This week Spotify has returned to Cannes Lions with a robust and reinvigorated presence, combining insightful panels, stunning activations, and unforgettable entertainment. It's a jam-packed week that highlights the creativity happening at Spotify in a refreshing, interactive setting.
But our physical presence at Cannes isn't the only thing to write home about: A wave of announcements have been coming out of Spotify in the weeks leading up to the beachside event, including news about a first-of-its-kind third-party brand safety partnership with Integral Ad Science, a new podcast ad deal with Omnicom Media Group, and the drop of our fourth-annual Culture Next trends report.
Lee Brown, Spotify's Global Head of Advertising Business & Platform, summed it up well: Since we last came to Cannes in 2019, we've built an entirely new business around podcasting, he told For the Record. And now, we know we can provide tools and confidence to help our advertisers show up in the right locations and use the right content to market their brands. And Spotify Beach is the place to demonstrate that-in-person, feeling the energy, hearing about the creative process directly from the source. That goes a long way in building relationships and our business in the years to come.
For the Record spoke to Lee ahead of the event to get a sneak preview of what's in store.
This year, Spotify has a bigger presence at Cannes than ever before. What sort of events and activities can attendees look forward to this year? We're all super excited to be back in Cannes doing our iconic activation on the Spotify Beach. It's been a long time since the industry has had a chance to get together, to celebrate and recognize all the creative and inspiring work that's happening. During the day, Spotify leaders will host thought-provoking panels and talks with some of our podcast creators and industry leaders, including podcaster and journalist Jemele Hill, Batman Unburied actors Winston Duke and Hasan Minhaj, and Teenager Therapy podcast co-hosts Kayla Suarez and Thomas Pham.
And then at night, when the sun goes down, we have live performances from a few of the world's hottest artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, and Dua Lipa. We're bringing together some of the best creators and musicians in the world because we know that without creativity, there'd be nothing.
We're holding several panels at Cannes themed to our ads initiatives including Outside Voice and Culture Next. How does bringing these to the stage help us tell the stories behind them? Our Outside Voice panel features Jemele Hill, who, along with other BIPOC leaders in the creative space, is taking matters into her own hands to build platforms that amplify underrepresented voices. So to hear directly from Jemele, to learn from her experience, to make sure that we understand the content and the audience-that just gives the advertisers a much closer look at what the process looks like, the goals of that creator, and the needs of their audience.
Something that brands are struggling with today is how to show up authentically in environments where a new generation of audiences have different platforms, ways of consuming content, and ways of communicating. Brands have to constantly evolve how they show up authentically, with impact, and really make that genuine connection with the audience. So for Culture Next, we're giving them the opportunity to hear directly from Gen Z about how they create and consume culture-and what advice they give brands trying to reach them.
What are some of the benefits to Spotify of merging our relationships with creators like Jemele Hill and the cast of Batman Unburied with advertisers at an event like this? Creators are the backbone of our business. And so we take enormous pride in connecting them not only with listeners, but also with advertisers to help them monetize their work. There's just something so great about getting to experience these remarkable creators in-person, feel their energy, hear about their creative process directly from the source-that goes a long way in building relationships and trust with advertisers.
It also allows us to demonstrate the many kinds of content on our platform and how we're relevant to and attract and appeal to an incredibly broad audience. Shows like Batman Unburied and other highly produced shows serve as a really great entryway to Spotify for audiences. Then they stick around to discover other amazing content from smaller creators.
Cannes Lions is also about awarding the most impactful, remarkable advertising and the people behind it. What are some of your favorite campaigns from the last year? There are so many. I really love the Rocket Mortgage Barbie campaign for its relevance and IP creativity. It's so timely; it's so spot on. And it's taking a commodity product like a home loan and just making it super relevant and timely for today's environment. I also love what Raja [Rajamannar], the CMO of MasterCard, is doing with his multisensory approach. I think they're just in the early innings of defining what that looks like for MasterCard. And then Carl [Loredo] at Wendy's has really embraced and done some amazing work with Web3, with the Wendyverse.
And then, lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention our own campaign, All Ears On You, Spotify Advertising's first-ever brand campaign, which launched last fall. The campaign video is stunning, showcasing just how powerful audio can be for listeners, showing them in personalized little audio bubbles as they move about their noisy cities or their daily lives. It also features a super killer song from Joy Crookes, Feet Don't Fail Me Now, and it's become one of my favorites. I'm sure it's going to be in my Wrapped this ye
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
This week Spotify has returned to Cannes Lions with a robust and reinvigorated presence, combining insightful panels, stunning activations, and unforgettable entertainment. It's a jam-packed week that highlights the creativity happening at Spotify in a refreshing, interactive setting.
