At this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the excitement wasn’t about tacky campaigns or prizes about AI in marketing. At the CMO Insider Breakfast, presented by Business Insider, leading marketing executives sent one message loud and clear: AI is not a silver bullet. It’s a creative collaborator.
Whether it’s generating personalized content, analyzing trends, or scaling campaigns, AI is powerful, but without human imagination and brand voice, it falls flat.
“If you’re not experimenting with AI now, you’ll be irrelevant by 2026.” – Jill Kramer, CMO, Accenture.
Check this out to know more.
Key Takeaways: How CMOs Are Using AI in 2025
Here’s what today’s most forward-thinking marketers are doing:
- Personalized content at scale using generative tools
- AI-assisted visuals and ad copy tailored to audience segments
- Real-time campaign feedback to optimize campaigns on the fly
- Brand-mission-faithful AI that adheres to the tone of voice
But overall, executives stressed: don’t automate your soul away.
“AI can write copy. But it can’t replace emotional insight. That’s still our job.” – Panelist, Global Tech Brand.
The Big Message of CMOs: Data Alone Doesn’t Drive Emotion
With AI, data can be analyzed in seconds, but data alone doesn’t evoke emotion. That’s the marketer’s role. Speakers cautioned about what they termed an “imagination gap” – when automation supplants creativity rather than augmenting it.
CMOs demanded:
- Smarter adoption of AI, informed by brand purpose
- Creative fortitude, supported by real-time insights
- Human-driven strategy, where AI is an enabler, not a crutch
Ethical Marketing in the Age of AI: A CMOs Imperative
Trust and transparency are growing issues. As AI becomes increasingly central to the marketing mix, leaders are focusing on:
- Bias-free content creation
- Transparent AI tagging
- Responsible use of data
Some have even established internal AI ethics groups to oversee how tools get used in campaigns.
“Your AI is just as good as your values. Customers will hold us to account.”
Recommended: Where Are CMOs Spending in 2025? Why Every Marketing Leader Needs This Gartner CMO Spend Data Now
4 Quick Tips for Marketers Embracing AI Today
Start small, move quickly – Leverage pilots to experiment and validate what works.
Train your people – AI fluency is a necessary skill.
Be on-brand – Even in an automated world, your voice should never sound artificial.
Create guardrails – Ethics and controls can’t be an afterthought.
Why This Matters Beyond Cannes For CMOs
Cannes Lions 2025 demonstrates that AI marketing is no longer a choice, but creativity, ethics, and strategy are still at the helm. Brands embracing AI as a way to augment human ideas, and not substitute for them, will dictate the future of marketing.
So the actual question is: Are you letting AI power your campaigns, or are you continuing to be at the helm?
FAQs
1. What’s the principal marketing takeaway from Cannes 2025?
CMOs urged the combination of AI-powered data with creative storytelling to tell emotional, effective marketing.
2. What are marketers doing with AI today?
Brands are applying AI for content creation, personalization, real-time tweaking, and trend forecasting.
3. Will AI displace creative teams?
No. AI aids creativity it doesn’t substitute human insight and emotional intelligence behind great campaigns.
4. Is there an ethics issue with AI marketing?
Yes. CMOs are placing high value on detecting bias, transparency, and ethical content creation to keep trust.
5. How do marketers prepare for an AI-centric future?
Begin experimenting with tools today, educate your teams, and create ethical guardrails to ensure long-term success.
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