As Seen at Cannes Lions: To Break Through, You Have to Earn It

In a time of uncertainty and saturation, attention isn’t given. It’s earned through simplicity, creative craft and AI grounded in reality.

You could feel it in every conversation. The C-suite under pressure. Creators calling for accountability. Agencies asked to solve faster, smarter, more intentionally. What cut through in the award winners and on the stages was a clear focus driven by data and human insight. What earned attention never felt like trend-chasing. It was about clarity and credibility, driven by a truth that set creative teams loose. For all the talk about AI and cultural disruption, what stood out was that brands want to move with confidence through complexity. And in a year defined by volatility, that confidence is earned, not bought.

Now that Cannes Lions is in the rearview mirror, here’s what’s clear to me:

Earned attention is the new baseline.
“E” has, at times, felt like a silent vowel in the traditional PESO model. But that’s changing fast. As generative platforms reshape how brands are surfaced, summarized and shared, it’s earned media that’s proving to be one of the most powerful drivers of visibility. Credible coverage doesn’t just build trust. It improves discoverability. And in a world increasingly shaped by GEO (generative engine optimization), earned media helps brands control not just if they show up, but how they show up. When sharp campaigns are celebrated by trusted voices, they generate stronger engagement and deeper response. That’s earned attention you can’t buy and it’s what increasingly separates noise from positive reputational impact.

Creativity without credibility doesn’t travel.
Culture can’t be expected to resonate when it’s bolted onto a campaign at the last minute. The best work at Cannes was in conversation with the cultural moment, often spoken by creators serving as constant partners instead of rented voices. They proved essential to telling a brand story in a genuine way and were worth far more to campaigns than the amplification they brought to the table. Creators helped build these programs from the inside, developing a community voice and a deeper connection to cultural truths.

Simplicity and a return to IRL wins.
The boldest campaigns were the sharpest ones, not the biggest. Simple ideas that felt personal and true. Smart executions that scaled across channels and continents because they tapped into universal truths, united communities and delivered considered solutions. This year, many of those executions signaled something deeper: digital reach alone is no longer enough to break through. Many celebrated campaigns reintroduced physicality into the brand experience: tactile moments, IRL activations and shared cultural touchpoints that audiences could feel. There’s a pull back toward the tangible and when simplicity meets sensory, the connection was stronger.

AI is already shifting expectations.
The conversation around AI has quickly evolved from “what’s possible” to “what’s useful.” Less wow, more right now. CMOs and CCOs demand tools that move creative ideas forward with speed and clarity and that introduce infrastructure that fits with their own creative workflows. That reinforces the path we’re on, building tools shaped by the lived professional experience of communicators and grounded in human context.

Precision beats prediction.
Everyone is navigating the same uncertainty. What matters is how you respond. The work that stood out didn’t dance around complexity. It met it head-on by reframing risk, cutting through noise and moving audiences with purpose.

Cannes reminded us: this isn’t just the age of creativity. It’s the age of earned attention. And in a time when breaking through is fragile, attention is fragmented and AI is rewriting the rules, the brands that lead will be the ones who stop talking at people and start showing up for them with bold ideas grounded in truths that meet this uncertain moment.

That’s what our craft makes possible. That’s what we’re here to build.

More Cannes Takeaways: Creativity in the Age of Uncertainty | How Cultural Connections Build Brand Credibility | What Will You Build With Creators? | What Cannes Revealed About AI

J.J. Carter is President and Chief Executive Officer of FleishmanHillard.