Okay, so I'm going to start with a bit

of audience participation because I know

people love this early in the morning.

I wanted to get a show of hands.

Who thinks brands are taking fewer risks

in marketing today than 10 years ago?

So maybe being too short-termist,

following the data. Going to stick your

hand in the air.

Okay, so I think we've got a pretty

confident bunch here actually. Okay.

Anyway, for for those of you who aren't

sure, this panel's going to be all about

the risks of playing it safe in

marketing. And I'm hoping you can leave

full of inspiration and with ideas about

how to improve the work that you're

doing in your own marketing departments.

Um so I wanted to start by asking each

of you about a time when you took a risk

in your marketing recently. And

Elizabeth, how about I start with you?

When have you taken a risk?

>> Uh sure. I think the thing that comes to

mind when you ask that question is when

we made a decision to start our in-house

agency on brand.

>> Okay.

>> And

let me tell you a little bit

about it. When I slipped into the seat

uh there were about six people in the in

the agency working on internal comms.

And I really felt like those

capabilities could be a significant

differentiator.

Um and being forward fast forward to

today and we've got 150-plus

team both based in New York and Atlanta.

And you ask why was it a risk? You know,

to sort of take it. If you think about

it, the type of people investment that

you have to make

to be committed to something like that.

And you're actually showcasing to your

internal clients

that you can do amazing quality work.

Uh that you're going to deliver on a

promise of quicker speed to market with

qua- cost efficiencies as well. And so

for me, it was convincing those internal

clients

uh that this was a differentiator in

terms of having those teams of brand

insiders

uh who could deliver on that promise

beam forward uh and we've done it I

think one campaign at a time, one client

at a time in terms of making a

difference.

>> And by clients you mean the C-suite?

>> Yes. Acro- acro- across the yeah across

the board. And I think for us it was

really a focus on leveling up the

standard of creative excellence uh while

delivering on that promise of speed to

market and and efficiency.

>> And I imagine that they have

relationships with your external

agencies too, right? And those that you

had to say goodbye to. Was was that part

of the persuasion?

>> Well, it absolutely is, but I think

we've come to uh

a formula that I think is the right one

for us in terms of a nice mix of those

external agencies as well as on brand.

And I think those perspectives both

internal and external are really

important uh to have great work.

>> Yeah, to keep you on your kind of

creative toes, I guess.

>> Exactly.

>> And Fabiola, how about yourself? A risk

that you took as a marketer recently?

>> Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Uh

well, we've been uh in this

re-invigoration journey and I don't know

if you heard about uh Cat's Eye Better

in Denim.

>> Yeah.

>> Uh we we took a big risk. You know, it's

it's only been

10 11 months since we launched it and it

feels like it was 5 years ago.

Um

we

we're leading we're this brand that is

an iconic American brand and when you

have so much to honor and to respect the

brand codes and the brand values and the

DNA of the brand, uh uh everything is at

risk, right? Because the brand has been

resting for a little bit before that.

And we needed to make sure that we get

the uh

the opportunity to reconnect with people

by Recruit Agency. That was very, very

intentional. And I think we did it. We

We broke the internet a little bit uh

for the first uh few days of the

campaign, but it was more importantly to

us to make sure that we have a point of

view, we draw we draw distinction, we

show authentically gap, and in a modern

way.

>> And what was the risk element of that?

What How were you feeling at the time?

Like the day before the launch?

>> I I think it was before then, when we

were shooting them. It's a lot of skin,

uh different genre,

uh new talent. They were not famous yet

when we actually uh showcased them. They

were out of the academy. It was betting

in talent, betting in our different

point of view. Uh when we were on set, I

I told my team, "I feel like this is

going to be the best one yet." Um

because it felt so so different, but it

was risk at everything. The The outfits,

the genre, the the talent, the the point

of view itself. And we launched a a a

2-minute um

content out there. So, it was everything

around every marketing lever were was a

risk.

>> Mhm. Mhm.

Um Now, Manu, I I wondered if you could

take us back to I'm guessing this would

have been 2022.

And you're with your CEO, I imagine. I'm

just creating this scene. So, you're

with your CEO, and you're like, "Right,

we're we're buying a Super Bowl ad.

Not one of the big ones. It's just going

to be 5 seconds. We're We're cool with

that.

But it's just going to feature our owl

farting out his own head.

>> Yes.

