Cannes Briefing: As the line between brand and studio blurs, creators hold the pen

Now, it feels inevitable. 

“What is exciting for us now as an entertainment brand is that we’re now able to speak to marketers about things we can partner up for and work collaboratively on instead of ‘hey there, do you have a brief for us, do you have some budget for us please, can we dance the usual dance,’” said Hassell.

That evolution is hard to miss this year. 

Whether it’s Mattell’s creative chief Perry Flair in conversation with Winterberry Group dealmaker Bruce Bielgel on the rooftop of Smartly’s penthouse suite, or Dentsu using its beach cabana to announce its global push into sports and entertainment, the message is clear: brands aren’t dabbling in entertainment — they’re investing in it.

“Our expansion this week is really about bringing together our offerings for brands and rights holders at a time when everyone wants to connect culture to commerce,” said Yoshinobu Ise, global head of sport and entertainment at Dentsu. “In this algorithmic era, truly culture-defining content or IP is what gains cut-through and drives commercial impact. Now clients can make a single call and activate across the word and through all formats of entertainment, gaming and sports.”

Like most things in media, this shift crept quietly — audiences slipping away from linear TV, traditional ads fading into the background. Eventually, brands stopped waiting to be noticed and started chasing attention where it still lived. That increasingly meant content people actually watched — delivered by voices they already trusted. 

“Branded entertainment is one of the few ways left to build distinction to make something people choose to engage with, not scroll past,” said James Kirkham, co-founder of brand consultancy Iconic.

And “everything” now covers a wide spectrum. This isn’t just about a slick short film or a brand-backed web series. Branded entertainment now stretches from creator-led series to studio tentpoles. It can look like a behind-the-scenes doc or a feature film with global distribution.

“Marketers don’t just want deep relationships with heads of ad sales anymore — they want to know the creative side of business now,” said Julian Jacobs, head of UTA NYC and co-head of entertainment marketing at United Talent Agency.  

That’s showing up in the conversations he’s having on the ground in Cannes. It’s not about formats so much as it is about the slate. What’s in development, who’s attached and where a brand fits naturally. Maybe it’s the hotel in the next White Lotus. Maybe it’s financing a story that aligns with a brand’s reasoning. Either way, the brief is changing.

As the founders — Rebecca Lewis, Chris Watling and Lynsey Atkin — of creative company Baby Teeth put it on the sidelines of the festival: entertainment used to belong to music, film and TV. Now, it’s the baseline for brands too. The game has changed, from transactional talent deals to deeper, creative collaborations. 

But some rules still hold. The idea still matters as does craft, and taste. Because no matter how strategy the intent, it feels like advertising — or rose, like something we’ve already seen — it won’t land, the founders agreed. In entertainment, originality is the entry fee.

“We have a number of clients who have hired us over the last year to 18 months to help them build an initial strategy,” said David Anderson, a partner at UTA and the co-head of its entertainment marketing division. “But it’s the implementation of that strategy that is harder because marketers are only now starting tot think differently about how they invest in entertainment.”

The rise of the creator economy brought that into sharper focus. But while brands have embraced creators, there’s still a gap in how they work together. 

“One of the big things that we’ve heard from creators directly in a lot of the conversations we’ve been having here at the apartment is that brands are being overly prescriptive with how they’re briefing creators,” said Christina Kavalauskas, executive strategy director of social and creator at Deloitte Digital. 

Some brands are adapting. They’re listening more closely, pushing for direct relationships with creators they see long term potential in. But the gap between intention and execution remains wide. 

“There are times when we have assistance — when setting up our TikTok Shop, for example,” said Jim Mollica, CMO and president of the luxury audio division at Bose. “We used our key partners in Vayner to help us with that. At the same time, we were heavily influencing what we felt was important, and the types of talent that was involved. So we were bringing people to the table as well. A lot of the brand essence and DNA of who we are from the strategy, goes all the way down into the filters of who we select and why we select them.”

Cannes now comes with a product demo

What was once a creative festival now hums like a tech conference — with yachts. 

