Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer, took to the stage on day two of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to discuss how the creative world ‘has never been more fun’ thanks to all the tools at a creator’s disposal.

After setting himself as an AI Agent ‘ChatPG’ (Chat Procter & Gamble), Pritchard answered six questions attendees at the festival potentially have about the future of marketing.

 The first question he asked ChatPG was about how the landscape of brand building is shifting.

He answered, “There are three shifts in perpetual motion. We are seeing media and content fragmentation, media and commerce convergence, and the AI turbocharge. We thought cable TV was complex with several channels. Then came YouTube, followed by Gen AI. That fragmentation makes it challenging and exciting.”

He went on to add how commerce has changed.

“We had neighbourhood stores, nationwide stores, and then came e-commerce. Everything can be made available everywhere. In markets like India, thanks to quick commerce, delivery is possible in nine minutes. So the path to purchase is collapsing in front of us,” he said.

Talking about the impact of AI, he said, “It has enabled consumers to have personalised experiences. Gen AI enables tremendous creativity from every source. It improves shopping with agents who understand personal preferences. These are tectonic shifts, and they are colliding and empowering brand building.”

What changes and what stays the same?

Answering this, ChatPG, stated, “What changes is how we work to deliver the volume, velocity, and variety of brand assets needed to build brands. But what stays the same are the fundamentals of brand building.”

“Brands still grow by building awareness and memory,” he added.

“It’s not winning Cannes awards, but it’s growing our business,” said Pritchard about the campaign.

The FMCG major looked to adapt the success of this campaign in the USA with Dawn Powerhouse, but that didn’t work.

“In that market, humans don’t skip the soak. AI doesn’t understand such insights because it needs human empathy. In the new world, brand builders constantly engage with consumers with person using technology. But one still needs the brand’s voice with a brand idea that expresses the brand's benefits. This voice matters because it provides the brand’s point of view. It also has a lot of content on e-commerce sites,” he said.

Pritchard also expressed the importance of adding credibility through influencers, celebrities, or those who believe in these brands enough to talk about it.

Explaining this, “The consumer’s vice comes from user-generated content, who experience the brand and feel inspired enough to talk about. This is the most important one cause people trust other people. “

The third question ChatPG answered was about the changing landscape’s impact on brand builders, agencies, and retailers.

“Brand builders don’t have the luxury of weeks and months. They need to engage consumers every moment and have deeper relationships with retailers in real time, too. In-house content factories are needed too,” he said.

He showed pieces of work for Secret and Tide Evo Detergent, which were worked on by the in-house team, which helped the brands grow.

Next up was how AI can be used.

ChatPG answered, “Use AI tools to develop better insights and ideas, executed better and faster, at a scale needed to build mass awareness, traffic and conversion - with speed and variety at a scale never before possible. AI combined with human creativity works like turbo chargers.”

The fifth question for ChatPG was how the above queries work and impact ROI.

“What matters is retail sales growth. And with that convergence of media and commerce through retail media, this should finally be available,” answered Pritchard through ChatPG.

He concluded with a question about a piece of advice for how to win in 2026 and beyond:

“Get ready for the most fun you’ll have building brands. I’ve never been more excited than now. It’s unlike anything we have experienced. Creativity throughout time – no matter the tech, speed, features – has always been a deeply human endeavour. Robots don’t build brands. People do. They don’t have fun. People do.”