Home The Big Story The Human Cannes

The Human Cannes

SHARE:
The Big Story: Cannes Lions 2025

With its sunny skies and vacation-y atmosphere, the Cannes Lions is a place of optimism, where the industry sees its woes through rose-colored glasses.

Which means the uncertain global economic climate and the political landscape back in les États-Unis haven’t been emphasized. But discussions about AI – which is disrupting ad agencies, ad tech and consumer behavior – are at the forefront.

While generative AI dominated conversations in 2024, agentic AI is the topic of 2025.

Our editorial team gathered at our Hôtel Martinez recording studio inside Nielsen’s space on Wednesday morning to discuss how AI showed up in our conversations during the week.

AdExchanger community lead and AdMonsters content director Lynne d Johnson makes her first podcast appearance alongside our managing editor, Allison Schiff.

We discuss how the industry is forming a consensus on some areas of AI, while many more questions about process, equity, job structure and the future of creativity remain unanswered.

Must Read

How AudienceMix Is Mixing Up The Data Sales Business

AudienceMix, a new curation startup, aims to make it more cost effective to mix and match different audience segments using only the data brands need to execute their campaigns.

Broadsign Acquires Place Exchange As The DOOH Category Hits Its Stride

On Tuesday, digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad tech startup Place Exchange was acquired by Broadsign, another out-of-home SSP.

Meta’s Ad Platform Is Going Haywire In Time For The Holidays (Again)

For the uninitiated, “Glitchmas” is our name for what’s become an annual tradition when, from between roughly late October through November, Meta’s ad platform just seems to go bonkers.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters
Monopoly Man looks on at the DOJ vs. Google ad tech antitrust trial (comic).

Closing Arguments Are Done In The US v. Google Ad Tech Case

The publisher-focused DOJ v. Google ad tech antitrust trial is finished. A judge will now decide the fate of Google’s sell-side ad tech business.

Wall Street Wants To Know What The Programmatic Drama Is About

Competitive tensions and ad tech drama have flared all year. And this drama has rippled out into the investor circle, as evident from a slew of recent ad tech company earnings reports.

Comic: Always Be Paddling

Omnicom Allegedly Pivoted A Chunk Of Its Q3 Spend From The Trade Desk To Amazon

Two sources at ad tech platforms that observe programmatic bidding patterns said they’ve seen Omnicom agencies shifting spend from The Trade Desk to Amazon DSP in Q3. The Trade Desk denies any such shift.