Article
June 17, 2025
By Lauren Winter
Uncertainty and AI are clearly the buzzwords of Cannes 2025, based on how many conversations they’re dominating here. But what’s less spoken and still just as obvious: culture isn’t a campaign lever. Rather, it’s the ultimate credibility layer.
It’s a polarized, fatigued, AI-saturated market and the brands that are winning are those baking culture into their very foundation, not those who toss it in at the end. As we’ve long said: culture converts, but only when audiences feel it’s real.
Consumers’ “BS alarms” are in overdrive. Rightly so, in a moment where generative AI challenges every notion of authenticity. And that’s not just a Cannes stage soundbite. It’s showing up in client conversations, creative brainstorms and creator briefs. The work breaking through isn’t slick or soulless. It’s grounded. It starts with human truths, not tech tricks. It understands the friction between brand ambition and cultural reality.
That creative tension, whether performance and purpose or content and credibility, is everywhere. A Creative Contradictions session with Adweek summed up the crossroads well: “Is less more, or is more, actually just more?!” As we often tell clients: avoid the slop. Don’t serve up the beige buffet of algorithm-chasing content. But stay out of the feed entirely, and you risk irrelevance. The challenge: show up without selling out.
Along the Croisette, one theme echoed loud and clear from CMOs to CXOs: emotional connection can’t be sacrificed for functionality. That means creative leaders need a delicate balance of EQ + IQ + AQ (adaptive intelligence, another buzzword that I’ve heard on loop) to guide teams through the collision of automation, emotion and fragmentation.
Cannes sessions spotlighted creators not just as media extensions but as cultural conduits. MVP campaigns are emerging from co-creation, community-first planning and influencer intimacy over transactional placements. And one thing’s clear: if your brand isn’t contributing to culture, it’s eroding its credibility quickly. The gut check to make sure brands are culturally aligned is essential.
We’re not surprised. These themes mirror our own “Beyond the Basket” report, which explored Gen Z’s emotionally charged, non-linear path to purchase. They don’t want brands to speak louder. They want brands to listen to and reflect their needs.
So, how do you show up with credibility? What I’ve heard here reinforced a year’s worth of conversations leading into Cannes:
🛍️ Stop separating comms from commerce. Retail and reputation now share the same story arc.
✍️ Ditch the overly scripted. The best work is fun with the brand—not at its expense.
🔄 Don’t chase culture. Be in conversation with it. Culture isn’t a trend. It’s how trust is built.
People are anxious, overwhelmed and craving meaning. They’re not just looking for storytelling. They want emotional support and substance that can immediately define a brand. The most successful brands aren’t the loudest. They’re the most attuned.
Purpose hasn’t disappeared. It’s evolved. I’m happy to hear a doubling down on levity where humor can do heavy lifting, soften stigma, amplify advocacy and remind us we’re human. Even AI works better with a wink.
The vibe this year? Hope shot through with hesitation. But the direction is clear: stay in motion, stay in culture and keep your work emotionally attuned. Because in today’s economy of attention and emotion, belief is the real ROI. And culture is how you earn it.
Lauren Winter is FleishmanHillard’s global managing director of consumer culture and the head of brand marketing for EMEA.
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