The last time I attended the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was about nine years ago. So, this year, I’m looking forward to taking a breath to learn from some of the best minds in our industry.
Approaching this year’s festival, have you stopped to think of how far the industry has come? In 2023, at the Microsoft Beach House (imagined and designed with generative AI) there were conversations about the huge fundamental shift of AI and how it is altering how people live their lives. This is a shift as big as the internet, mobile devices and the cloud.
Generative AI had just exploded onto the scene, and the conversations were more about its potential. Early users had already begun to let AI take over some time-consuming, least-favorite tasks, which gave them more time for strategic work. Others were imagining the future.
A year ago, the future held questions like: How will marketers use AI to drive growth, track ROI and build rich brand experiences with audiences wherever they are shopping, playing, bingeing and exploring? How is this done responsibly?
From experimentation to business transformation
Cannes 2023 was about imagination and possibilities. Today, the conversations are about real transformation happening at every company, large and small. Microsoft and LinkedIn just released the “2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report,” an incredible testament to what has happened not just in the last year but in the last six months. AI is now a daily part of productivity, a time saver, an exciting tool for creativity, and a companion, tackling the mundane stuff and freeing you up for the work only humans can do.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the report’s findings:
- 90% of users say AI is a timesaver
- 75% of global works use generative AI (this has doubled in the last six months)
- 46% of people started using generative AI less than six months ago
The questions asked in 2023 are the challenges faced now. According to the report, leaders agree that AI is a “business imperative,” but wonder about a plan, a vision, the bottom line and how to take action when using AI is inevitable.
5 conversations for a path forward
The integration of generative AI isn’t just about using new technology; it represents a profound shift in how marketers approach creativity and efficiency in advertising. Your creativity becomes limitless when you apply AI-powered tools to your ad strategy and campaigns.
AI is not creative. You are. So, let’s have new conversations about the future.
The use of generative AI in your marketing: As a marketing leader, I am constantly evaluating how to both experiment and scale, aligned to Microsoft’s Responsible AI Standard, and encouraging my team to use generative AI in our daily marketing activities to serve as a model for our clients and partners. Because the technology is changing so quickly, the learning curve is steep. The team tracks progress in content creation, strategy, translations and more. Plus, my team has the benefit of sitting on the inside of a company whose investment in AI spans the entire organization.
How are you using generative AI in your marketing?
The use of generative AI for your people and teams: As with most leaders, I’m constantly challenged with the tension of short-term results and laying the groundwork for a long-term vision. Marketers all face the challenge of doing more with less, but I don’t like to see it that way. Flip the script. Not: More with less, instead: fewer, better.
For the record, I believe that generative AI will not replace marketers, but instead will allow the best of their creative selves to flourish. It’s a tool that can synthesize meeting notes and streamline repeatable activities, giving back time for creative brainstorms and product development.
How do you solve workflow and burnout with generative AI?
Break through to an ever-discerning consumer: I predict the next few years will be defined by interactive, rich formats turning passive experiences into active experiences, and so marketers must create deeply personal ads that are relevant and engaging for consumers. While the promise of digital has always been to deliver relevance and personalization, generative AI now dramatically accelerates our ability to fulfill this promise.
The likelihood of getting in front of this consumer is lower, but due to that accelerated journey, conversion likelihood is much, much higher.
How do you break through to informed, value-driven, discerning consumers?
New strategies help to understand and reach high-quality audiences: Media fragmentation is not a new concept, but it sure does seem like reaching high-quality audiences, easily, is harder. There are more platforms, hyper-niches and walled gardens than ever before. The right advertising stack in this era of AI can cut through the noise and access the most unique set of audiences and ad experiences in the industry—connected across all places people watch, play, search, shop, game and do.
Microsoft Advertising has a vision to build toward an all-in-one: a strategic, connected buy that spans search, display, video and CTV. It’s a connected platform that brings powerful intent and rich data from search into the scale of CTV, which enhances brand visibility and ensures that advertisements are served to the most relevant audiences.
How are you reaching high-quality audiences across channels and formats?
Fitting purpose into your marketing: The best brands are welcomed into people’s lives by earning their trust, being authentic about shared values and ensuring inclusive customer touchpoints. This is what Microsoft Advertising calls Marketing with Purpose and it has found through much research that earned trust does two things: drives business results and builds and deepens relationships with customers.
Today’s consumers will connect with, and be loyal to, the brands that show up with purpose, authenticity and transparency. Personal information? Protected. How is their data being used? Take a stand on social issues and support ethical practices. At the Microsoft Beach House this year, Microsoft Advertising will be exploring topics ranging from inclusive prompt engineering to privacy-first personalization.
How do you earn and re-earn the trust of consumers?
Conversations at Cannes
Cannes promises to be a wonderful in-person gathering and a wondrous metaphor for the transformation towards greater creativity, integration and responsibility. Generative AI will be a through-line at the Microsoft Beach House, for both creativity and productivity, with sessions ranging from equity to agencies. Let’s have these conversations and step closer to the future.
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With over 20 years of experience as a marketing executive in global, high-growth technology companies, Jennifer Kattula is a proven builder of brands, strategies, teams and people. She is currently the GM and CMO Microsoft Advertising, where she is focused on transforming from a search business to a powerful suite of end-to-end advertising solutions helping advertisers and publishers get the results they need to grow while tapping into new innovations like generative AI.
