00:00To be successful as a CMO today, you've got to keep it simple.
00:04I believe in a very basic mantra, which is make simple special.
00:08And I think the simpler the idea, the more powerful the creativity, the special can be.
00:18The other thing is always being curious.
00:20The day you stop learning is the day I stop being a marketer.
00:24And you've got to find a way to continuously challenge yourself.
00:27But if you make it too complicated, then ultimately you will struggle.
00:31I like to look at it as the what in marketing.
00:34The what we do hasn't changed that much.
00:36The fundamentals are still there.
00:38How we do it has become incredibly complicated.
00:41So by keeping things simple, we can actually manage through that complicated dynamic environment.
00:46And really bring really powerful brand ideas to life.
00:49Don't reinvent the wheel every time.
00:51I think marketers get bored of their ideas way before the consumer.
00:54And definitely before they're outlived.
00:55Pepsi Challenge is a perfect example.
00:57It's been around for over 50 years.
00:59When I was running our international business, I executed it for over 8 years.
01:02Year over year.
01:03It's essentially a sampling activation.
01:06And sampling is a powerful, simple tool to put can in hand and brand in hand.
01:10And really get people to try your product and experience your brand in a different way.
01:14Really simple things like repeatable sampling, brand activations, consistency.
01:21You know, if I look at our Food Deserves Pepsi program year over year, reinforcing the most
01:26important occasion for the cola category, those things make a difference.
01:30By consistently pushing the same message, you can actually create those mental structures
01:34that can build loyalty and ultimately drive sales.
01:36I think AI is going to be a powerful tool today and in the future.
01:40And I think as marketeers, and particularly for me and my team, I think there's some real
01:44fundamentals that we need to start with.
01:46First, when we think about marketing, we need to be able to both market to audiences and agents.
01:51And understanding how agents work, how large language models work, is a really important
01:56part of a marketer's journey.
01:57Just like it was when we had to learn to make it meta-type web pages.
02:01So I think the first thing is really focusing on discoverability, making sure that our content
02:05is relevant and can be picked up by the various models and bots that exist.
02:09The second is thinking about the power of AI when it comes to insights and concept development.
02:13We use AI to really kind of mine data and understand the insights for both a consumer
02:18as well for the category.
02:19And so making decisions quicker, faster, better, because the AI allows us to actually learn more
02:25quicker.
02:25And then I think the third is enabling and being part of the creative process and absolutely
02:31not replacing the creative process.
02:33The power of human creativity is always going to be at the center of how we make and tell
02:38stories.
02:39But I think AI can be a partner in crime.
02:41It can really help us accelerate some of the things we do, help our adaptations be quicker
02:45and better, and help us actually become smarter.
02:48Coming to Cannes is all about learning and having conversations with peers in our industry
02:53to honestly carry us all forward.
02:56It started as a creativity festival.
02:59I think it's more than that.
03:00It's a community of like-minded individuals who want to advance both marketing and advertising
03:05and what consumers are looking for from brands.
03:09Coming here is about being curious, about learning, about continuing to push ourselves and spending
03:14time with others to talk about the important trends, the important topics.
03:18And those are the things that I come every year for.
03:21And it's why Cannes is a special place.
03:23I mean, the fact that it only happens once a year is a little sad because we want to be
03:26actually having this conversation all year long.
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