taste as – At Cannes Lions 2026, senior marketing leaders argued that AI is speeding creation, but “taste” is what keeps brands original—and competitive. From Autodesk’s warnings against simply layering AI on existing workflows to Kimberly-Clark’s insistence that smaller
For years, the promise of AI to marketers has sounded like momentum: faster output, quicker turnaround, more content. But at Cannes Lions 2026, a different kind of urgency settled into the conversation—one rooted in the idea that brands won’t win by speed alone.
On a roundtable for “The AI Marketer. ” convened during Cannes Lions 2026 and presented by Bluefish AI. senior marketing leaders from Autodesk. Accenture Song. Adobe. Babylist. Comcast. SharkNinja. Anduril. Hilton. Kimberly-Clark. Deloitte Digital. Zoom. Indeed. and Instacart pushed back against the easy version of the story. In their view. human discernment is still the deciding factor. and taking the time to redesign organizations—rather than just adding AI—will determine who benefits.
Dara Treseder, chief marketing officer at Autodesk, put the warning plainly. “I think one of the things that’s been really important is not taking an existing process and layering AI on top of that. That’s actually a recipe for disaster and you start to have a lot of issues,” she said.
She returned the discussion to design and intent. “What outcome are we trying to accomplish and what is the new system we should design to get there using humans and AI?” That framing—what outcome. what system—sat at the center of the roundtable’s tone. Treseder described it as “the golden age for marketers and creatives who have excellent taste. ” adding: “The work we do is art and science. Master the tools. have excellent taste. know how and when to use AI—and. most importantly. have the discernment to know when not to.”.
That last line landed with the leaders who argued that originality is getting harder to protect as AI output becomes cheaper and more widespread. As Theo Ricketts. vice president of global sales. marketing and digital transformation at Kimberly-Clark. said. the competitive edge shifts once “everyone adopts AI tools” and the playing field is no longer so lopsided.
“I think the reason why we’re talking about humans is because they will give you the competitive advantage because as everyone adopts AI tools. it democratizes the playing field and the smaller companies will be able to create content that looks as good as the bigger companies. ” Ricketts said. “So where is our advantage?” he continued. “That has to be in the human and the insights that we’re bringing that drives better outcomes than our competitors.”.
The roundtable wasn’t all philosophy, though. SharkNinja’s Michelle Crossan-Matos, chief brand and experience officer, described an approach that blends speed with measurement—using AI not as a shortcut, but as a coaching and learning mechanism.
She said the company uses AI to coach customer service agents in real time. helping them respond to customers while measuring whether each interaction builds trust in the brand. Crossan-Matos also described how AI can identify recurring customer issues from thousands of service interactions. turning what used to be anecdotal feedback into insights product and marketing teams can act on.
“The call center agents know exactly how he or she is helping our brand,” Crossan-Matos said. “I have campaigns built from the customer service team now.”
At Zoom, Kim Storin, chief marketing officer, brought the conversation back into the organization itself—describing marketing as “a bidirectional function increasingly embedded across the organization, not confined to a single insights team.”
“Our job is the voice of and the voice to the market,” Storin said. That idea appeared in how Zoom is restructuring customer understanding internally. Instead of concentrating feedback in one dedicated function, she said customer exposure is being pushed across teams.
“It’s not just the customer insights team anymore,” she said. “Is the search team, is the paid media team talking to customers?”
That question—who is talking to customers—echoed again when the leaders turned to marketing jobs and the people doing the work. James Whitmore, chief marketing officer at Indeed, pointed to hiring data showing that marketing roles have declined faster than nearly any other profession.
Whitmore’s message carried both reassurance and warning: “If you learn AI and learn how to demonstrate your impact on the business and measure results, then no, you’re not at risk. If you sit back and let things happen to you, then of course you’re at risk.”
Jeff Miller, chief marketing officer at Anduril, sharpened that outlook. “As inspirational as we all can be about the power and future of AI. you’re going to have to learn the tools and prove that you have taste. then you’re going to succeed. you’re going to thrive in your role. But, I don’t think that will be true of most people working in the marketing industry. I just fundamentally don’t believe that,” he said.
The conversation then widened to power and decision-making. Sean Lyons, chief strategy officer at Accenture Song, argued that AI integration has to move from the top—not just within marketing.
“The integration [of AI] has to happen cross functionally, it always has to come from the CEO. If it does not come from the CEO, it really doesn’t happen,” Lyons said. He also described the organizational lift required for teams to adopt new workflows: “The organizational operational lift is super high based on fear… trying to get those teams to understand that they can do better work this way.”.
Taken together. the roundtable made one shift feel unavoidable: the race to adopt AI may be slowing down. but the race to apply it intelligently is accelerating. Faster content may be within reach. but the leaders on the panel kept circling the same point—taste. discernment. and human-led insight are what still decide which brands stand out when the tools become common.
Cannes Lions 2026 AI marketer marketing leaders taste creative workflows change management CEO integration customer service AI brand trust Kimberly-Clark Autodesk Zoom SharkNinja Indeed Anduril Accenture Song