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cannes lions festival 2025
insights, sparks, and a few reality checks.
canva
tiktok
amazon
no ads please
reckitt
spotify
Canva Panel : Mattel and MasterCard
Building Brand Trust
Mattel's Chief Brand Officer Lisa McKnight shared how the 2023 Barbie movie's $1.4B success gave Mattel the freedom to take Barbie beyond dolls—into lifestyle, content, gaming, and even broader conversations around gender and inclusion.
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Ken, who was always the “accessory,” suddenly had his own cultural moment. The partnership with LeBron James as a “Ken Ambassador” showed Mattel is serious about evolving how masculinity is represented.
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In addition, Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raja Rajamannar discussed how the company’s 65-year history is a strength because it builds trust and scale—but that trust can’t be taken for granted. To maintain their presence, they must be transparent and authentically engage in youth-driven spaces like EDM and esports.
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Both brands also touched on AI—using it to get better insights, but remembering that it’s a tool, not a replacement for creative instincts.
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The lesson: Legacy brands can stay relevant with new gens when they evolve without losing their core. It’s about growth without erasing what made them iconic.
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Amazon Panel : Nostalgia Marketing
Nostalgia and Brand Relevance
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Reality TV star Leah Kateb framed nostalgia as a way to build community and deepen cultural memory, but only when it sparks an emotional reaction that feels relevant today. It’s not about recreating the past just to look retro; it’s about using the meaning behind those moments to enrich the present.
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Gap's Global Chief Marketing Officer Faby Torres offered a reality check: “Vintage in fashion is cool. Vintage in marketing? That’s when you get stuck.” She explained that while nostalgia can be a powerful creative spark, it shouldn’t become a safe fallback. When brands rely too heavily on the past without evolving the story, they risk feeling dated instead of timeless. Nostalgia should be a launchpad for new narratives, not the end goal.
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Nostalgia is most impactful when it blends memory with movement. It reminds audiences why they cared in the first place while giving them new reasons to stay engaged. When done thoughtfully, it’s less about dwelling on “the good old days” and more about creating moments that resonate across generations.​
*Caught me channeling my inner game show host—holding up vinyls and khakis for a Cannes campaign guessing game.
The campaign was Gap!
Reckitt Panel: Serena Williams
The Power of Access
American former tennis player Serena Williams nailed it: “It’s not that the solutions don’t exist. They do. What’s missing is access.” Innovation, talent, and ideas are everywhere, but funding, mentorship, and networks remain the real barriers holding entrepreneurs back.
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Reckitt showed what real action looks like with their Catalyst Initiative—a five-year, £10M commitment to support 200 women-led health startups across sectors like hygiene and maternal care, aiming to impact 5 million people globally. Serena is joining as their first-ever Entrepreneur-in-Residence, mentoring founders who don’t fit the traditional venture mold.
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Panelists Tania Bryer, Catherine Casey Nanda (Acumen America), and Sheila Redzepi (Reckitt) shared the stark stats: only 2% of global VC funding goes to women-led startups, despite these companies outperforming others by 35% and creating six times more jobs.
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The message? Dare to invest in what feels unfamiliar—because that’s where new growth and real change happen.
TikTok Panel: Mo Farah
Real Stories, Real Communities
The former long distance runner Mo Farah discussed how brands can support creators as storytellers, not just sponsored talent—giving them tools, space, and agency to share from real experience.
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The results speak volumes: TikTok content reached 83% of Cannes attendees, garnered 5.2 million global views on creator-led videos, and averaged an 18% engagement rate across relevant posts. That kind of reach and stickiness shows that realness trumps polish every time.
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Athletes and sports creators on TikTok are building communities by showing unfiltered passion and insider access. Their content turns sports into conversation, not just scoreboard highlights. It’s a new kind of fan engagement: emotional, immediate, and community-driven. The message was clear: “Unpolished is powerful.”
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Pas de Publicité Merci: No Ads Please
Earning Attention in a World That Skips Everything
This session with BETC Chairman Rémi Babinet and Editor-in-Chief of CB News Fouzia Kamal explored why people are tuning out traditional advertising. Babinet made the point that ads used to entertain, inspire, and even shape culture, but now they often feel like clutter—something to block or skip. The conversation dug into how brands lost that cultural connection by prioritizing reach and repetition over meaning.
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The panel pushed a simple truth: ads that feel like ads don’t work anymore. To get people to care, brands have to stop interrupting and start earning their place. That means creating content that evokes an emotional response —and blends naturally into the moments where people already are.
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It was less about abandoning advertising altogether and more about rethinking it as a form of storytelling people want in their lives. The big takeaway? Trust is the new currency. If you’re not creating something people actually welcome, you’re already invisible.
Spotify Panel : The Power of Podcasting & Authenticity
The Long Game of Storytelling
Panelists stressed that what makes podcasts stand out is authenticity and consistency. Unlike other media formats that rely on heavy polish or quick hits, podcasts thrive because they feel real and personal. Listeners come back for hosts they trust, voices that feel like friends, and conversations that go deeper than a 30‑second clip ever could.
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They also talked about the intimacy of the format—how podcasts create a one‑on‑one experience with the listener. There’s no algorithm pushing it in your face, no banner ads interrupting your flow.
For brands, this is gold. Being part of a trusted show means entering someone’s routine in a way that feels natural, not forced.
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The highlight of the session was answering a question correctly about Spotify’s founding and winning a pair of Bose headphones!