The question buzzing through the Carlton Hotel bar at the International Festival of Creativity transcended any single campaign, upstart, or merger: “Who’s building the future of this industry, and how fast can they move?” These were the people with the answers—and Cannes Lions was where they laid out their vision for what comes next.
Demis Hassabis – Google DeepMind
This Nobel Prize winner’s AI system AlphaFold cracked the protein-folding problem that eluded science for 50 years—and he’s been using the same tech to reinvent drug discovery. He didn’t come to Cannes Lions to talk ad tech. He came because the technology reshaping marketing today could eradicate cancer tomorrow.
Cindy Rose – WPP
When the world’s largest ad holding company needed a reboot, they didn’t hire an ad person—they hired a Microsoft AI veteran. Her Elevate28 plan blew up the holding-company model entirely. One entity. Four units. One direction. Her thesis landed hard at Cannes Lions: “AI will automate the ordinary and massively elevate the value of the extraordinary.”
Neal Mohan – YouTube
YouTube has paid $100 billion to creators and launched 10-plus genre-specific TV subscription plans. And Neal Mohan—Time’s CEO of the Year 2025—rolled out AI tools that let creators make Shorts with their own likeness. At Cannes Lions, his message was clear: Creators are the new studios, the living room is the new battleground, and YouTube is winning both.
Melanie Perkins – Canva
She built a $42 billion company used by 95% of the Fortune 500, then made the boldest call of her career: Flip Canva from a design platform with AI tools to an AI platform with design tools. Canva’s IPO speculation was deafening on the Croisette—she didn’t need to say a word.
Gabrielle Wesley – Mars Wrigley
She talked about people, not consumers. The moments when a Snickers becomes a ritual, not just a snack. In a world where attention is the scarcest resource, her argument resonated across the Palais. The best brands don’t interrupt culture; they become part of it.
Alex Weller – Patagonia
Patagonia doesn’t want you to buy more stuff—and Alex Weller’s job was to say that louder than anyone at Cannes. No influencers or aspirational marketing were needed; just a community of believers and $89 million in donations to environmental causes. In a week full of AI-generated everything, Weller showed up as the reminder that authenticity is still the rarest and most valuable asset in marketing.
Todd Kaplan – Kraft Heinz
His mandate was to make Heinz Ketchup, Oscar Mayer, and Velveeta feel urgent to people who’ve never known a world without them. His weapon was cultural provocation. The question he brought to Cannes—one the whole industry was wrestling with—was how do you make a 150-year-old brand feel like it matters right now?
Lina Polimeni – Lily
No billion-dollar budget. No legacy infrastructure. Just a point of view, a willing audience, and the discipline to say no to anything that dilutes it. She made the case at Cannes that challenger brands had the most interesting creative stories in the room—and that nimble beats massive every time.
Serge Matta – LG Ad Solutions
In a post-cookie world, first-party data is everything, and Matta had it at scale. Sitting on viewership data from tens of millions of smart TV screens, Matta realizes that the living room is the most valuable real estate in advertising, and LG Ad Solutions owns the lease.
Bonin Bough – Portrait Media
Bonin Bough is an investor and television personality with an impressive resume including positions at PepsiCo and Mondelēz. But his reputation is tied to something newer: turning Portrait Media into a profitable business while decoding Gen Z and Gen Alpha—the generation that doesn’t trust ads, lives on connected TV, and allocates more to experiences than any cohort before them. Two consecutive profitable quarters. AI-first platform. He already knew what they wanted. The brands smart enough to have listened are the ones you’ll be hearing about for years to come.