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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.

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