>> How did that go down?

>> Um, it was very weird.

>> [laughter]

>> Um,

but I think we proved that our content

first strategy over the years on social

media,

uh, really has paid off for the business

and we're able to build a brand that

really stood out. And what we said is,

okay, we don't want to spend crazy money

on Super Bowl. We're going to do a local

buy across different DMAs in the US.

And we could only afford 5 seconds. And

the idea was I could

>> is 5 seconds in a local buy?

>> We $700,000.

>> Okay. And so, by contrast, it would be

like what, eight eight million now is it

for 30 seconds in a national spot?

>> yeah. So, it was a we produced that

internally. And uh, yeah. I mean, we

said, okay, well, if we only have 5

seconds, how can we make those 5 seconds

as impactful as we can?

And because we know we're very good at

creating content for social media, we

take that same approach brought the owl

to TV to uh, fart his own face and say,

"Do your Duolingo."

>> Was that your idea? Was it like do you

workshop a fart?

>> Yeah, yeah, we did. We actually had

someone practicing farting with his

armpit for a week to actually get the

sound right.

Um, and then that's how we actually came

up with the sound.

>> And is is he really good at it now, this

person?

>> at it.

>> He brings it out at all the parties.

>> It's his trademark sound now.

>> Um,

changing gear a little bit. Um, we're

talking about risks here. Um,

and I wonder what goes into scenario

planning nowadays as a marketer. Like

you you don't need me to tell you that

we're living in very volatile times,

things are changing, you've got the

speed of AI, you have economic

uncertainty.

What does scenario planning kind of look

like at each of your brands right now?

Um, Fabiola, how about if I kind of

start with you cuz I guess

in retail, too, like you're constantly

watching things changing across the

seasons. Do you have Is it like an A

plan or a B plan or a C plan or a D plan

or an E plan? Like, how does it work?

>> In product, uh, we do. In marketing, we

don't. It's just that we have plan A,

plan A A, and that's it. So, it's, um,

we need to make sure that I think in the

media buy, we do.

Uh, on the creative side, we don't. We

We want to be bold. We have a point of

view. If it doesn't work, if the

audience is not voting for us, we will

learn from it, and we will apply it for

the next production, next campaign, next

initiative, next collaboration.

But, um, that's who we are. So, we do a

lot of,

uh,

creative planning, but the scenarios is

always one scenario that we go and we go

to Verona.

>> Is that unusual amongst the the peer

set, Elizabeth? Is that I mean, or or is

that becoming more of the way?

>> So, when I think about, uh, our plans

for the year, the customer's at the

center of it. Uh, and if needs are

changing, then we're going to adapt, uh,

to those changes. But, at the center,

our customer's passions, uh, are ones

that you would imagine from a dining,

from a travel, from a music, from an

entertainment perspective. And we're

going to find where they are, um, in

those channels, in those high-intention

environments.

Um, and when you focus on the customer,

the the outcomes, uh, are usually the

the right ones, uh, at the end of the

day.

>> But, I guess cuz I'm thinking you've put

experiences at the heart of your

strategy, right?

>> That's absolutely

>> peop- things that people can feel and

see.

Um,

but, you know, those can change. A a

weather event can can change things.

>> You're absolutely right, but you know,

sort of at the core we have a playbook.

It's a a consistent playbook uh not only

in terms of, you know, that experience,

but we're thinking about the pain points

that a customer may have. So, a fast

entry into an arena as an example, uh

access to those tickets that you can't

get,

uh or, you know, discounts uh from a

concession perspective. That end-to-end

journey, you know, we also think about

the customer traveling there or the

dining experience that they want. So, I

think that's what's unique and

differentiated for us, the ability to

kind of think about that end-to-end

journey. As well as we're thinking about

journeys

uh you know, in real life, but also on

the couch as well. And both of those are

important um at you know, as we plan

things.

>> And at Duolingo you're quite kind of

reactive to social trends. You're I

mean, you're you're creating some

yourself, but you're also kind of diving

in, getting sort of salty in the

comments and things.

Is that like a a planned thing? Is that

trusting your team? Like, how does that

work?

>> I I mean, that's the that's the DNA of

the the company. You know, our business

is is a retention business, right? So,

for us it's about ensuring that people

come across our brand every day

regardless of of the platform,

regardless of the channel. And um that's

our goal. It's every day creating

something that people will care about,

that will motivate them to do that

lesson.

