What Cannes Lions 2026 Revealed About the Future of Creator Marketing

Insights from Cannes Lions 2026 on the evolving creator marketing landscape, emphasizing employee influencers, AI, and creator-brand partnerships.

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Key Takeaways

Influencers now include employees and executives, broadening marketing opportunities.
AI tools are transforming creator marketing strategies and content creation.
Creator-brand relationships are evolving into long-term partnerships with direct communication.
Nano and micro influencers are gaining prominence due to engagement over follower count.
Creator economy is recognized as a critical and mature part of the marketing ecosystem.

What the video covers

The definition of influencers is expanding beyond traditional social media creators to include employees, executives, and company insiders.
Cannes Lions 2026 saw a significant increase in creator economy presence, with many creators from across the US attending.
AI innovations such as Authentic AI, adaptive AI, and AI shopping tools are prominent trends showcased at the event.
Employee advocacy is growing, with brands like Starbucks partnering with TikTok to amplify user-generated content from employees.
Creators are increasingly recognized as essential business partners rather than just media line items.
The creator economy is maturing, with more direct communication and deal-making between brands and creators.
There is a shift towards valuing nano and micro influencers based on engagement and expertise rather than follower count.
Women in AI and mental health creator communities are gaining support through brand partnerships and in-person events.
Cannes Lions is now a key platform where creativity, technology, and creator marketing converge.
The future of creator marketing involves collaboration, trust-building, and integrating creators early in marketing strategies.

Chapters

How is the definition of an influencer changing according to Cannes Lions 2026?

The definition is expanding beyond traditional social media creators to include employees, executives, and other company insiders, reflecting a broader distribution of influencer opportunities.

What role does AI play in the future of creator marketing as discussed at Cannes Lions 2026?

AI is driving innovation in creator marketing through tools like Authentic AI, adaptive AI, and AI shopping tools, enhancing content creation, optimization, and amplification strategies.

Why are nano and micro influencers becoming more important in creator marketing?

Nano and micro influencers are valued more for their engagement and subject matter expertise rather than follower count, making them key players in authentic and effective marketing campaigns.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

You have to expand your idea of who an influencer is. So it's no longer just, you know, somebody on TikTok or doing reels, lifestyle. It is everyone. It's the people at your company. It's your executives. It's your employees. That, to me, is kind of the biggest. It's like a shift in distribution of opportunities to a lot more people.

Speaker A

Hi, this is Ashley [music] Waxman, vice president of brand marketing at Creator IQ and host of Creator IQ's earned [music] podcast. We are here at Cannes, the Cannes Festival of Creativity, uh, Cannes and Lions, and we're going to be here

Speaker A

talking about all the things that we've seen so far, what we're excited for that's coming next.

Speaker A

Hey, I'm Leah Haberman from Icy, or in case you missed it, and I cover creators, social, and platforms coming out every Friday morning at 7 a.m.

Speaker A

Hello. It's so good to see you.

Speaker A

It's good to see you, too. South of France.

Speaker A

South of France, we're here. And also, thank you for your LinkedIn content about what to bring and what to pack because this is my first year. I think this is your first year, too.

Speaker A

It is. And it's so hot here. It's so hot. There's a lot of walking.

Speaker A

You specifically said to bring like the best walking shoes, and I did that, and I'm very grateful, which I'm obviously broke my rule today, and now I've got blisters. So, don't do as I do, do as I say. Yes.

Speaker A

Great. Okay. So, let's get into it. First, Cannes, what's your like initial take?

Speaker A

Oh, interesting. Okay. I thought maybe you were going to try and stump me. Um, I have my notes app and every day starting with like day zero I went to

Speaker A

the Amazon port. So each day I'm trying to do different platforms, different companies. I went to Meta Beach. It is interesting. I think there's a really interesting dynamic here of old school advertisers and marketers and then the creator economy folks and creator

Speaker A

economy has descended on Cannes and people are saying it's like 10x the amount of people that were here last year and I believe it. There are so many people here that are, you know, creators from Boston, New York, LA. Like, it's as if

Speaker A

the entire US creator economy just picked up and came to Cannes. Um, so I'm running into a lot of people.

Speaker A

I'm also, like I said, I've got this notes app, so every day I'm kind of writing down like what I've seen, what I've heard. It's interesting. There's a lot of AI product updates, huge like Authentic AI, adaptive AI, AI shopping

Speaker A

tools. Uh, the other big thing employees in general whether it's like tools for in-house employees TikTok is partnering with Starbucks to build out an employee advocacy tool for them so that they can source UGC on TikTok and then put paid

Speaker A

amplification behind it.

Speaker A

Yeah, that is fascinating. I just heard that this morning and I was like wait stop. But like this is probably the most interesting thing I've heard so far.

Speaker A

Employee advocacy has come such a long way. That is huge.

