I went to Disney’s Breakthrough Storytelling session at the Debussy Theatre. Sterling K. Brown was there with the writer of Paradise, who also wrote Crazy Stupid Love and worked on This Is Us. They talked about the power of emotional storytelling and writing characters that feel real. One quote that stuck with me: “You have to fight very hard for normalcy.” It was all about how great stories connect across screens by staying human and honest.
At the Rotonde stage, Brent Mitchell from Sephora and R/GA tackled “Enshittification”. This is the process on how to unshittify your company. The main cause of shittification is bad customer experiences. Every poor interaction acts like a negative ad for your brand. Brent pointed out that most brand marketers actually control less than 25% of the seven core customer experience disciplines, yet every touchpoint shapes perception. Sephora’s success shows how flipping this mindset works. The brand was founded on the idea that customer experience is the brand itself. He also highlighted how Sephora’s social content doubles as real-time CX storytelling. For example, beauty advisors share tutorials and tips, turning advice into peer-to-peer content that reinforces trust and community.
I attended Apple’s Human After All session at Lumiere Theatre. Simon Cook from Cannes Lions kicked things off. Greg  Joswiak, Apple’s CMO (SVP Worldwide Marketing), took the stage after. He said great marketing has to make you feel something and humans do emotion better than AI. Thus, AI won’t kill or save advertising. They showed how Apple ads tap into emotion and privacy. AirPods as clinical-grade hearing aids, Safari promoting private browsing, real photos in Shot on iPhone, and immersive campaigns like Submerged and Severance marketing in Grand Central Station. I learned that Apple relies on human insight, intense attention to detail, and has an optimistic vision for the future of advertising.
I went to Duolingo’s talk at the Rotonde. Duo the Owlingo was beyond adorable. CMO Emmanuel Orssaud said it’s not the owl or TikTok that made them blow. It was giving themselves permission to break traditional rules. Their superpowers are creative freedom, risk-taking, and agility. He said start with ideas, not money, because money can’t fix bad ideas. They also talked about how language and culture are connected (like how Squid Game sparked a 40% jump in Korean learners). Duolingo is planning to incorporate long-form content, an animated series, and even a Duolingo game show.
This day I only attended 4 talks because we had a meeting with 2 alumni from the University of Miami that counted as our 5th talk of the day! It was a truly eye-opening experiences. I loved hearing actual stories of how students get into the industry and how their career path can change so much. After that, we attended the award show. I had never been to something like this before and it was absolutely insane! My favorite work from this night was the Chicago Hearing Society - Caption With Intention.