And uh we approach marketing the same

way that our product team approach uh

product, which is AB testing all the

time, launching new things,

understanding what works, reacting to

culture, seeing an opportunity, and

being very very very fast. And so, our

strategy is is more um

the planning of it is more the way we do

it, right? Versus big moments that are

um way ahead of us. It happens

sometimes, like Super Bowl for example

this year with Bad Bunny, that was an

opportunity for us. We We planned that

in advance, but the day-to-day is

extremely built around this AB testing

of everything, because channels change

so much, algorithms change so much. You

can't expect the same thing tomorrow as

it was yesterday. So, you always have to

experiment and iterate.

>> And I mean, with those algorithms, I

mean, I think a lot of people in this

room will probably agree that like the

the era of the big kind of hero film

that you run for 3 months is sort of

largely over. Um

and a lot of the stuff now, um because

we're audiences are fragmented, it's

difficult to reach a big uh viewership

other than Superbowl and and some live

sports. So, you've got to do more things

to cut through.

And I'm wondering maybe perhaps with

Fabi, we can we can begin. How in such a

fragmented world, how does that shift as

a marketer how you plan that real cut

through? I mean, Cats Eye being like one

of your standout moments this this year.

Um

how do you make sure that that gets

through on all these different channels,

whether be it TikTok, be it um the live

experience, be it in store?

>> Absolutely, and thank you, Anna. I agree

with both of you. Consumer first, being

agile, and and really making sure you

develop content for the platform. Cats

Eye was developed for TikTok. Was

produced and designed and briefed for

TikTok content. So, our strongest piece

was a 60-second

>> would have been TV back in the day,

right?

>> Yeah, maybe. Yes, yes, for sure. Uh but

right now, we we did it for TikTok. And

that was the biggest performer at

TikTok. Young Miko, our spring campaign,

was designed for YouTube. So, because it

was a 3-minute piece of content, but

even that, we create 15s and 6s and 30s

and everything according to the

platform. And we try to bring something

new and some cuts and edits and

everything. we create content for our

retail uh uh experiences as well. And

And it is important to make sure that

because it's consumer first, it's

audience first, we actually produce and

edit the content according to the

platform. And in so far it has been

performing better when you think

platform first and you shoot it

accordingly to that. We shoot in

different formats because of where it's

going to live instead of shoot it,

produce it, and then adapt it.

>> So you won't just do a vertical video

and then sort of awkwardly try to cut it

kind of thing. You're thinking about how

that audience behaves.

>> shoot vertical. We shoot vertical and we

shoot a horizontal. So it takes you a

little longer in production, but we do

both. Yeah.

>> And Elizabeth, everyone's feed looks

different nowadays.

Um as I said as I said before there's

not this mass media moment. How How are

you in this in that time when everything

is so personalized? How do you make sure

that like the big idea is still cutting

through and the big memorable idea?

>> Yeah, no, you're you're absolutely

right. I mean

uh we all know this already, but the

average US consumer

uh

is on 11 video services.

Um and so that's uh you know, from a

linear a streaming a social perspective.

And I think uh what I am really proud of

in terms of our team is that they see

that media fragmentation not as a

negative, but as an opportunity to kind

of meet customers, you know, where where

they are. And I know you're asking about

that big idea. What I think has been so

special uh again and I'm going to focus

on the team is just the fact that we've

been able to use I think media and those

channels as a competitive

differentiator.

Um and the team

uh has has that deep kind of horizontal

expertise that's really important to get

that creative thread, that creative idea

that you're talking about moving through

all of those channels. But they also

have that sort of vertical knowledge to

make it special, to make it unique, to

make it sort of personalized. We work

hard at it and I see this as a

competitive advantage for us in terms of

the way we've taken a single

creative idea and sort of pulled it all

the way through.

>> There is a danger while it's important

to kind of create content with the

platform in mind. There can sometimes be

a danger in

optimizing too much for the algorithm.

One because the algorithm changes and

suddenly the thing that used to be

popular yesterday is not and you spent

six months shooting it and now you need

to rethink.

But also because sometimes you need to

kind of keep pushing the boundaries and

I know that's something that you've

spoken about before Manu and you're kind

of

rethinking that edgier side of your

brand.

>> Yes, I mean when it comes to our brand

we

became known for the very unhinged.