Granted, it’s still at its core a celebration of creativity. The big ideas, the emotional storytelling, the work that actually makes people feel something — that’s all still here. But step outside the Palais, and the vibe is different. The language of creativity now shares space — loudly with the logic of code, cloud and optimization. 

“This is becoming a tech and data conference as much as it is one about creativity,” said Mark Singer, CMO of Deloitte Digital in the U.S. 

The tech presence at Cannes isn’t new, but this year it feels more embedded, more branded, more productized. Platforms, ad tech vendors and data firms aren’t just showing up, they’re taking over beachfronts, buying out hotels and using the week as a global product marketing moment. 

“Cannes has always had two sides, creative and tech,” said Danny Holmes, consulting partner for media and agency at Experian Marketing Services. “However, the lines of those are now blurring, and it’s been exciting to see innovative ways that tech is driving not only creative decision-making, but end-to-end marketing. Data is critical to that, and we’re excited to be part of the journey with our partners.”

MiQ’s presence at the Carlton Hotel captured the shift. Once a backdrop for Mad Men era glamor and champagne fueled dealmaking, the Carlton this year served as a launchpad for Sigma — the company’s new AI tool for programmatic planning and activation. It’s a familiar Cannes image — except now there’s more engineers, analysts and product leads. 

“You cannot walk down La Croisette without hearing all the ad tech lingo,” said Lisa Abousaleh, vp of publisher and distribution partnerships, at addressability business ID5. “Mentions of cookieless, cookie syncs, CAPIs, KPIs, server-to-server, bid requests, RPMs, uplift and ROI are heard over glasses of rosé. You don’t need a ticket to get into the Palais, everyone is just hustling past to get to their next meeting on a yacht or in an apartment.”

That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it does suggest a different version of Cannes is taking shape — one where creative excellence shares the stage with backend engineering and ad tech strategy. 

Digiday Video Studio at the Blockboard Suite

Day two, Cannes 2025 interview discussion topics with Esi Eggleston Bracy, CMO, Unilever, Alex Craddok, CMO, Citibank, Caroline Proto, director, global media, EssilorLuxottica, and Kelly Mahoney, CMO, Ulta Beauty, ranged from how both finance and fashion brands’ authentic relationship with consumers is mission critical for future success to how the machine of AI and the heart of branding can’t be placed in capability silos by CMOs. Please check back for more interviews. — Jim Cooper

Elsewhere from Cannes

• Once a Cannes hotspot, Twitter Beach is no more. In this episode, we explore X’s quiet retreat from the Croisette — and why no one’s talking about the TikTok ban either.
• Omnicom’s partnerships aim to get clients closer to influencers and content that shows a higher propensity to spur consumers to purchase.

Overheard

“I have to be good now that I’m working for a company. Say the wrong thing to you and its share price could be like minus five in the morning.”

“Why does it feel like I’ve been here two weeks when it’s only been two days.”

“I don’t buy the chat that Amazon is stealing Google and The Trade Desk’s lunch. From what I see [as a buyer], it’s nowhere being ready to make that sort of move.”

Two women walking along the Croisette:
Woman 1: “Sorry for making you walk all the way around.”
Woman 2: “It’s OK, i need to get my steps in.”
Woman 1: “How many steps are you at?”
Woman 2: “17 [thousand]”
Woman 1: “25 [thousand]”

What to do

10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Lumière Theatre, The Palais
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan will discuss the platform’s 20th anniversary.

10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at Terrace Stage, The Terrace
Creators Keith Lee and Logan Moffitt, along with TikTok, discuss moving markets in the creator space.

12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. at Debussy Theatre, The Palais
Reese Witherspoon and e.l.f. discuss tailoring content to Gen Z.

Nightcap

6:30 to 9 p.m. at Journal House
Cocktail hour.

8 p.m. at FreeWheel Beach
Ludacris will perform.

8 p.m. at Amazon Port
Odesza will perform.

9 p.m. at Spotify Beach
Cardi B, Lola Young and Mark Ronson will perform.