Top Tips for Cannes
“Landfill Billboard” – Emanuele Morelli
A single Midjourney-generated image, a lone billboard for Shein perched above a mountain of textile waste, lands harder than any 60-second PSA. By weaponizing the very AI that fuels ultra-fast fashion, Morelli turns visual irony into visceral outrage, sparking instant behavioural intent.
Apple AirPods 4 “Someday” – Spike Jonze × Pedro Pascal
Five-and-a-half minutes of pure cinema: heartbreak, greyscale cityscape, then a bloom of colour as noise-cancellation flips on and Pascal dances his way back to joy. Jonze treats the product as a plot device, not a prop, and the result is a short film that holds attention the way only Hollywood craft can. We’ve found that biometric data shows that when high-production storytelling and A-list talent create a “lean-in” viewing moment, emotional arousal and visual attention scores climb in lock-step. In short, cinematic immersion isn’t indulgence; it’s effectiveness.
Hellmann’s “When Sally Met Hellmann’s” – Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal & Sydney Sweeney
Re-staging Katz’s Deli 36 years later is more than nostalgia—it’s brand storytelling hijacking film history. By recruiting the original stars (plus Gen-Z magnet Sydney Sweeney) and replaying an iconic scene with a mayo twist, the spot collapses generations and turns a condiment into a cultural co-conspirator. The emotional warmth of humour-plus-nostalgia not only delivers significant lifts in brand favourability it also positively impacts on “intent to purchase”. Hollywood talent drives the emotions; the emotions drive the outcomes.
Tanya Easterman is CMO of DiO.