That's and and we have that opportunity

because our product is so wholesome and

what we offer to the world is free

education, right? So it's so genuine and

so altruistic that we can take more

risks in our marketing.

But I think there is also the risk of

you know, trying to always

go and chase the next big viral moment

by increasing the shock factor. And I

think we are

you know, we've become known for

you know, for people to expect the

unexpected from us. But when the

unexpected becomes too serialized or you

know, we have to reinvent basically our

playbook. And so

we're doing a lot of work in this

direction. I think what's interesting

with Duolingo is we're very well known

for short form content. So TikTok etc.

We're actually moving more towards

long-form content. So uh long-form

YouTube, etc. where we can actually

develop character stories differently.

So we launched for example our first um

Duolingo anime series in November. And

we saw this worked extremely well

because we were able to give a different

side of our brand. We were able to push

the character narratives in different

spaces. And we see, you know, retention

on long-form videos on YouTube versus

those short spikes that you see on

TikTok and other platforms. So it allows

us to like nurture engagement with an

audience and give them an opportunity to

come back to watch different uh episodes

at a time. Uh so we're really excited

about these type of strategies, right?

And that's very much about diversifying

how we reach people and how we appear in

content and the stories that we can tell

through those different mediums.

>> I think the thing I'm hearing from all

of you is you kind of constantly have to

adapt as a marketer. Um one thing I

wanted to get a status update on today

was was brand safety. I feel I've been

coming to Cannes for years and I

remember those years when the CMOs were

thumping their chests and they were

holding brands' feet to the fire about

content moderation and content

adjacency.

That's not happening as much anymore.

That that could be a a symbol that the

problem's gone away or it could be a

symbol that people are rethinking in the

marketing industry what brand safety

sort of means to them and how

comfortable they are with sometimes

letting the reins go a little bit. Um

Elizabeth, you work in a like very

highly regulated industry so you

probably have to think about this more

than anybody else on the panel.

>> Yeah.

>> Um how's your but how's your thinking

about brand safety sort of evolved over

the years?

>> Yeah, and I I think you're right that

there is an evolution if you think about

the beginning of, you know, sort of

digital advertising and how you had to

think about you know, media capabilities

and even the skill sets that your team

had um in order to to create and uh sort

of execute on work. But, you know, we're

a iconic 175-year plus brand. And so,

against the backdrop of all of that

changing, you have to think about how

you're going to keep that those

consistent global standards. Um and

that's what, you know, we're focused on.

And you have to think about it in terms

of the modernization of all the

platforms that you're sort of

referencing. And I think our jobs have

gotten easier with more automated

controls, um you know, sort of across uh

the board to make sure that you're level

set in terms of those consistent

standards. And then what we think about

are two things very clearly, just like

brand suitability in those environments.

And we're constantly looking for premium

high-attention environments where our

customers are. They have those passions

that I talked about in terms of dining

and travel, music, entertainment. We

need to be there, you know, for them in

all different environments, moments. And

And that's what we've worked hard on.

>> Are there any sort of new environments

that you're in now that perhaps you were

sort of observing but not ready to dip

your toe in a few years ago?

>> I think in particular when you look at

our sports ecosystem, the fact that we

are now partners with, you know, sort of

50 teams and leagues,

um

and you have to think about uh this

fandom in a very different way now. So,

when you ask that question, I think

about it from a creator perspective,

from an influencer perspective

perspective.

Uh and And that's where sort of we've

leaned in um because, you know, so many

of uh our Gen Z'ers are super fans, um

and they want that behind-the-scenes

story of sort of what's going on. And

we're trying to deliver it. You know, we

just launched um the story of my stong

with Olivia Rodrigo last week with her

honeybee story. and what's been so

special about that is that you get to

just see her here in that long-form

content that I think is actually much

more meaningful in terms of telling her

story and and our story together.

>> Because you're creating entertainment,

you're not just broadcasting an ad.

>> right.

>> And um Fabby, where where does kind of

brand safety sit on your kind of

marketing hierarchy of needs right now?

>> I think often as marketers, we we get

confused with brand safety and brand

codes. I think for us is is following

the brand codes is the most important

thing to be authentic, distinctive,

emotionally different,

and um brand safety for us is is not

what we're looking for. Is uh is more be

authentic to who you are, who we are,

but is is the era of disruption in the

universe and the field of play that you

own. And it is important for a brand

like that be democratic, be inclusive.

