the most content. They'll be the ones with a clear system and the ability to make that system smarter with every campaign
