Carat vs Digitas

The Juror’s Perspective: ISO Creative Use of the Power of Media

New blog post from Carat offering a juror's perspective on creative use of media power at Cannes Lions.

Pringles launches Mars-era social campaign 'Du auch?'

Pringles has launched its first major campaign under new owner Mars in Germany, introducing the claim “Du auch?” as part of a broader international “Pass the Pringles” identity. The integrated campaign emphasizes “social snacking” and includes a public social experiment with creators handing and sharing Pringles cans to create recognisable social moments. Media execution, planned by Dentsu’s Carat, uses a mix of (D)OOH focused on major cities, online video (primarily YouTube), VOD, social channels (Instagram and TikTok) and retail media. Creative and branding partners named are AMV BBDO (creative) and Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR). The article notes that although Mars moved its global media account from WPP to Publicis in mid‑2025, Pringles’ European media business appears to remain with Carat.

• Pringles launched a German campaign under new owner Mars with the claim “Du auch?”.
• The campaign is part of the international “Pass the Pringles” identity and highlights a concept described as “Social Snacking”.
• Media mix announced by MEEDIA: (D)OOH, online video (primarily YouTube), Video on Demand, Social Media (Instagram and TikTok) and Retail Media.

AI Exposes Poor Marketing Data Quality

The article argues that widespread adoption of AI in marketing amplifies the risks of poor data quality, since models produce confident outputs regardless of data reliability. Subu Desaraju — who leads commercial and operations at iceDQ and previously worked at Tempur-Pedic, Digitas, WPP and MRM — advises focusing data checks at the source and outlines two practical frameworks: trace a campaign backward to find gaps, and build solutions across people, process, and tools. The piece warns that consumer-facing industries are especially lax about data systems compared with regulated sectors, and cites Gartner’s estimate that poor data quality costs organizations roughly $15 million per year.

• Subu Desaraju leads commercial and operations at iceDQ, a data reliability platform.
• Desaraju previously worked on people-based marketing at Digitas, at WPP, and led global data and analytics at MRM; he also worked with the author at Tempur-Pedic building data warehouses and CRM strategies.
• Desaraju recommends two frameworks to improve marketing data: (1) trace a campaign backward to identify gaps, and (2) build solutions across people, process, and tools.

Commerce Media Elevates Agencies into Growth Orchestrators

A Cannes roundtable of industry leaders argues that commerce media has evolved from a lower-funnel, conversion-focused channel into a strategic, full-funnel marketing opportunity. Panelists — including senior figures from Albertsons Media Collective, Digitas North America, dentsu and Omnicom — said agencies are no longer just media buyers but consultants and orchestrators that connect retailers, brands, creative, technology and measurement to drive business growth. Examples cited include creator partnerships, conversational commerce experiences and micro-drama content series built on first-party data. The group emphasized faster operating models, always-on briefs and shared data and measurement between retailers, agencies and brands as necessary conditions for commerce media to reach its full potential.

• A Cannes roundtable included Brian Monahan (Albertsons Media Collective), Amy Lanzi (Digitas North America), Kavita Cariapa (dentsu) and Claudia Johnson (Omnicom).
• Panelists argued commerce/retail media now spans the full customer journey from awareness through purchase, not only lower-funnel conversion.
• Agencies are repositioning as consultants and orchestrators, integrating merchandising, creative, retail data, media investment and measurement around commercial outcomes.

Advertising Goes Predictive with Deep Learning

Adweek's Adspeak podcast features Jeremy Fain, co-founder and CEO of Cognitiv, discussing how deep learning is transforming advertising by leveraging massive datasets, predictive algorithms and real-time optimization. The conversation emphasizes using first-party data, granular audience signals and log-level data frameworks to predict creative performance before impressions are bought, run continuous learning loops, personalize creative, and improve targeting. Fain frames AI as an efficiency multiplier that can unlock incremental gains at scale — citing the competitive value of relatively small percentage improvements when applied broadly — and stresses that deep learning in marketing is fundamentally a big-data problem rather than merely a creative tool.

• Adweek published an Adspeak podcast episode featuring Jeremy Fain discussing deep learning in advertising.
• Jeremy Fain is identified as co-founder and CEO of Cognitiv.
• The episode emphasizes using first-party data, granular audience signals and a log-level data framework for algorithm performance and predictive targeting.