CEO Roundtables · Leaders from over 20 countries
5 insights we took
away from Cannes
Closed-door tables where leaders from holding companies and independents across LatAm, Brazil and the United States talked about what actually worries them. Cross-checked with the fourth edition of the COR Report, with responses from 18 countries.
of leaders feel excited or cautiously optimistic about the current changes. Outside, people say agencies are disappearing. Inside, eight out of ten don't experience it as a threat.
The industry isn't disappearing. It's reorganizing.
AI maturity · adopting isn't integrating
Usage is everywhere. Measured impact, almost nowhere.
of agencies use AI somewhere in their operation
have it integrated with impact that's actually measured
Token costs dropped between 80% and 90%. The total AI cost per agency went up 15% to 20%: because it feels almost free, it gets used without limits. A new fixed cost that entered the structure completely blind.
First you organize the operation, then you accelerate. Never the other way around.
Talent · the missing rung
Talent isn't replaced, it's trained differently.
can't retain their key talent
can't find data, AI and strategy profiles
The two pains are nearly tied, and it's the worst possible combination: one pushes salaries up, the other caps the ability to take on new work. On top of that, 23.2% already have fewer junior roles and 27.5% are re-skilling the ones they have.
If the junior work gets automated, where do the seniors of 2030 come from?
Structures · the word is governance
Holdcos vs. independents: no structure wins by default.
that the big players will run with less headcount and more automation
Holding companies
They win on control, they lose agility. Everything audited, everything controlled, and every decision goes through twenty filters.
Independents
They win on flexibility, they lose traceability. They pay for licenses across several platforms without knowing who uses them or where they create value.
The winner is the one that organizes its operation and decides with data. Size matters less than order.
Fees · the conversation flipped
Today AI helps the client push harder more than it helps the agency defend itself.
agencies have profitability as their main operational challenge
managed to use AI as an argument to defend or raise fees
Whoever shows up with evidence doesn't ask, they justify.
Human value · what doesn't get commoditized
AI accelerates. It doesn't create.
AI can
- — Process millions of references
- — Generate volume at a speed once unthinkable
- — Speed up execution
- — Recombine what already exists
AI can't
- — Hold a point of view of its own
- — Truly move someone
- — Produce something genuinely new
- — Sustain judgment, strategy and the client relationship
Execution used to be the hard part. Today anyone does it in minutes. Scarcity is no longer in execution: what's scarce is the idea.
The human and the operational don't compete. They hold each other up.
Conclusion
AI stopped being the topic.
The topic is the agency.
How it organizes itself, how it decides, how it bills, how it takes care of its people and how it explains to the client what it's doing. The leaders navigating this moment best aren't the ones with the most advanced technology. They're the ones who organized their operation, walk into conversations with data and protect human judgment inside their teams.
01
Organize before accelerating
Understand where time goes and which account actually makes money.
02
Negotiate with evidence
Real costs, measured time, margins per client.
03
Rethink how talent is trained
Mentoring and craft training become essential.
04
Stop selling hours. Charge for impact
If price is tied to time, every improvement pays you less.
Data from the COR Report, fourth edition · Conversations from the Cannes Lions CEO Roundtables, June 2026 · COR · Powered by data
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