Cannes Confessionals #3: The Funnel is Now a Tunnel

On day 3 of the Cannes Festival of Creativity, 20205, I bring you some more retail media insights from the Croisette: a conversation with Microsoft's AI in advertising leader, leadership lessons from eBay's advertising chief, and how Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, ensures the company still acts like a startup.

Catch up on days 1 and 2:

• Cannes Confessionals #1: Where are all the brands?
• Cannes Confessionals #2: Retailers Should Tap Brand Budgets & Small Sellers

Microsoft's Copilot Ads Are Outperforming Traditional Search

I sat down with Paul Longo, Microsoft's GM of AI in Advertising, to understand how ads are actually performing in AI-powered environments. The results are eye-opening.

Microsoft was the first to embed ads in an AI LLM when they launched Bing Chat in 2023. But last October, they refreshed their approach as Copilot evolved into a more "companion-like" experience with memory and deeper personalization.

The performance gains are significant:

• 73% higher click-through rates compared to traditional search
• 16% stronger conversions
• 33% faster customer journeys when Copilot is part of the path to purchase

As Paul put it, "The traditional consumer funnel is turning into a tunnel" – conversational AI lets consumers get answers to multiple questions in real-time, dramatically compressing the purchase journey.

What this means for retail media: Brands need to prepare for sponsored placements that fit naturally within conversational answers rather than traditional search result grids.

The Power of Curious Leadership

Next I sat on a panel from the Women in Retail Media Collective, hosted by Criteo. The first panel discussion was about 'Breaking Through The Noise'.

One of my highlights was hearing from Elisabeth Rommel, who is the head of Advertising at eBay and I found her comments around leading from within to be very interesting. After two stints at Amazon she came in to eBay to lead Advertising Growth in 2021. Here's some highlights she said:

Use your credibility strategically: "I had advice of don't shy away from saying, 'at Amazon we did this.' Taking time and gaining trust has helped influence."

Speak the language of business: "Understanding how this helps the company and speaking with numbers has been key to getting our CFO's support and investment to grow."

Build options through curiosity: "Have options by connecting with people and being curious. If you don't ask, you don't get. When things don't go according to plan, if you've laid the groundwork, you can step aside and survey all the other things you could do."

Elisabeth also shared a story of refusing a poor management assignment, and being able to do so only because she'd built relationships across the organization. Listen to the podcast episode for the full story!

I was very glad to be part of this event with the Women in Retail Media Collective, a grassroots organization which has one bold goal: get 50% of speakers at industry events to be women. Learn more about the collective here and join in!

Speed is a Leadership Decision

Finally, Amazon's Andy Jassy was just named "Media Person of the Year" at Cannes Lions – a recognition of how fundamentally Amazon has reshaped the advertising landscape. From pioneering retail media networks to building the infrastructure that powers modern programmatic advertising, Amazon has consistently pushed the industry forward.

Here's a quote that stuck with me:

"Speed is very much a leadership decision. And if you want to move fast, you can move fast. You can't flip a switch and do it overnight, but it is a very intentional decision. And the reality is that when you're moving faster, you're experimenting faster, you're iterating for customers and inventing for customers more quickly."

The reality check: The pace of change is brisk, but it's never going to be slower than it is today. We can only count on having imperfect information, less time than we need, and competing priorities when making decisions.

Jassy's call to arms resonates: speed is a leadership decision. Amazon certainly doesn't get everything right, but they are also usually not late to the party on major initiatives.

For retail media leaders: In an environment where AI capabilities are evolving monthly and consumer behavior is shifting rapidly, the cost of moving too slowly may outweigh the risk of imperfect execution.

That's it for today! Tune in tomorrow for the final edition of Cannes Confessionals.