The Wrap Up Newsletter | 🦁 What Cannes 2025 Got Right About Brand

Lions Unleashed 🦁

What Cannes 2025 Got Right (and Missed) About Brand
✍️ By Sam Carter, CEO of Fospha

At Cannes Lions this year, one word kept surfacing: brand.

In a performance-obsessed world, brand feels harder to defend. It doesn’t show up in ROAS or fit neatly into a reporting cycle. But that doesn’t mean it’s not driving results.

As Rory Sutherland put it, “A brand is like a pension… one day you wake up and go: bloody hell, where did all this equity come from?”

He’s right. Our data at Fospha shows brands investing more than 10% in upper-funnel activity see 2x the overall marketing efficiency. But belief isn’t the issue — buy-in is.

To protect brand budgets, we need better evidence. That’s why we’ve identified early signals—like branded search and engaged visits—that connect brand activity to business outcomes.

👉 Read the full article
📊 Download the Glow Report to explore the data behind the brand debate.

Sector Spotlight 🎥

CORPORATE GIFTING

Make Your Corporate Gifts Stand Out With Thoughtfulness And Personalization

Corporate gifting enhances business relationships by showing appreciation and reinforcing brand values. For optimal impact, gifts should be personalized, well-presented, locally sourced, and delivered timely with branded messages.

LUXURY GIFTING STRATEGIES

Year-Round Gift Giving Etiquette for Meaningful Connections Through Thoughtful Gifting

Baskits offers a curated selection of gift baskets for year-round occasions, emphasizing thoughtful, personalized, and timely gifts. By focusing on recipients' preferences and avoiding common gifting mistakes, it ensures meaningful connections. This approach provides marketing professionals with insights into building customer loyalty and enhancing brand perception through strategic gift-giving.

HOLIDAY MARKET INSIGHTS

Holiday Shopper Insights and Emerging Trends in Global and Organic Products

KeHE Distributors' recent holiday show highlighted growing interest in natural and organic products, reflecting a shift toward health-focused shopping. Consumers are adapting to changing circumstances by seeking value through private labels and innovative global foods. Marketers should note the potential for strategic growth in these trends as consumers prioritize both affordable luxury and wellness-driven choices.

MARKETING INSIGHTS

Hybrid Physical-Digital Campaigns Boost B2B Engagement And Accelerate Deal Closure

Sendoso's blog emphasizes the importance of experience-led B2B marketing in 2025, highlighting hybrid physical-digital campaigns that enhance engagement by 68% and close deals 29% faster. These insights showcase how innovative strategies address digital fatigue and drive measurable marketing outcomes for professionals focused on transformative marketing practices.

CELEBRATION TRENDS

Celebration Insights Drive Future Consumer Trends for 2026 and Beyond

TrendBible's upcoming Seasonal and Celebration subscription offers actionable insights into consumer behavior, crucial for brands aiming to stay ahead in the 2026 celebration market. By analyzing trends in decoration, gifts, and gatherings, marketers can effectively tailor product design and marketing strategies. The service includes detailed forecasts and PANTONE color palettes to aid in creative decision-making.

🏆 Announcing the ClickZ 25 of 25 Awards –
Powered by Fospha

While the world’s eyes were on Cannes last week, we’ve been spotlighting a different kind of creativity.

The ClickZ 25of25 Awards spotlights 25 standout DTC and digital-first campaigns that drove real impact this year — across five key sectors: luxury, beauty, wellness, home, and fashion.

Each winner represents smart, scaled, creatively sharp marketing — and we’re thrilled to celebrate their work.

You’ll find the full list — plus sector breakdowns and creative highlights — in our full awards report.

📥 Download the full report below

👉 Got a standout campaign or behind-the-scenes story to share? ClickZ is always looking to spotlight fresh creative — reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

ECOMMERCE TRENDS

eCommerce Marketing Trends to Know of in 2025

In 2025, eCommerce marketing is driven by five crucial trends:

• personalization and enhanced customer experiences using data and AI

• the rise of mobile commerce and shoppable content

• the impact of social commerce coupled with influencer marketing

• the importance of data analytics and marketing automation

• the evolving roles of SEO and content marketing.

These trends highlight the strategic use of technology and platforms in capturing and retaining customers, emphasizing the need for tailored experiences, efficient data handling, and adaptive marketing strategies for professionals in the field.

GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS

Geographic Insights Help Brands Expand Into Underserved Markets With Amazon DSP

Geographic Insights and Activation (GIA) on Amazon DSP empowers marketers to efficiently tap into underpenetrated markets by leveraging Amazon's first-party data.

This tool enables advertisers to identify high-potential geographic areas, optimize campaigns, and combine online and offline sales data for improved reach and ROI. By addressing challenges of localized personalization and operational friction, GIA offers a precise means to enhance advertising effectiveness and expand customer bases.