June 18, 2025  |  SIGN UP

PRESENTED BY

Michael Bürgi
SENIOR EDITOR, MEDIA BUYING AND PLANNING

From all I'm reading and hearing about Cannes Lions (and I'll admit it's giving me a hint of FOMO), this is the year of the creator/influencer. Sure, AI is changing everything, but it's not human. Whether you like them or not, creators and influencers are. And more and more research and marketing work involving them seems to tap into some modern zeitgeist that because they ARE human, they register better with other humans. 

Some of what's been lost in the whirl of digital marketing, programmatic investment and agentic efforts is the loss of a personal touch. I'm sorry but no matter how much brand X changes its SEO to be discovered by bots better than people, a bit of humanity slips out of this already-impersonal business. 

I don't follow many influencers at all, besides the fellow journalists I read or listen to and respect greatly. But I'm going to keep rooting for the creators and influencers out there who help keep marketing a human-first endeavor. 

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