Speaker A

Wow. And I know you talk about that a lot like recently.

Speaker A

Yes, employers are new influencers. You heard it here first right here at Cannes.

Speaker A

Hi, I'm Antoine. I'm the CEO of Being Earnest Creator Marketing Hands-On Advisory. We help brands and creators to build long-term relationships through tech, uh, process, AI, and governance. And I'm spending a lovely week in Cannes. Antoine, it's so nice to see you.

Speaker A

Same here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, the last time I saw you was Connect Europe, so it's been, uh, a little while, but very excited to have you here in Cannes. How many Cannes have you been to? And

Speaker A

what is your take on this one?

Speaker A

Uh, actually, this is just my second Cannes.

Speaker A

Oh, wow. Even though I've been invited to many in the years when I was in France. And, uh, yeah, second one.

Speaker A

And what's your take on this one? Anything interesting?

Speaker A

Creators are taking over. Literally, I really genuinely see that creators are taking over. How are you seeing that in what way is that coming through?

Speaker A

No, of course you have the big names. You see Dan is here. You have big companies and or Adobe for instance, their whole marketing messages now around creators. You don't, they don't speak about anything else. If you go to

Speaker A

Pinterest, those places creators, creators, creators are everywhere which I really enjoy because that's a, this is a place where we talk about creativity. So they belong here and they didn't have so much of space. If you look back five years ago, even the from

Speaker A

the external lookout and this is also the reason I've been joining for the last two years that they are really part of the Cannes Lions.

Speaker A

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker A

Hey, I'm Sher Lazar at Cannes Lions 2026 and I'm the founder and CEO of What's Trending and Creators for Mental Health.

Speaker A

Hi Sher, it's so great to see you.

Speaker A

Yes, thanks for having me here in this small zone of wind.

Speaker A

Yes, it is. This is like a brief sanctuary oasis from the heat. And how many Cannes have you been to?

Speaker A

This is my third Cannes.

Speaker A

Your third. What is your take on this year's? I mean, creator, creator, creator and then AI got to include AI.

Speaker A

Yep. But it's definitely matured in terms of the creator economy here obviously with Cannes Creator launching two, oh I guess three years ago, right? This is the third one. And in the past when I'd been here before that launched, you'd talk to

Speaker A

a brand or a media buyer or any of these agencies and they wouldn't know or understand how to work with you. And I just feel like that's completely changed, which is exciting and good because as creators, we do our work

Speaker A

because of brands. That's how we make money. That's how we make the things we want happen. And so we need to figure out not easy, but like direct lines of communication in with, with the brands to make things happen.

Speaker A

Yep. Absolutely.

Speaker A

Make deals. We're, we're businesses. We got to make the deals happen. Creators are businesses. Creators are media.

Speaker A

We're workforces, workplaces, small businesses, all of it. 100%. And we need to be looking at that differently. And I finally feel like that conversation is happening.

Speaker A

That's great. Yeah, I feel like that too being here. This is my first one, but I definitely get that sense. And you, I feel like are so good at building community with like all of the dinners you host, all of just like the

Speaker A

communities that you're a part of. So are you doing a lot of stuff here as well?

Speaker A

Yeah, of course. Yeah, we did a Women in AI lunch with Glance and Microsoft.

Speaker A

Nice. And so we had an amazing group of women show up and allies for that. And so that was really cool because we've been doing a lot of that work online as a group of female creators and then to get people

Speaker A

in person was really great to see and get the support from brands to make that happen.

Speaker A

Yes. What is the biggest shift that you're feeling in the creator economy right now in this moment?

Speaker A

So I would say here it's a little bit different. There's a lot of macro mega creators like I'm seeing all kinds of Adam W just all of these huge Keith Lee.

Speaker A

Um, so I don't know that this necessarily represents what we're seeing in the creator scene in the US on a day-to-day basis, but I think the idea of like nano and micro and a lot of companies working with them, we know

Speaker A

that follower count does not matter as much anymore. It's all about engagement, subject matter expertise. So I think there's like a really big shift towards nano and micro, um, and those people getting opportunities to kind of rise to

Speaker A

the top and then putting paid behind that. So that's a big shift. And then of course like employees as influencers. I, it's like it's gonna h I mean it's just it's growing. We're seeing all of these UGC programs. You have to expand your

Speaker A

idea of who an influencer is. So it's no longer just, you know, somebody on TikTok or doing reels lifestyle. It is everyone. It's the people at your company. It's your executives. It's your employees.

Speaker A

That, to me, is kind of the biggest. It's like a shift in distribution of opportunities to a lot more people. I think creator economy is now really into the marketing conversation as a transformation topic and no longer as a

Speaker A

side topic. You really.

