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The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has long been a celebration of originality and there has been increasing recognition that data is not just a supporting tool but a dynamic driver of creativity. Cannes brings together all facets of the media ecosystem — from brands and agencies to platforms and tech providers — to explore how data, technology, advertising and communications are fuelling innovation and imagination.
During the 2025 Festival, Luz Corona, U.S. editor, Campaign, sat down with Jamie Seltzer, global chief data and technology officer, Havas Media Network, to discuss how data and tech are driving creativity; and with Joanna Lawrence, global chief strategy officer, Havas Media Network, for a behind-the-scenes look at the trends and insights shaping media creativity.
The convergence of data, tech and creativity
“The evolution of the industry has put data at the heart of creativity,” Seltzer said. “A creative insight comes from human behaviour, something we learn about people, what they're interested in, how they're behaving and what kind of actions we want them to take and, ultimately, that comes from information.”
Brands are leveraging first- and third-party data to generate insights in unexpected ways, including weather data for allergies, the UV index for sunscreen protection, connected car data for safety and even pregnant women’s desire to go out for bottled water. “It doesn't have to be straightforward in order to get the results you're looking for,” she explained. “It could almost be an initial thought starter, an inspiration, a creativity driver.”
AI has become an essential part of the data conversation as it allows brands to do more. It’s important to “balance the experience we want to drive for consumers, the results we want to drive for our brands and the ethics, security and privacy we want to make sure that we respect,” Seltzer said.
Havas’ Converged.AI strategy and operating system, which the group accelerated at Cannes this year with a fully AI-powered product suite and next-gen tools, is helping today's marketers meet their expanded responsibilities by providing cross-functional, fully integrated communications solutions. “We're going to push the boundaries of where we can leverage data and use that for truly creative work not just in the assets but also in the context and the media experience,” she emphasized.
The future of media creativity
As a media juror at Cannes, Lawrence shared a glimpse of how today’s most innovative media work is being recognized. “Our guiding light was ‘What is the work we should reward, where media is at the centre of the creativity in the work rather than a distribution channel for a wonderful creative concept?’” she said.
Media is no longer just about reach but about platform fluency, creativity and data-driven storytelling. “We're at a real inflection point,” Lawrence said. “How do we hack the platforms to help them to tell our brand stories better? How do we genuinely apply data in more creative ways to get to breakthrough solutions we haven't seen before?”
Brands today have to truly understand consumer media consumption. For example, Vaseline uncovered customer use cases on social media and then created content around some safe, innovative ways to use its product. “Properly take the time to understand how people consume different types of media, rather than start with your own idea and then figure out how to push out across channels,” she advised.
Collaboration — similar to how Converged.AI bridges creativity, media, production and technology — is key to identifying behaviours and developing better solutions. “If we default to the standard off-the-shelf solutions, that can work from an efficiency point of view but it's often not what's going to get us to that breakthrough creativity,” Lawrence said. Instead, “understand the things clients are trying to develop, or they can get access to in terms of user behaviour data, and then think about how to experiment and push the boundaries.”
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