What happens when you stop listening to individual opinions, and start looking for patterns?
Over six special Cannes Lions episodes, Nick Morgan and Paul Blackburn spoke with 19 senior leaders from across retailers, publishers, brands, agencies and technology companies.
Each conversation explored a different challenge, different priorities, and different perspectives. But when viewed together, something much bigger emerged.
The same themes kept resurfacing.
In this special Rewind episode, Nick and Paul distil those conversations into five industry-wide signals shaping the future of commerce media – from the resurgence of creativity and the evolution of AI, through to connected ecosystems, measurable business outcomes and the industry's growing maturity.
Whether you've followed the entire Cannes series or you're joining for the first time, this episode connects the dots between the conversations – and reveals where commerce media is heading next.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
Why creativity is becoming more valuable – not less
As AI lowers the barrier to content creation, competitive advantage is shifting towards original thinking, trusted environments and memorable brand experiences.
Stevie Antonioni, Nick Titmus & Natasha Wallace explore what that means for brands – and why creativity, trust and authentic experiences will be harder than ever to replicate.
Why business outcomes have overtaken media metrics
The conversation has moved beyond impressions and clicks towards incrementality, decisioning, measurement and genuine commercial performance.
Regina Ye, Anna Checa Molins, Conor McKenna & Alice Anson discuss the metrics that now matter most, and how brands can better connect media investment to commercial results.
Why AI has quietly become infrastructure
Rather than debating AI itself, industry leaders are focused on how it enables better workflows, smarter decision-making and entirely new customer experiences.
Alex Springer, Andreas Reiffen, Kunal Nagpal, Lou Barrett & Jessica Gilby unpack how that shift is changing everything from discovery and operations to the future of commerce.
Why connected ecosystems are replacing isolated channels
Consumers don't experience brands in silos — and neither should commerce. Success increasingly depends on connecting retailers, publishers, platforms and media into seamless customer journeys.
Amie Owen, James Taylor & Cadi Jones examine what's required to build those connected ecosystems, and why interoperability is becoming a competitive advantage.
Why commerce media has entered its next chapter
The debate is no longer whether commerce media matters. It's how organisations build scalable operating models, connected experiences and measurable growth.
Emma Newman, Babs Kehinde, Colin Lewis & Evan Shapiro share where they see the next wave of opportunity emerging—and how commerce is expanding beyond traditional retail environments.
Why the strongest industry signals rarely come from one conversation
When multiple leaders with different priorities independently arrive at similar conclusions, the patterns become difficult to ignore—and far more valuable than any single prediction.
Nick Morgan & Paul Blackburn bring those themes together, connecting the biggest ideas and revealing what they mean for the future of the industry.
Soundbites to listen out for:
On Creativity: Brand Still Matters (Natasha Wallace)
"Distinct brand assets. DBAs really matter... Consumer consensus really matters for LLMs. How do you get people talking about your brand and your product in environments like YouTube, Reddit and social forums? … There's all of these places models go to to get information, and they're trying to find the best recommendation.”
On Business Outcomes: What AI Unlocks (Conor Mckenna)
“Agentic is overused. The opportunity is on the decisioning side. What AI starts to unlock is more of the spectrum of decisions that used to be static, to be made more in real time. Efficiency is table stakes. Effectiveness is where you can differentiate.”
On AI: The Shift in Industry Adoption (Kunal Nagpal)
"[The industry is] no longer talking about the bogeymen of AI. They're actually talking about embracing it, 'Show me how you'll help me cross the bridge between all that promise and what I'm unable to do myself.' "
On Ecosystems: Consumers Don't Shop in Silos (Amie Owen)
“A lot of retailers wanted their own ecosystems for a very long time. But the challenge is that the consumer shops, I think, seven places in a given day. So that's not aligning to what reality is. So how do you spread the wealth and create that total ecosystem and connect brand to retail?”
On Commerce Media: The Convergence of Commerce Across Screens (Evan Shapiro)
“The consumer and the advertiser both want better outcomes right now. They want to be able to connect what they find on vertical to the thing they watch on horizontal. … The advertiser wants the audiences built across those experiences, and they want the outcomes measured. So whoever solves that wins.”
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