Cannes Lions 2025 themes included the maturing of commerce media, the rise of shoppable content, AI’s role in scaling it, and the ongoing challenge of standardising measurement and KPIs.
Jul 14, 2025
Time flies when you’re sipping rosé on a yacht, which is why Vudoo’s visit to the Croisette for Cannes Lions 2025 felt like the blink of an eye. The “Oscars of advertising” wasn’t just fun in the sun – the premier global marketing creativity festival maps out what the industry needs to do next.
Our all-star team were on the ground, writing up the crib notes of the key themes: the maturing of commerce media, the rise of shoppable content, AI’s role in scaling it, and the ongoing challenge of standardising measurement and KPIs.
Last year, retail media dominated the scene while the more holistic commerce media was a relative blip on the horizon. Fast forward to 2025, and commerce media has become the new standard for success. Our own research shows it. Its rapid maturity is largely thanks to new technologies plus untapped online and offline channels.
Throughout the week, major announcements demonstrated leading brands across all sectors leaning into commerce media to drive outcomes. From Marriott International doubling down on their Riott Media Network across 9500 sites to Instacart and Pinterest leveraging first party data in shoppable ads, the opportunities are abundant. Which begs the question….
There was plenty of chatter around shoppable formats within the broader commerce media mix, but one thing stood out: there’s still a gap between knowing what shoppable content is and actually making content shoppable. The execution gap is what’s currently separating the wheat from the chaff.
Content with interactive features shouldn’t be conflated with impact because what’s the point if they don’t have the means to convert? Brands need to stop treating commerce media as a bolt-on and start building content journeys with commerce baked in. They need to shift from “ads that entertain” to content that converts. The sentiment across sessions was that shoppable content is no longer a novelty – it’s a necessity.
As a result, a new mindset emerged from Cannes: content as the storefront. A mindset driven by culture, enabled by tech, and measured by outcomes. As one session put it: “Shoppable design must connect culture with commerce using insights.”
We couldn’t help but notice that’s exactly where Vudoo comes in.
As expected, AI talk was everywhere, but the conversations at Cannes focused less on the novelty and more on how the industry can actually integrate it into everyday operations.
AI is fairly ingrained in consumer life via LLM chatbots, search engines, and social media platforms. For advertisers, attention is now shifting to how they can use AI to enhance their ways of working, from campaign automation to consumer experience personalisation, and creative enhancement.
For the optimistic marketer, it’s a clear reinforcement that creativity is returning to the forefront of advertising. As our Chief of Strategy Officer Paul Blackburn puts it, “AI is the engine, but creativity and retail connectivity are the fuel.”
It was no surprise then that Cannes was the launchpad for new AI-driven creative tools: : TikTok unveiled their Symphony Assistant developed in partnership with WPP Open, while Meta announced new genAI features for its Advantage+ ad platform. From voice activation to video generation, advertisers are preparing for expanding audiences for consumer content experiences.
In a radical session, Retail Media Therapy Live: The Celebrity Deathmatch Edition, featuring Kiri Masters, Andrew Lipsman, and Colin Lewis, posed the question “Is ROAS all BS?”
The long and short of it boils down to ROAS not providing the full picture of performance. With fragmented channels and shifting consumer behaviour, painting a clear picture of ad performance proves challenging. As retailers continue using different platforms, metrics, and definitions of success, this quandary will only drag on.
Instead, brands are turning to incrementality and new user penetration as more meaningful KPIs in the quest to achieve closed-loop attribution. IAB has taken initial steps towards standardisation, and the industry has floated AI as the magic wand to unify data, attribution, and outcomes. But perhaps the answer is simpler than it seems: ad formats and technology that enable transactions and attributes sales data directly back to the ad. In other words, shoppable content and ads.
Between yacht hopping, rose sipping, and a DJ set by Diplo at Motel Yahoo, Cannes Lions 2025 crystallised one clear, key concept: shoppable content and commerce media are no longer fringe ideas – they’re central to the future of advertising.
While performance remains key, creativity is reclaiming its place at the table. The real conversation now is how to merge storytelling with measurable outcomes. It’s no longer brand or performance – it’s both.
The winners won’t be the ones making the loudest claims. They’ll be the ones who can prove performance, scale across platforms, and make commerce easy to activate and measure.
Until next year, Cannes!
“Cannes has shifted from ‘Don Draper’ creative indulgence to a commerce-driven showcase. Still creative, but now commercialised.” Paul Blackburn, Chief Strategy Officer, Vudoo
“Marketing directors are going to need to understand ad tech.” Stijn Demeersseman to Colin Lewis, via Kiri Masters.
“This industry was built on creativity, and that’s the game that you can win, creative people solving problems with original thinking.” Tor Myhren, VP of Marketing Communications, Apple