By Michael Bürgi • June 29, 2026 •
Digiday covers the latest from marketing and media at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. More from the series →
The topic of AI was inescapable no matter where you went during last week’s Cannes Lions, and very much was said on panels, along the Croisette and in the suites and meeting rooms of the big hotels. Digiday even hosted a video interview series whose primary topic was AI’s disintermediation effect on how CPG marketers and their agencies try to reach consumers these days.
One effective encapsulation of how agencies are going about embracing and figuring out AI was a discussion that 4As CEO Justin Thomas Copeland moderated featuring the technology heads of the major holding companies (in alphabetical order): Helen Lin, Publicis; Jarrod Martin, Omnicom; Slavi Samardzija, Stagwell; Amy Thorne, Dentsu; and Lauren Wetzel, WPP.
One of his best observations/questions was when he addressed them as people, not tech masters: “There’s a lot of rethinking, and I’m hearing a lot of reimagining, reframing [in this session]. There are probably a lot of existential moments where you’re having to think, ‘How do I do this?’ and get an inner circle to help you figure that stuff out. … Those learning curves can be tough because a lot of people are looking at you in your organizations and thinking you’re gonna have the answers.”
