Cannes this year was yet another exciting week, during which we gathered to explore the untapped potential of our industry and discuss how we can establish more meaningful connections with consumers to drive our clients' businesses forward both today and in the future. The prominence of commerce in discussions this year was particularly noteworthy. I found the conversations revolving around striking a balance between brand building and performance marketing to be particularly fascinating.

Here are some of the ways we are thinking about this for our brands going forward.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Building brands is still critical to create (Commerce) demand: According to Keith Johnston from Forrester, '66% of people choose or remain loyal to a brand based on emotion.' This statistic emphasizes the crucial importance of considering the end-to-end experience consumers have with our brands. It is essential to meet them where they are and provide communications, offers, and messaging that hold meaning for them. By forming partnerships that align with consumers' values, we can establish an emotional connection that remains vital for long-term brand health and relationships. To convert the demand for 'lower funnel' commerce, we must begin upstream and ensure that our brands hold significance for consumers.

Creators & content provide opportunity to drive not only relevance…but action: The consumers of today, particularly the increasingly diverse Millennial and Gen Z cohorts, are not influenced by the same traditional channels that brands have relied on in the past. Instead, they turn to social platforms, content creators, and their own communities to discover and learn about brands. Embracing the advancing commerce capabilities of these platforms allows brands to guide consumers from awareness all the way through to purchase with just a click.

Partners like TikTok and Spotify have joined forces with Gopuff to create opportunities for curated packages and shoppable experiences tailored to consumers' life stages. We witnessed this with Folgers' recent efforts targeting college students, which unlocked new distribution channels and reached new audiences. Upcoming programs will further expand this framework by leveraging Spotify, offering curated and relevant offers based on your playlist.

These are just two examples of how brands can leverage the convergence of creators, content, and commerce to create relevance and drive growth.

Experience with brands can ‘Start Anywhere, Finish Anywhere’…so consistency in content experience & commerce enablement is key: This holds even truer in today's landscape, where a consumer's journey with your brand can begin from various touchpoints such as a TV spot, an online platform, an RMN, within social communities, or even in real life. By creating a consistent content experience and seamlessly enabling commerce activation at any stage of the journey, you can effectively capture opportunities as they arise.