Adobe’s Latest Trends + What to Watch for at Cannes Lions 🦁

Adobe's New Insights Highlight the Need for Speed and Trust in Content

With the release of Adobe’s “AI and Digital Trends in Content Creation and Management” report, brand marketers are faced with a clear mandate: success in today’s fragmented digital landscape depends on how well you can deliver personalized, relevant content—quickly, at scale, and across every channel your audience frequents. The pressure is real, but so is the opportunity to reimagine how your organization manages content from ideation to delivery. Here are the essential insights every marketer should know:

Relevance is the New Baseline: 71% of consumers now expect brands to anticipate their needs with timely, personalized content. The age of “nice-to-have” personalization is over; hyper-relevant, fast-to-market experiences are now simply expected. Delivering on this means rethinking your content supply chain for speed and specificity.
Orchestration is the Key to Scale: Despite soaring expectations, only a third of brands are meeting the mark for timely and relevant communications, and fewer than half are consistent across channels. The answer isn’t just more AI tools—it’s orchestrating talent, technology, and creative processes into a streamlined, unified system that can scale efficiently while maintaining quality and consistency.
Ethics Are a Non-Negotiable: As AI becomes central to content creation, nearly half of brand leaders cite ethical concerns and brand reputation as barriers to deploying AI at scale. Addressing bias, ensuring inclusivity, and embedding ethical frameworks into AI workflows are now foundational steps for any brand seeking to innovate confidently.

The report also features perspectives from industry leaders, including our own EVP of Innovation, Michael Dobell, who notes, “High-quality content is more abundant than ever, spanning countless channels. The challenge of our time lies in managing and delivering it effectively. Success will hinge on mastering volume and variance, with brand standing as the ultimate differentiator.” Following the report’s release, Dobell elaborated on how brands can do just that: create content experiences that drive both relevance and impact—meeting rising consumer expectations and building stronger relationships in the process.

Operational Excellence and Customer Focus Also Fuel Ecommerce Growth

The latest trends in ecommerce and retail media echo a familiar refrain: brands that prioritize operational discipline and customer-centricity are pulling ahead, while those that treat these areas as afterthoughts risk falling behind. Success in marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart hinges not just on clever ad placements, but on treating every product detail page and inventory decision as an engine for growth. Underperforming content and missed inventory signals are often the silent killers of conversion—and small, continuous improvements in these areas can yield outsized results.

This drive for operational excellence is matched by the rapid evolution of retail media. What was once seen as a cost center is now a central revenue driver, with brands using advanced analytics to gain deeper insight into customer lifetime value and attribution. At the same time, the lines between content, commerce and media are blurring, as new formats like connected TV and livestreaming become part of the retail media toolkit. For marketers, the imperative is clear: invest in practical technologies that streamline workflows and create space for smart experimentation, rather than chasing every shiny new tool.

Ultimately, the strongest thread tying these trends together is the need to put the customer at the center of every strategy. Today’s shoppers expect a unified, seamless experience whether they’re engaging online, in-store or somewhere in between. Building this level of trust and coherence requires regular audits of both the customer journey and the supporting tech stack, ensuring that every partnership, process, and campaign is driving toward long-term relevance and growth. In a landscape defined by rising expectations, adaptability and focus are a brand’s most powerful assets.

Prepare for the Road to Cannes Lions

Building on the growing imperative for relevance, operational excellence and customer-centricity, conversations leading into the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity are sharpening their focus on what it takes to thrive amid constant transformation. Just as marketers are being challenged to orchestrate content supply chains and unify commerce experiences, the creative community is now exploring how these same principles—adaptability, innovation and authenticity—will shape the next wave of brand growth.

A common thread weaving through pre-Cannes conversations is the interplay between technology and human insight. AI is transforming creative and campaign execution, but its true potential lies in enabling more meaningful, personalized experiences at scale. The rise of the creator economy, the drive for seamless customer journeys, and the need for ongoing digital transformation all point to a single imperative: marketers must build adaptable strategies that balance innovation with authenticity. Staying future-ready means not just adopting new tools, but also rethinking how we engage, tell stories and create value across every touchpoint. If you’re interested in a deeper dive on these themes, including practical takeaways from the festival, sign up here to receive timely updates and our post-event recap as soon as it’s ready.

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