Speaker A

I love the fact that we're sitting in can where you have Can Lions which has been there for some time. amazing festival and people uh gathering people who are literally sitting on billions of media spend and people everybody's

Speaker A

trying to grab their bits like let's talk about authenticity [laughter] no this is a business it's okay it's a good business to be in but yeah let's not call that authenticity I feel like creator economy creator creator creator I wouldn't even say AI

Speaker A

because I feel like it's just been more yeah creator like this is becoming like the Coachella for creators.

Speaker A

What does earned influence mean to you in 2026? So, earned influence is really interesting. Um, obviously with AI and AEO, which is like AI engine optimization or aic engine optimization, I think that earned media is going to be

Speaker A

super important. I also think that earned opportunities with influencers and creators are going to be huge. I think all of a sudden publicists are going to shift and have jobs that are not just pitching the New York Times,

Speaker A

the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post. They are going to be pitching newsletter writers, bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, and trying to get their clients seated within the conversation online so that they do surface in, you know, LLM search engines. So, I think it's really

Speaker A

interesting. I think people's jobs are going to be shifting and we don't really know how but I do know that I think the the role of a publicist is going to see a drastic shift in trying to get earned

Speaker A

media and earned influence. Sadly I'm a very datadriven person. So when you say earn straight away I think earned media value. So that's that's what comes up in my mind. But the truth is if you think the real meaning of earn

Speaker A

I think there uh we've been talking about a lot of authenticity which has been a word that been used and too much used. But I like trust and so I think when I think earn like okay let's let's

Speaker A

talk about trust and earning trust and I think there is there is definitely especially now there's so much money on the table in here people think that you can't earn and scale and I think differently I think if brands are doing

Speaker A

that well they can definitely uh have people that will promote their brand values well uh without having to go to an industry that where it's very transactional. Yeah, I've seen a lot of relationship with brands where it's very transactional.

Speaker A

This is my product. Say something nice or even worse, they would say say this about my product which the creators hate and this is not how you build really long-term relationship. you uh if you're a bit clearer on your values and the one

Speaker A

you share, you are better at seeking the right creators and matching you know the the creator that are matching your values and and therefore the relationship is much easier and this is how you earn trust building trust, loyalty and real

Speaker A

community that's earned and it's not just from a viral moment. We're all sometimes chasing verality even though we say it's all about authenticity and it's about quality versus quantity. We still are a lot about followers and the views and the reach, but earned

Speaker A

influence I feel like you can't necessarily get overnight. It's something that you build over time by showing up and caring about what you're building in the community that you're building it with. That is true influence. So, they're showing up for

Speaker A

you on social, but then your newsletter, other places that you're trying to connect uh with them as well as offline.

Speaker A

Can you get a bunch of people at an event or a panel or a restaurant? And by the way, that can be at scale or it might be smaller, but it's still powerful.

Speaker A

So, has anything that you've seen or heard at CAN been particularly new to you or something that's like changed the way you think about the creator economy or creators or advertising?

Speaker A

I don't think I've heard anything new. I think we've gotten a bunch of product announcements and most of them are AI related, AI tools, AI shopping, but I don't know that I've heard anything that I didn't know already coming in here. I

Speaker A

think the biggest thing is, oh my gosh, how does everyone have the budget to come to the south of France? Like that's what surprises me the most. I'm happy for you creators. I just don't know how everybody's getting themselves here. So,

Speaker A

I think that shocked me. Just the amount of people here that I know from the States is it's incredible. And like did you have people on your flight that you were just like, "Oh, that's a person I know." Or now it's a new

Speaker A

No, but I'm in a million group chats with creators and we were all I was stuck in Zurich. Other people were stuck in Frankfurt and so we were all texting each other about, you know, our flight delays getting here. It is not easy to

Speaker A

get here. So like once you get here, you're like, I made it and I deserve to be here.

Speaker A

True. And you're coming from LA, which is like you can typically get anywhere from LA.

Speaker A

Yeah. What have you heard at Ken so far that has either validated a perspective that you've had or really like pushed you to think about something differently?

Speaker A

When you talk to large tech company like Google, Meta, Tik Tok, Pinterest, they are really now in their narratives they're really shifting to talk about creative marketing which was not the case years back. So in a way for me

Speaker A

that's a very strong signal that if these guys are really aligned that is really know the new ways of marketing I'm confident that uh we are in the right business. Yeah.

Speaker A

So that is the simple fact that this the simple fact that these guys are using creative marketing as their narrative is for me strong enough.

Speaker A

Yeah. And on the opposite, you still have the old, okay, but you in the world of AI, do you still need creators? That's not a debate. I think people buy from people. And that's that's something that is going to be

Speaker A

true for a long time. And there will be space for AI creators. I'm not saying the opposite. I really believe there will be space there. But will AI avatars replace creators? No. Because I genuinely think that people buy from

Speaker A

people. They just happen to be behind a black mirror now. Yeah. What have you been hearing so far this week that's either validated a perspective or like kind of made you change the way you think about something?

