With Cannes Lions 2025 underway this week, creators are showing up in a bigger way than years prior — through expansion of the creator awards track to a larger focus on content and brand campaigns.
AI might have been all the hype this year, but with more acquisition talks in the creator space and the potential of scaling creator investments using AI integrations, more holding companies and marketers are watching the latest creator innovations and partnerships. Those that don’t have a creator growth strategy only risk falling behind.
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This year, Open Influence spoke at the Brand Innovators Beach as creator agencies continue strengthening their role at Cannes. Eddie Simon, VP of sales and partnership, attended for the first time and was eager to hear about how other players are applying AI, from vetting creators to boosting performance.
“I expect AI, creative strategy and agency M&A to dominate the conversation,” Simon said. “At Open Influence, we’re exploring how AI can optimize creator selection and elevate performance by identifying visual cues and creator nuances to lead performance at scale. I’m looking forward to seeing how other players are turning AI into a value driver, not just hype.”
Creator and Brand Presence
Jamie Gutfreund, founder of creator consultancy Creator Vision, compares the growing creator interest to previous festivals when adtech platforms began “taking over” Cannes with a bigger influence. This year, creator commerce platforms like LTK to social media service Linktree are making a greater presence at the industry event, Gutfreund added.
“You’re going to have a ton more creators running around,” she said. “[There is] more holding company involvement. Last year, the creator spaces … were cute, but I am expecting this one to be bigger.”
On Wednesday, Gutfreund will also lead a session about brand love and trust alongside creator and Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher on Stagwell’s Sport Beach. Other athletes on deck? Candace Parker, Jordan Chiles, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe and Carmelo Anthony.
“[Maher’s community] listens when she takes a stand or backs a brand because they know she means it,” Gutfreund added.
Individual Creator Spotlight
Wednesday night will also include the Social and Creator Lions awards ceremony, where the top creator work will get recognized. This year, award categories include five new subcategories: creator collaboration, creator-led content strategy, community building, cross-platform storytelling, excellence in craft.
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“Brands aren’t just sending out briefs, they’re inviting partners to the table to curate their overall marketing structure,” Simon said. “I expect we’ll see more brand leaders recognize their partners’ creative contributions celebrating the awards they’re winning and the growth they’re driving.”
The shift seems to be an effort to reflect a “diversity of creator work” and emphasize the individual creator, noted Jasmine Enberg, eMarketer analyst. “By expanding and evolving the creator track and award categories this year, Cannes Lions is deepening its ties to the creator economy and has the opportunity to reshape the narrative of creator work among ad industry executives who still dismiss or fear it.”
This marks the second year Cannes established its dedicated creator track to highlight content creators and influencers, and marketers are finding more ways than ever to directly learn from creators and their growing businesses.
Yusuf Mehdi, EVP, consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, added this takeaway after meeting with creators including Katie Austin and Colin and Samir at the Microsoft beach house: “A new era is taking shape one where creators are redefining what it means to build, influence, and lead,” Mehdi wrote.
From creative work accelerated by AI to building niche audiences, Mehdi recapped the kind of ways creators are growing their media businesses and trust with their followers, as well as getting energized by AI tools.
Diving Into Brand Strategies: Search, Monetization, and M&A
Let’s not forget the deals and product announcements coming out of Cannes. The creator momentum in the industry has only been gaining traction as acquisition activity picks up.
“On the agency side, the latest wave of holdco acquisitions and private equity investment prove influencer marketing is having another moment,” Simon added. “But what’s the impact of consolidation on clients and service models? Yes, the beach activations will be loud, but I’m more interested in what brands are saying quietly. What’s working? What’s not? Where do clients truly sit in the new hierarchy of agency ownership?”
But it’s not just the agencies making a move in the creator economy — big brands from Unilever are making a major investment in influencer marketing and tech giants like Meta’s WhatsApp is now introducing creator monetization tools, like sponsored search and paid subscriptions for its channels.
As Erin Lyden, VP of social-first at business agency Gale, mentioned, more brands are leaning into AI in their creator marketing and considering the searchability of their social media content.
“We’re seeing that SEO is now really driving influencer content in a way that it hasn’t before,” Lyden posted.
YouTube’s Dominance
On site, Cannes will again feature its second Official Creators Rooftop at the Palais, a collaborative hub where various partners can connect with creators. Sponsors this year include everyone from YouTube to Adobe, along with speakers including Rare Beauty, Mattel and Duolingo.
Amazon, Google and Uber are among those leading creator discussions with brands, focusing on influencer strategies, content ownership, retail media and creator communities. Notable creators like Kai Cenat, Amelia Dimz and Alix Earle are also making appearances throughout the week.
It comes as no surprise that massive platforms like YouTube and Meta will continue to invest in creator partnerships. As digital marketer Aaron Levy at paid search management platform Optmyzer pointed out, Google sees how “UGC or creator content (almost) always beats out company-created content.”
That’s why YouTube introduced Open Call, a feature for its Creator Partnerships Hub that allows advertisers to post a campaign brief to get pitches from YouTube creators.
“Open Call didn’t launch with fanfare, but for those of us deep in performance marketing, it’s the kind of shift worth noting,” added Frederick Vallaeys, CEO of Optmyzr. “For the first time, creator content is being pulled directly into the core of how we plan, activate, and measure campaigns.”
