As leaders head into Cannes this year, there will be plenty to talk about: AI, commerce media, identity, data collaboration, consolidation, curation, and measurement. Each one will shape how marketers plan, activate, and prove impact in the years ahead.
But the bigger conversation will be about the foundations underneath them. The market is becoming more connected, operationally complex, and concentrated, which makes independent, interoperable infrastructure more valuable. Brands, agencies, platforms, publishers, commerce media networks (CMNs) and data partners all need systems that can work together with trust, flexibility, and control.
The question I expect to hear at Cannes is: are your foundations strong enough to support connected growth?
Infrastructure now shapes how marketing works
Marketing infrastructure used to be easy to overlook. It sat behind the scenes moving data between teams, platforms, and partners, so campaigns could run and reports could get built. That view is too narrow now.
The choices companies make around data, identity, activation, collaboration, and measurement, now shape what they can do. Those choices affect which partners a brand can work with, how easily teams can connect customer signals, how quickly campaigns can move, and how clearly performance can be measured.
The more connected the ecosystem becomes, the more valuable interoperability becomes. Marketers need infrastructure that can work across agencies, platforms, publishers, commerce media networks, clean rooms, cloud environments, and connected TV (CTV). Not infrastructure tied too tightly to one commercial system or strategies that work well in one environment but break down everywhere else. Marketing needs room to adapt.
Identity connects the customer view
Identity is the connective layer that helps marketers understand who they’re trying to reach across data sources, devices, and partners. It’s the foundation that helps teams connect signals in a governed, privacy-safe way so they can plan, activate, and measure from a more consistent view of the customer.
Without that foundation every downstream decision gets weaker. Teams may have more data than ever, but they still struggle to connect it into a clear picture of who they’re trying to reach. That matters more as customers move across devices, channels, platforms, and media environments constantly. No single partner sees the full picture and no single channel carries the full journey. That’s why interoperability matters. Identity has to connect across the market, not sit inside one closed workflow.
AI raises the standard for trusted inputs and independent decisioning
AI will be one of the biggest topics at Cannes. It’s already changing how teams think about planning, decisioning, optimization, and measurement. AI makes trusted data matter more, especially as more decisions depend on the quality of the signals behind them.
AI systems are only as strong as the data feeding them, the identity layer connecting that data, and the governance controlling how that data is used. Marketers also need to understand which signals AI is using, which signals it may be favoring, and how much control the brand retains. Brands need more visibility into the intelligence guiding their investments.
This is where many leaders will need to pressure-test their strategies: are AI decisions based on data you can trust, test, govern, and move across the partners that matter to your business?
The AI conversation should always come back to data quality, identity, governance, transparency, and trust.
Commerce media needs pathways beyond owned environments
Commerce media has created powerful new opportunities for brands and commerce platforms. Commerce environments sit close to intent and can help advertisers understand what people search for, compare, consider, and buy. The next phase is about scale.
CMNs have valuable shopper and transaction signals, but owned inventory can limit reach and create friction for advertisers trying to work across many networks. The next step is helping advertisers use those audiences beyond the network’s own site or app, across channels like CTV, social, and programmatic. That requires an identity foundation that can connect customer records, reduce duplicate profiles, improve audience accuracy, and support activation and measurement across the platforms advertisers already use, without turning every campaign into a separate workflow.
This creates another path for CMNs to grow alongside their media business. It gives them more ways to create value from the signals they already have, and it gives advertisers more consistent ways to activate audiences across the market.
Curation brings data closer to supply
Curation is gaining attention for a reason. It connects audience intelligence and supply at the point of activation. Done well, it helps marketers bring data, context, and inventory together in a more intentional way. But curation only works when the foundation is strong.
It needs trusted identity, high-quality data, clear rules for how signals are used, and supply paths that marketers can understand and measure. It also needs the ability to optimize as campaigns run, so audiences, inventory, and outcomes are not treated as static decisions.
This is where curation can become more than another media tactic. It can become a practical way to connect intelligence with action, giving brands more control over where and how data informs media decisions.
Measurement is where trust is earned
Every growth conversation eventually comes back to proof. Leaders need to know what worked, where it worked, and for whom. They need to understand how activation influenced outcomes across channels and partners. They need confidence that the systems behind those answers are transparent enough to guide future decisions. Measurement confidence depends on the same foundations as everything else: identity, data quality, interoperability, collaboration, and governance. That’s why measurement should be designed into the strategy from the start.
The Cannes conversations that will matter most
The most valuable Cannes conversations this year may not be about chasing the next idea. They may be about asking better questions.
- Can our identity framework adapt as the market changes?
- Can our data strategy work across partners without locking us into one system?
- Do we know which customer signals our AI systems are using, which ones they’re prioritizing, and whether we can test that intelligence outside one system?
- Can our commerce media and curation strategies scale with control?
- Can our measurement framework give us confidence across the full journey?
At Experian, we sit across the ecosystem as an independent identity and data partner built to support flexibility, governance, and interoperability. As the market keeps changing, our role is to help you preserve control. Not by forcing a single path, but by helping identity, data, activation, and measurement work together across the broader market. For leaders heading to Cannes, that’s the conversation worth having.
About the author
Kevin Dunn
Chief Revenue Officer, Experian
Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships.
Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together.
