Marla Kaplowitz’s Post

An amazing week at my 12th #CannesLions. The festival continues to evolve and grow with the importance of human ingenuity to address business problems through creativity to drive progress. It’s a reminder of why I’m so passionate about the advertising & marketing industry and especially the agency community. My favorite part: the serendipitous moments of connection. Here’s a quick rundown of the main speaking engagements and connections for the week: - I always spend time in the Palais to hear talks, check out the work and be inspired through learning and connections. The work showed human ingenuity on full display. - VoxComm global meeting with agency trade association peers addressing the challenges and opportunities for agencies. - Thank you to Google for hosting the 4A's and members for the welcome party with WFA and IAB where I announced our new 4A's Foundation Alliance for an Equitable Future funding consortium with initial donations from the 4A’s and Google. -The 4A's + ADWEEK breakfast with Jameson Fleming and a stellar group of agency leaders discussing the impact of AI and Gen AI on the business. -Recording another lively session of Convene. Challenge. Change. for The Drum with the always thought-provoking Marisa Thalberg and Jason Sperling of INNOCEAN on client-agency partnerships and how to be “in it together”. - Google and the Creative Lighthouse challenge allowing 5 agencies to use Gemini to create powerful ideas leveraging GenAI technology. Kudos to members Tombras for PODS moving & storage and BBDO Worldwide for AT&T for showing the true power of creativity with Human + Augmented Intelligence. - Microsoft on the power of partnership with GenAI. Thanks Kya Sainsbury-Carter for sharing interesting research on the transformation journey for companies and how brands can partner. - PRWeek and Alison Weissbrot along with Jennifer Risi of The Sway Effect hosted a thoughtful roundtable discussion on past, present and future opportunities related to communications. - Discussed B2B measurement and compelling research implications in the LinkedIn Collective studio with the Rahul Mehta. - Connected with agency leaders (thanks for hosting FCB Global and Brandon Cooke) to review the latest 4A's research on the Cost of the Pitch addressing cost vs. value and the hallmarks of long-term client-agency relationships. - Roundtable breakfast with Kimeko McCoy of Digiday and an incredible group of agency leaders discussed the state of DE&I in the industry and examples of what agencies are doing and opportunities to address. - And a fun moment: meeting two of my favorite #Peloton instructors (Leanne and Ally). 😊 I hope we all can take the energy, enthusiasm and spirit of partnership experienced in Cannes and replicate it back in our daily work connections and be a true catalyst for change. What actions will you take?