But the day started with an icon who barely needs naming. Oprah. Or just “O”.

Oprah is often called a ‘brand’, but repeatedly rejected the label since it was first attached to her in 1989. 
Forbes ranks her “the No.1 Greatest Living Self-made American”, rising from extreme poverty to billionaire and media force. 
But her framing has never been scale, rather it’s service.
That’s why she’s this year’s recipient of Cannes LionHeart Award, which recognises those who use creativity, influence and leadership as a force for good.

“Why am I really here?” is the question underneath everything she’s done, she said.
And of every guest she’s ever had, she’s asked:
‘What is your intention, what do you want to happen here?

She told a story about staying with Nelson Mandela for 10 days. 
When she left, she wanted to give a gift. A candle wasn’t quite enough. 
So she built a school in his honour. Mandela told her to put her name on it. She nearly didn’t.

For her, it was a tension between legacy and ego, platform and purpose.

The next big session of the day was Open AI.
The tone in the hour-long queue was definitely more anxious.
OpenAI’s Denise Dresser didn’t dismiss the anxiety around the threat of AI. 
Instead, the former accountant framed it as: “Excel never got rid of an accountant. It just changed what accountants do.”
Musing that “AI isn’t the threat. It’s the substrate. An accelerant”.

But there’s a split emerging, really interesting perspectives. Everyone agrees AI amplifies. Fewer agree on what they’re amplifying.

As the inimitable Rory Sutherland says it bluntly:
Technology creates homogenisation.
Creativity creates distinctions.

Yet brands are rushing to build “AI strategies” instead of answering a more uncomfortable question: what do we actually stand for?

My prediction that 2025 would be the year of humanity was wrong. 
It’s 2026.
Because now brand builders matter more than ever. 
Not the ones chasing tools. 
The ones still asking: why are we really here?

I feel overwhelmingly positive about the future.
Sure, the tools and the tech are cool.
But the tech is enabling inspiring works of creativity, it’s unleashing good humans, people with real purpose who want to change the world for good.
Last night’s golds and Grands Prix were a demonstration of that.

Here’s to the LionHearted.

🦁