Sunset on the Croisette
What are you walking away with?
It is dusk on the last day at Cannes and the sky is on fire. A ruby red haze paints the rapidly dismantling beaches while a battalion of high-level operators exhale for the first time in 4 days. They spent the past week balancing the contradictory demands of VVIPs while you and your many wristbands sampled from a feast of never-ending platitudes.
AI will augment, not replace, creativity.
The creator economy is here to stay.
Agentic AI is the next frontier for marketing.
Storytelling matters more than ever.
Brands need to be bold and take risks.
It was definitely a feast but did it fill you up?
PROVOCATION OF THE WEEK
Don’t be boring back home.
Be careful. You are about to take the long flight home, and there is something about the 2nd mid-flight transatlantic cocktail that inspires many of us to post.
You’re better than that.
You are sitting at the center of a historical technological, cultural, and creative transition that is making all of us look foolish. The dumbest and least interesting of us are the ones trying to force a definition onto a moving target. Think about this before you start drafting.
In this phase, the questions are much more interesting than the platitudes. They are scary, they are dangerous, and if you answer them, you expose yourself to being wrong.
Which roles on your creative team would you actually cut first if AI made it possible?
What would your brand do if creator churn doubled tomorrow?
If agents do the agency work, who at your company gets paid less next year?
Last campaign you ran — what mattered more, the story or the spend?
Name the last bold idea your org killed, and who killed it.
These questions are hard. They force you to confront the ambiguities and uncertainties of this moment.
Or, and trust me on this, you could write another post-Cannes summary post. Make it sound like all the rest that will fill up your feed. I can even help you with the first sentence:
Back from another Cannes! I came, I saw, I automated.
What’s Next
If you have thoughts, feedback, or a perspective worth sharing, reach out: chmiel@ondiscourse.com. You might see your reaction in next week’s edition.
ON_Member Events
ON_Discourse Group Chat: Cannes Debrief
Thursday, July 2 11am-12pm
Zoom
Members will share their takeaways from the week.
Start a group chat with Doma
Do you want to stress test your post-Cannes LinkedIn article with some friends, colleagues, and Doma? You can now start a group chat with Doma and talk through all of your drafts, ideas, and provocations. Use some of the questions listed above to spark the conversation and overcome the platitudes.