If Cannes Lions is good at anything, it's generating opinions. Everyone leaves with a different list of takeaways. This year, though, many of them pointed in the same direction.
The verdict? Creator marketing has grown up. The days of chasing the biggest creator in the room are giving way to understanding who has earned trust inside the communities brands want to reach.
The RAD Amplify team spent the week meeting with brands, partners, creators, and industry leaders while our audience intelligence platform analyzed the communities driving conversations around Cannes. What we heard on the ground matched what we were seeing in the data.
Communities Are Changing The Conversation
As our platform analyzed the conversations surrounding Cannes, two audience segments stood out: Creative Power Players and Data-Driven Disruptors.
At first glance, they couldn't look more different. Creative Power Players are focused on cultural influence, bold ideas, and building brands people remember. Data-Driven Disruptors approach marketing through experimentation, measurement, and performance.
They come at marketing from different angles, but they arrive at the same place. Creative leaders want creators with genuine cultural credibility. Performance marketers want creators whose audiences can demonstrably drive business outcomes. Both paths lead away from broad influencer lists and toward the same destination: communities built on trust.
RAD Amplify COO Tom Costello saw that shift firsthand. "There were creators everywhere you looked," he said. "Brands are focused on building relationships with these community voices, but the creator world is niche and fragmented by design. The goal isn't to appeal to everyone."
The creator has always been visible. What's becoming more valuable is understanding why people trust them in the first place.
Comments We Keep Coming Back To
Some of the most interesting observations from the week reinforced the same themes.
Davang Shah, VP of Marketing, LinkedIn
"The most valuable currency in the world right now is trust."
Pamela Brown, Head of Talent Partnerships and Experimental Marketing, Target
"I operate in my authenticity unapologetically. So my expectation is that whomever I'm working with should do the same...You want people to feel seen and heard and be exactly who they are."
Olly Lewis, Chief Commercial Officer, StudioB
"There hasn't been a panel or session that I've seen this week that hasn't come back to creators — and that really says something."
Rick Song, CEO, RAD Amplify
"Creators crashed the Croisette more than ever, reinforcing how central they've become to culture."
Creator marketing is everywhere. The conversation has moved well beyond simply working with creators. It's becoming less about reach and more about trust, less about broadcasting to everyone and more about earning credibility within the communities that matter.
Growth Changes The Rules
As the creator economy expands, so does the complexity of finding the right partners, communities, and strategies.
John King, SVP and Head of Marketing at RAD Amplify, saw the same shift throughout the week. Creator marketing is no longer operating alongside marketing — it has become part of it. Discovery increasingly happens through trusted voices, while the conversations creators spark continue shaping how audiences discover brands and make purchase decisions.
Our platform saw it too. Many of the conversations surrounding Cannes focused not just on creative inspiration, but on understanding audiences, trusted communities, and what makes creator partnerships successful before a campaign even begins.
That's exactly why audience understanding has become so important. As the creator economy grows more complex, knowing who influences a community is becoming just as valuable as knowing who has the largest audience.
Cannes Is Still About People
For all the discussion around AI, measurement, and the future of creator marketing, one thing hasn't changed.
"My Cannes highlight this year had nothing to do with advertising," said Rick Song. "Ultimately, the week is about connecting with old friends, new clients, chance meetings, and the amazing forums that bring us together."
That might be the biggest takeaway from Cannes this year. The technology will keep evolving. Platforms will change. The creator economy will continue to mature. But the strongest brands will still be the ones that understand people, build trust, and show up in the communities where relationships already exist.
