At Cannes, one truth rang louder than ever: creativity is not a “nice to have” – it is the driving force behind value creation, brand resilience and business transformation.
The Business of Brands Begins with Creativity
The data is in: creative brands make more money. Desire drives purchase and creativity sparks that desire. Recent WARC X LIONS research results are unequivocal. The top-performing brands over the past 25 years, particularly those embedded with creativity at the core, have consistently outpaced market expectations and created disproportionate business value.
It’s not just about ads or attention. Creativity is a business asset. When brands embed it into their operations, they don’t just compete – they lead.
Brand Building Is a Long Game in a Short-Term World
In a market obsessed with quarterly performance, many brands over-index on short-term metrics and performance marketing. But that risks irrelevance. True growth comes from marathon training and not sprinting. Long-term brand building is the moat in a sea of sameness.
Companies who reduced marketing lost market share; those who held or increased spend gained or maintained position That’s not theory – that’s economics. (Bain)
Cultural Courage as a Growth Engine
In an industry wrestling with fear and fatigue, cultural courage is more than just a buzzword, it’s the fuel for relevance. Great brands move first, speak boldly, and don’t ask culture for permission.
This kind of bravery doesn’t just drive headlines, it drives business outcomes. Why? Because in a low-barrier environment, standing out isn’t optional – it’s survival.
Creativity and AI: Partners, Not Opponents
The rise of AI and agentic technologies isn’t a death knell for creative work, it’s a challenge to reimagine what’s possible. AI is democratizing scale and insights. It’s helping mine deeper truths, anticipate challenges, and unlock new creative spaces.
But here’s the key: machines don’t have guts. Logic alone can’t win hearts. Brands win when they make people feel something. That’s our edge. The human touch remains our superpower.
The Human Touch: Your Brand’s Secret Weapon
Forget polish. You don’t win hearts with perfection, you win with emotion. Neuroscience proves it. People don’t just buy based on facts; they buy because something moved them. Even in B2B, emotion builds trust through frequency, consistency, and personalization.
As AI scales and systems automate, empathy, intuition and vulnerability will define the most impactful work. Creativity with guts is the brand’s greatest differentiator.
Marketing’s Moment of Reckoning
“This is a time of big news and big fear,” as Apple’s Ty Masterton noted. The stakes are high, and the pace is faster than ever. Traditional indicators are too slow; companies must act early, with curiosity and courage.
It’s no longer enough to understand. Decision-makers must be moved. A marketer’s real job is to influence, inspire, and ignite action. Not just with data, but with story.
The Bottom Line: Creativity Builds Capital
Creativity has always been the heart of Cannes. But this year, it was also the brain, spine, and engine. The work that echoed? It made people feel. And that emotion? It’s empirically good for business.
It’s not enough to create brilliant work. We need to advocate for it. We need to make the case, again and again, that great creativity doesn’t just win awards, it builds brands, grows market cap, and drives the economy forward.
So yes, this is the business of creativity. But more importantly this is the creativity of business.
Reporting Andrea Hunt, President and CEO, Association of Canadian Advertisers
Andrea is a dynamic, C-suite executive with a history of success driving transformational growth for iconic B2C businesses. Through executive roles with Kellogg’s, Kraft, Molson, Arterra, and Mondelez, Andrea has led high-performance teams across North America and the globe.
A collaborator and boardroom influencer known for visionary leadership and strategic acumen, Andrea’s adeptness in commercial leadership, innovation, and operational management has been rewarded with outsized commercial performance and extensive industry accolades.
Andrea is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Canadian Advertisers and serves as an adjunct professor of marketing & strategy (MBA) with the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. Andrea also contributes selectively as an executive adviser and certified board member within the private sector.
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