This Is Our Era

By Analisa Goodin, Founder & CEO of Catch+Release‍

Back at Cannes and It’s Not the Same

A lot has changed since I last attended Cannes in 2019. Some things haven’t: too much rosé, not enough food, and inspiring conversations with strangers by the beach. (Wyclef Jean and Anderson. Paak were standouts)

But this year, the energy felt different. The presence of traditional creatives and producers, the heartbeat of the industry was thinner. Major agencies were quieter (Stagwell’s Sport Beach was a notable exception, and a great one). One longtime creative buddy said to me, “This is my last Cannes. There’s nothing here for me anymore.”

It wasn’t bitter. It was just a shift. A signal.

The Street Is Where the Pulse Lives Now

This time, I didn’t step into the Palais. I stayed on the street and that’s where the real energy was. Platforms were hosting and creators were everywhere. TikTok had lines wrapped around the block. It felt young, global, and full of momentum.

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I moved from meeting to meeting, talking with founders, marketers, creators, and investors but one thought kept echoing in my mind:

This is our era.

And by our, I don’t just mean platforms or founders.

I mean the builders. The creators. The technologists. The marketers. The ones experimenting, iterating, and pushing the edges of what’s possible. The ones inventing new tools and using them to tell new kinds of stories.

A New Kind of Creative Leadership

We’re stepping into a new era of creative leadership. One that isn’t confined to agency walls or legacy credentials. One that’s decentralized, dynamic, and deeply connected to culture.

Today’s leaders are as fluent in brand as they are in product. As focused on story as they are on scale. They understand that taste is not something you can outsource and neither is vision.

This generation of creatives and technologists isn’t asking for permission. They’re building the future in real time.

Let’s Not Lose the Why

If I had one note for Cannes in this new era, it’s this: Don’t forget the why.

There was plenty of conversation about the how: AI, measurement, outsourcing, automation. But far less about the why: the craft, the emotion, the message. The thing that makes a brand memorable. The thing that makes a story resonate.

As we embrace speed, automation, and scale, we cannot lose the spark. The story still matters. The artistry still matters. The brand still matters.

This Is the Moment

So, to the creators, the product thinkers, the strategists, the weirdos, and the builders. This is our time.

Let’s build tools that elevate great stories. Let’s create platforms that value originality. Let’s lead with taste, with intention, and with heart.

This is our era and we’re just getting started.