Speaker A

I guess it's validated the talking to people who say, "Oh, you you saw it coming." You were early. You were here when the creator stuff wasn't even talked about. We were knocking down advertisers doors, you know, brands, networks, traditional media saying this

Speaker A

is the future. Now, of course, we're here and talking to people and them saying, "It's so cool that you were there that early." That was very validating, you know, and then, of course, it's what's next. You could only look back

Speaker A

and enjoy the fruits of your labor so long before. It's about what's the next challenge. What's the next open space?

Speaker A

And for me, I'm always looking at that and that's why I love emerging technology as it relates to the creative field, the creative field and media, but also really like what are the gaps in AI. So whether it be, you know, talking

Speaker A

about how we create better laws with creators and protections, how do we use it in a productive way, in an ethical way, and how do we educate Yeah.

Speaker A

Uh people so that and I I know this is triggering. No one is left behind. And the people that want to learn get to learn, and the people that don't, you don't need to learn.

Speaker A

Do you, but I want to make sure everyone at least has the access and is educated so they get to make that choice of whether they want in. And then the next stage which is I believe mental health

Speaker A

and the burnout and all the things we're talking about for consumers on social but then also again all the creators that this industry is relying on.

Speaker A

Yeah. Collaborate more have bridges and listen to each other and find solutions together. We keep hearing that creators are partners not a media line item. tell us a little more about what that means to you and especially in the context of can

Speaker A

where it's a lot of these advertisers that are here and that's which I think is why you're seeing the big creators right like somebody's got to show them how this works from some perspective but I'd love your take I don't think the

Speaker A

creators are here to meet advertisers I think they're here to meet CMOs because CMOs will ultimately greenlight a campaign or a check or a partnership or whatever it is so I think creators are really here to meet the decision makers

Speaker A

I do think there's a little bit of a split between kind of like the creator folk and who they might be reaching out to at like Disney or Amazon or whoever um versus kind of the programmatic media buying people, the ad tech people. I

Speaker A

think it's kind of two different tracks as to creators as partners kind of not a line item where I think we're seeing this here is like put creators in the meeting room in at the table and give them a voice before you plan the entire

Speaker A

campaign. They should be there helping you sketch it out, kind of flesh it out, figure out what you want to do, what's going to hit with the audience. They have better market insight, audience insight than the average marketer. I'm

Speaker A

sorry, but it is true. Um, so I think it's about bringing creators in right from the beginning and giving them a seat at the table. Uh, and that to me is kind of that idea of like it's not just

Speaker A

transactional. You are bringing them in as like consultants and category experts. Yeah, abs 100%. and they know their communities better than anyone and that's who you're trying to tap into. We keep hearing creators are partners. How do you see that like building

Speaker A

partnerships while also having the like media line item budget aspect? So first thing is that when I talk to brands they are really looking at retention. So something we never talked about before like how do we do with

Speaker A

retention? How do we go with making sure we work we once we find the right creators we work with them more consistently. And I think that's uh that's very already a good sign that is going in a right direction. So I think

Speaker A

retention is part of the journey to create a real partnership. I think there is a big uh role for tech to bring brands and creators together around share values.

Speaker A

Yeah. I think this is in a world where you have millions of like creators in the world, lots of brands, different positioning and so on. This is where tech and AI can help to do sort of a how

Speaker A

do you do tinder of creators and brands you know how to find a match totally and this is where you create partnership you hope that tech is bringing the two together I don't want to undermine being a line

Speaker A

item [snorts] I want to be a line item yeah let's not complicate it include me in your budget period and then let's also have a conversation in terms of what your vision is what you want and need and what I want and need

Speaker A

and find a win-win That is a partnership. And then longterm, what are your goals this year?

Speaker A

You know, what what is your big vision for what you want to do? What's your dream project? Having those honest conversations. And then me asking you too, you know, what do you do? What are you as a brand excited about

Speaker A

and then finding ways to collaborate. Leah, thank you so much. It's been so wonderful to be here. It's so great to see you. Traveled all this way just to see each other.

Speaker A

Just to see each other again. We've seen [laughter] each other at every other conference. Like, why let that die? So, no. Happy to be here. Thank you.

Speaker A

Well, thank you. Well, thank you so much, Anon. It's been so lovely to have you and to see you here at Ken. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Speaker A

You, too. Thank you so much, Shar. This was so great to see you and to talk to you and hear your insights. [music] Thank you again. Have a great rest of your week.

Speaker A

I so appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Creator IQ.

Topics:Cannes Lions 2026creator marketinginfluencer marketingemployee advocacyAI in marketingnano influencersmicro influencerscreator economybrand partnershipsuser-generated content

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