It’s easy to get caught up in the new and shiny at Cannes. This year it was AI, last year it was the metaverse, the year before something we’ve already forgotten set to change the course of the industry forever more.

But this year we were interested in something a little more enduring, and that’s the idea of brands with a point of view. It might sound a little less exciting than a future written by robots, but hear us out…

We talk about Challengers as having a Lighthouse Identity, and it’s this that many of the brands that caught our attention at this year’s festival have in common. Success as a Challenger comes through developing a very clear sense of who or what you are as a brand or business, and why. And Challengers project this identity intensely, consistently, and saliently to the point where, like a lighthouse, consumers notice you even if they are not looking for you. According to Unilever’s Chief Digital and Commercial Officer Conny Braams, the “erosion of differentiation”, not navigating AI or the metaverse, is the biggest challenge facing brands today. And defining a Lighthouse Identity helps brands not just to stand out, but provides a compass to navigate change.

Dove is one of the most consistent examples of this at Cannes. In a world in which girls are too often held back by low self-esteem and anxiety about their looks, Dove believe that beauty should be a source of confidence - and everything they do supports their mission to make a positive experience of beauty accessible to all women. They have projected this clear perspective on the beauty category, and more broadly culture and society, for nearly twenty years. Winning 14 awards at this year’s festival alone, and for 7 campaigns in 5 different markets shows the power of an enduring point of view – this doesn’t have to mean doing the same old thing over and over.

In fact, they talk about this consistency as a compass that helps to navigate change and make even the hardest of decisions – “The decisions made 19 years ago still stand today – no celebrities, no digital enhancing. Having this compass helps us to navigate change – pandemic, metaverse. To be consistent you need to learn what are your boundaries – what a brand does, what a brand doesn’t what a brand says, what a brand doesn’t say – it’s about discipline and choicefulness” said Global CMO Alessandro Manfredi at this year’s festival. Their Grand Prix winning campaign ‘Turn your back’ took a stand against TikTok’s latest Bold Glamour digital beauty effect, a relevant fight for the brand to take on in a changing media landscape.

This idea of choicefulness, and sacrificing the things that don’t contribute to the brand to overcommit to those that do, was something we also heard from Sofia Colucci, CMO at Molson Coors. While much attention was on Bud Light’s more recent controversy, for Miller Lite, this sense of clarity on what they stand for provides an unwavering compass in a category trying to compete on the latest trend. As Colucci said – “We are a beer’s beer. We are unapologetically committed to beer. We would never launch a cucumber seltzer version of ourselves”.

And even behind the biggest winners in AI sat brands with a clear central message. Nike have built their brand on the idea of potential unlocked by ground-breaking innovation – for Nike everybody is an athlete, and their mission to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world champions progress from the everyday all the way to the sporting elite. Nike and AKQA’s Grand Prix Winner ‘Never done evolving’ told this story through an AI simulation of Serena Williams vs Serena Williams through the ages. A brilliant demonstration of the power of AI – but nothing without the consistency of Nike’s core and enduring point of view.

Susie Milburn is a Strategy Director at eatbigfish.