During the second day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a session brought together industry leaders to discuss what the future holds for brands, creativity and technology.

The panellists included Hiroyuki Yokoi, associate director - data science, Accenture Song; Laura Nestler, executive VP - community, Reddit; and Rob Van Griensven, global marketing transformation director, Heineken.

Each speaker on the panel shared their perspective during the session.

Hiroyuki Yokoi, associate director - data science, Accenture Song:

“Creativity is the future. It comes from intuition, gut feeling and sense of value. Data doesn’t understand the emotions of human beings. There are two ways of using AI. One is recognition, which is good for routines. But if one goes beyond the routines, rather than us using AI, it will use us. And that becomes dangerous, especially in the field of creativity. So, the solution is augmentation. We can amplify our ideas by using AI.  AI can be your partner and help understand what you can’t and drive the future.”

Laura Nestler, executive VP - community, Reddit:

“The brands that are going to succeed in the future are going to be brands that optimise for human perspective and trust. We have never had access to more information, and we have never trusted it less. That’s because we are not looking for a factual human answer, but we are looking for an actual human perspective. What we are going to see over the next 18 months is that as everything online becomes automated, sanitised and manicured, authentic perspectives are going to become the premium. Transactions today are everywhere. What’s becoming increasingly scarce is authentic human connection.”

“Social media is a stage built for performance. There's a performer, a spotlight, and an audience. It rewards people based on their aesthetics and the attention they can seek. That's how it's built. There's nothing wrong with this. People are literally there to make money. The thing that’s coming in the future is brands becoming citizens and not billboards. One cannot have AI without human intelligence. The brands that are going to win in the next decade are not going to have to outspend their competitors, but they will have to out-understand them”

Rob Van Griensven, global marketing transformation director, Heineken:

“My prediction for the next 18 months is that art will matter more, science will get sharper and courage will have advantage. The future is not about more content; actually, it is about less content, because volume is not substituting real craft. Science will not get sharper because we are asking ourselves new questions. But because I think a lot of the historic truth is still super, super valuable. The future, technology, data, and AI will give us the opportunity to craft, use and leverage better answers, and that should be in the service of art and creativity. The goal is not to get more data and metrics or a higher number of insights. It is to use it and to apply it to more effective work. Along with art and science, you need courage. Courage is the human factor that might define the best way of how you combine art and science. That is especially relevant now, because it's easier than ever to make work that is polished, optimised, efficient, super familiar, and very safe. We know that people almost can't distinguish whether it's AI or real. You need the courage to stand out from the crowd. Go beyond the obvious answer, beyond the first output after the first prompt, beyond a categoric invention, or a benchmark, or whatever the system that you use gives back. Challenge yourself, your colleagues, and your partners. Advertising will change, but the fundamentals of that might really stay the same. It's about credible human truth, brand meaning, cultural relevance, and the courage to stand out to be distinctive. Looking into the future, the brands that win will be those that combine science, art, and courage, in a way that really treats it as a competitive advantage.”