Latest posts
Tapad, part of Experian, partners with Freckle IoT to enable cross-device offline attribution for brands
Featured stories from Experian MarketingThe Tapad Device Graph™ Complements Freckle’s IoT Capabilities to Extend Scale and Precision of Audience Data New York, NY — December 6, 2017 — Tapad, part of Experian, is the leader in cross-device marketing technology and Freckle IoT, the global leader in multi-touch, offline attribution, today announced they are partnering to provide brands with a holistic and insightful view of their customers, in predefined locations in all global markets. Starting today Freckle IoT will be leveraging the Tapad Device Graph™ to supplement the company’s data set to offer brands more granular attribution data. Consumer’s online behavior is becoming more and more complex, with the average consumer owning three or more devices and 35 percent of consumers converting on a different device from the one on which they started their research. These interactions become even more complicated when considering how online interactions and media impact offline sales. The collaboration between Tapad and Freckle, which combines Freckle IoT’s persistent location data with Tapad’s proprietary cross-device technology, is an important step in empowering brands with the information they need to better understand how digital media, consumed across multiple devices, is impacting offline attribution. Using its opt-in, first-party data, Freckle IoT helps brands measure the effectiveness of their advertising by independently matching media spend to in-store visits. Tapad’s technology extends Freckle’s data-set by allowing brands to access additional deterministic and probabilistic data, at scale and across all devices, to analyze consumer behavior ahead of in-store purchase. “Combining our technology with Tapad’s identity-driven solutions was a natural fit for our business,” said Neil Sweeney, founder and CEO at Freckle IoT. “With our unbiased, agnostic measurement and Tapad’s precise and privacy-safe data set, we knew this partnership would be a strong complement to providing more effective results for the needs of our brand partners.” For more information on Freckle IoT’s measurement offerings, please visit www.freckleiot.com. Contact us today
Tapad, part of Experian, gathers momentum in EMEA with extensive growth across key markets
Featured stories from Experian MarketingLondon – 24 November, 2017 – Tapad, part of Experian, is the leader in cross-device marketing technology and continues to broaden its reach across EMEA. The business today reported a 20 percent growth in the scope of its regional device graph, a data set used by organisations to map consumers to their devices, enabling better, more personalised cross-device marketing. This news complements Tapad’s recent expansion of its UK team with the hire of experienced solutions engineer, Davide Rosamilia. As the demand for cross-device technology solutions continues to grow around the globe, coupled with the emergence of regulations such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Tapad is committed to offering suppliers the greatest level of insight without compromising consumer privacy. Since Tapad started licensing its proprietary Tapad Device GraphTM just over a year ago, demand for the company’s technology has experienced significant growth. New supply partnerships and proactive data sourcing have also meant an increase in devices across key markets, which contribute to the overall 20 percent growth of the EMEA device graph, including a 44 percent increase in the U.K., 47 percent in France, and 85 percent in Germany. “We’re continuing to invest heavily in growing our regional device graph, allowing us to better meet the needs of EMEA marketers as they strive to reach individuals with greater precision in some of the most tightly regulated marketplaces worldwide,” said Tom Rolph, VP EMEA, Tapad. “This year, we have also welcomed 10 new data suppliers whom we’ve helped to increase cross-device amplification, attribution and audience extension, helping to further set us apart in the marketplace and successfully expand our EMEA presence.” Available around the world, the Device Graph provides access to Tapad’s globally compliant and privacy-safe datasets across EMEA, APAC and the U.S., and offers deeper knowledge of consumer preferences, purchase intent, and conversion behaviors. “Tapad has shown a unique ability to adapt to the nuances of the local EMEA market and display impressive growth without sacrificing dedication to privacy,” said Alistair Hill, CEO and Co-founder at On Device Research. “When we started vetting technology vendors, we needed to be sure that we selected a partner that could offer compliant and privacy-safe datasets to operate within our stringent data standards. Tapad’s probabilistic solution offered us greater scale, greater device reach, and increased engagement without compromising on privacy.” Contact us today
Sizmek partners with Tapad, part of Experian, to power global cross-device reach with best-in-class privacy
Featured stories from Experian MarketingThe Tapad Device Graph™ Will Expand Sizmek’s Cross-Device Reach and Improve the Efficiency and Precision of Digital Advertising NEW YORK, November 16, 2017 — Tapad, part of Experian and a leader in cross-device marketing technology, today announced a new global partnership with Sizmek, the largest independent buy-side advertising platform delivering impressions that inspire. By integrating the Tapad Device Graph™, Sizmek will enhance its AI-powered predictive capabilities to deliver accurate, cross-device messaging at global scale in a privacy-safe environment. Combined with Sizmek’s existing data enablement, creative optimization and media execution capabilities, the proprietary Tapad Device Graph improves the efficiency and precision of digital advertising by accurately matching people and devices. This enables advertisers to get a clear view of individual customer journeys, achieve scale without compromising on efficiency, and uncover new opportunities for conversion. Sizmek’s customers will have access to Tapad’s globally compliant and privacy-safe datasets across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. With deeper knowledge of consumer preferences, purchase intent and conversion behaviors, Sizmek and its customers are able to enhance advertising strategies including cross-device audience identification and more. “Tapad is known for their strong cross-device capabilities, and their offering is an excellent addition to our growing program for best-of-breed data and measurement partners” says Mike Caprio, Sizmek’s Chief Growth Officer. “For our customers, this partnership will add further people-based marketing precision and reach to our comprehensive offerings around creative optimization, data enablement and media execution.” This partnership comes at a time of a massive shift in the marketing technology industry. Companies like Tapad and Telenor, as well as Rocket Fuel and Sizmek, are joining forces to adopt those technologies that are most efficient and accurate at reaching consumers at scale in a personalized and non-intrusive way. The combination of Tapad and Sizmek’s offerings will provide international marketers with exceptional resources to lead a more cost effective and results driven campaign. Contact us today