The digital advertising landscape is experiencing a shift in power, with independent agencies increasingly capturing the budgets and hearts of major global brands. To explore the structural trends, operational models, and cultural dynamics driving this transformation, New Digital Age recently hosted an exclusive Indie Agency Roundtable at Cannes Lions.
The annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has always served as a barometer for the shifting dynamics of the global advertising industry. This year, the overarching conversation across the Croisette focused heavily on artificial intelligence. To explore how this technology is reshaping business models, creative processes, and organisational structures, New Digital Age hosted an exclusive roundtable.
The annual gathering at Cannes Lions is renowned for celebrating creative excellence and groundbreaking technology, but it also serves as a critical barometer for the industry’s cultural and structural health. A dedicated panel hosted by New Digital Age brings together some of the industry’s most influential leaders to examine the state of gender equality, structural inclusion, and the future of creative talent under the banner of NDA’s Digital Women initiative.
By Magnus Ohlin, co-founder and
A recent roundtable hosted by New Digital Age in partnership with LiveRamp brought together leaders from publishing, media, advertising and technology to discuss the state of data collaboration and the growing role of AI in shaping its future. In part two of the resulting writeup, we exploredhow data collaboration is uncovering new commercial opportunities, the governance challenges that still slow progress, practical strategies for getting started, and how AI is shaping the future of data partnerships.
In the latest ‘An Audience with’ interview from this year’s Cannes Festival, Justin Pearse meets adtech veteran Brian O’Kelley, CEO of Scope3, to discuss the rise of AI and agentic systems, the market domination of major platforms, and the increasing importance of creativity and wisdom…
A recent roundtable hosted by New Digital Age in partnership with LiveRamp brought together leaders from publishing, media, advertising and technology to discuss the state of data collaboration and the growing role of AI in shaping its future. What emerged was a picture of an industry moving fast, but not always in the same direction, grappling with the gap between the promise of AI and the practical realities of data quality, governance and organisational readiness.
In 2007, a gorilla sat at a drum kit, waited through ninety seconds of Phil Collins, and sold a frankly heroic amount of chocolate. Cadbury’s sales jumped around ten percent¹. No segmentation strategy or bid algorithm did that. A man in a monkey suit feeling it coming in the air tonight did that, and an entire generation of British marketers fell a little bit in love with the idea that the work itself could be the strategy.
Since joining the7stars, Imy Brighty-Potts has become a vocal advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion in UK media. Founder of Adland Pride and a member of this year’s IPA iList, Brighty-Potts believes the industry must move beyond performative gestures and focus on meaningful support, particularly for trans employees and the wider LGBTQ+ community.
The advertising industry is asking the wrong question about AI. Perhaps the best way to evaluate AI investments isn’t by asking how much cost they remove. It’s by asking how much revenue they accelerate.
As Cannes Lions once again prepares to welcome thousands of marketers, media executives and creatives to the Croisette, much of the conversation will focus on networking, visibility and influence. But according to motivational speaker and bestselling author Seb Terry, many attendees may be approaching those goals in entirely the wrong way.