This summer, Braxton Studios was incredibly lucky to receive official media accreditation for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026. But as every founder and creator knows, logistics and reality don't always align perfectly with your calendar — we didn't make it out onto the flights to France in time.
Instead of standing in the 30°C heat looking out at the yachts in the harbour, we've been embedded right from our desk at Braxton Studios in Scotland, streaming the festival globally.
At first, missing the physical energy feels like a setback. But streaming the sessions forced us to filter the noise and focus purely on what drives real media longevity. Take Oprah Winfrey's session, for example. Her appearance on the Lumière Theatre stage wasn't just a casual booking; it was a 14-year journey. Phil Thomas, the Chairman of Cannes, sent multiple emails over nearly a decade and a half to finally bring her to the festival.
When she did take the stage, she shared an incredible operational pivot from her career that completely redefines how we look at audience data. Early on, she stopped doing draining traditional autograph sessions and replaced them with unscripted, 45-minute post-show conversations with the crowd.
"I learned so much from just listening to people... That became my focus group. I would have a producer in listening, taking notes, and we built shows from what people were telling us was going on in their lives."
In the modern YouTube and marketing landscape, we are drowning in dashboards, analytics, and retention metrics. But Oprah's masterclass is a massive reminder for every business owner trying to grow an audience: data matters, but true scale comes from active listening and building a direct, unfiltered connection with the people you serve.
Because of that clarity, the festival hasn't felt distant at all. We've been actively using the official app to bypass the usual corporate elevator pitches and have genuine, human conversations with independent business owners, creative peers, and ambitious students repping their universities on the ground. We're talking about exactly how we build that deep relationship today — how do we use tools like AI to remove the technical friction, so creators and founders can focus less on managing production and more on sitting down to deliver their core truth?
Cannes isn't just a geographic coordinate on the French Riviera. It's a collective headspace of creative ambition. And you don't need a boarding pass to be a part of that.
On the Main StageAI vs. The Human Touch
A recurring thread throughout the festival was the role of artificial intelligence in advertising, marketing, and the creative industries. Speakers were united on one point: human intuition, empathy, lived experience, and taste remain irreplaceable. AI is efficient and retroactive — it mimics the past — but human creativity is what drives the future.
Rather than replacing people, AI was framed again and again as a tool to amplify human potential and scale output. But industry leaders were equally clear about the risks: over-relying on AI erodes critical thinking ("using it as a crutch"), floods the market with a "tsunami of the mediocre," and using it simply to cut headcount — something Jensen Huang noted shows a distinct lack of imagination.
What We Took From the Festival
Theme A — AI: Resonance Over Reach
Be deliberate about how AI is deployed. Prioritise quality and adaptability over pure volume or efficiency. Content faces three distinct growth limits: a cultural ceiling constrained by time and trends, a platform ceiling constrained by algorithms and paid spend, and a self-sustaining ceiling driven by trusted creators and authentic community adoption.
- Don't conflate "social" with standard social media.
- Treat creators as torchbearers for the brand.
- Optimise for meaning, not just attention.
Theme B — Friction-Maxxing
Modern tools make processes friction-free, but brands have confused "motion with meaning," producing efficient content that people ultimately ignore. A distinct, non-compromised human voice — think Patagonia — will naturally offend some people, but it's necessary to inspire true loyalty.
- Excessive tech efficiency can hinder critical thinking; analog friction can be a competitive advantage.
- Clear brand values mean you won't be universally acceptable, but you will build deep connections.
- Healthy internal creative conflict yields a healthier bottom line.
Theme C — Escaping the Efficiency Trap
There's a growing gap between marketing theory and actual practice, often caused by a lack of discipline in maintaining brand consistency. The numbers back it up:
- Treat your brand as a coherent system for both humans and machines.
- Establish a clear, aligned vision for brand growth.
- Gain clarity on the exact mechanisms that turn creative ideas into real commercial value.
Our Mission: Scotland as Creative Country of the Year
Every session we streamed this summer reinforced the same idea: creative ambition isn't tied to a postcode. It's a headspace. That belief sits right at the centre of why Braxton Studios exists — we're building world-class, cinema-grade production from Scotland, not despite it.
Part of our mission as a studio is to help put Scotland on the map as a genuine creative force — championing Scottish talent, stories, and craft on the same stage as the biggest names in the industry. Cannes Lions 2026 was a reminder of exactly how far that ambition can travel, streamed from a desk in Scotland or not. We're backing Scotland to be recognised as Creative Country of the Year, and we intend to play our part in getting it there.