It's about self-expression.

If you use the term the terminology on

brand safety, you may go you you just

make

close yourself to opportunities. And and

and I think is this is the era where Gen

Z is asking you for more, millennials is

asking you for

uh anarchy are asking you for something

new and different, and Gen X are saying

take me back to the things that I love.

So, it's important to really make sure

that you don't get distracted to brand

safety versus following your DNA, your

brand codes.

>> Does does AI kind of add a new element

here? I'm seeing a lot of synthetic

content on my feeds right now. It's

easier than ever to kind of replicate

what brands are doing. Um you know,

Clippers, it's kind of hard to tell

what's real and what isn't and who's

behind um a certain piece of content.

Does that kind of factor in and how

you're thinking Manu at Duolingo and

this this kind of this new AI era and

what that means for how your brand show

up?

>> Mhm, not really. I think for us, you

know, back to your point around

authenticity and not giving people what

they expect from us, you know, our our

tone, our sense of humor. Um to me is

what makes the content genuine. And so

um you know,

when they look at content, they know

what it's what is coming from Duolingo.

They understand the the craft that goes

into this and um and you know, we have

very talented animators and illustrators

in the company and they create content

with us all the time. So we really try

to bring that craft as a differentiator.

That's why we you know, we we really

focus on on that to build our brand. Um

but I think ultimately the authenticity

of our content, people knowing our

brand, knowing our our sense of humor is

what matters the most for people to see

when a piece of content is genuine

versus parts of this ecosystem of you

know, AI generated content everywhere.

>> We've only got a couple of minutes left.

So I wanted to shift gears again. I

wanted to talk about what hiring looks

like for CMOs in 2026.

Are you hiring for kind of new types of

skills, new types of people than you

were say five years ago? Perhaps I'll

start with you Fabio. I'm kind of

interested in what you're looking for

right now in building your marketing

department.

>> When you're talking about our internal

hiring?

>> Internal hires, yeah.

>> I always said that you know, it sounds

like a an old way to recruit, but it's

uh hungry, passionate, uh curious, and

love the brand. I think is uh if you

don't

if you don't have an affinity to the the

that you're going to be working with,

Like, why are you Why are you

uh actually applying? And then it sounds

very uh I would say basic, but it it

hasn't changed for me. It's just with

the new generations, you really need to

spark curiosity, but brand affinity is

important because they don't last in

their jobs so long. So, if they love the

brand, if they love what they do, if

they're really eager to be part of it

because they love what they seen about

your brand, and whether it's content

because it's marketing, whether it's

business, product, retail, they have to

love the brand and feel affinity.

>> The iOS creating kind of a lot of angst

about say early career marketers. Um

does Again, does that factor in,

Elizabeth, when you're thinking about

and also internal training, too, right?

>> We're very [clears throat] focused on

uh just kind of democratizing those

capabilities and that learning path that

you're talking about and been very

focused on understanding those

capabilities, but I think even more

importantly than that is just to be able

to lead the change. And so, when you ask

about what are the you know, the

profiles

um or skill sets of the marketer of the

future, I think a lot of this is going

to be around the ability to be a keen

change agent and and lead others through

this. And in addition, I think

particularly for a brand like American

Express, I'm really looking for that

really high standard of creativity. I

think that's what's going to

differentiate us. I mean, we're all

going to have access to the same

capabilities at you know, sort of at the

end of the day. So, for me, it's that

high standard of creative excellence,

um a great mixture of sort of generalist

and specialist, you know, to sort of uh

help us through, and and those that are

curious. You mentioned before,

um those change agents. I think that's

going to be incredibly important and to

make sure that uh you are

uh showcasing use cases, training, uh

learning from each other, and creating

that strong engaged community.

>> Absolutely. Um

to end, I want to do a very quick uh

quick-fire rounds. Um, so I'm going to

run down the line.

Um, two questions. So, first question,

what's one trend the CMO community needs

to be talking less about at Cannes?

Start with you, Manu.

>> AI.

>> [laughter]

>> You beat me.

Um, I I agree.

>> You can say the same thing.

>> I agree, AI.

>> I'm not going to do the one word. I my

when you ask me that question, I just

want to make sure that we're thinking

about marketing plans not as

distribution plans. It's about that sort

of, you know, single creative idea uh

that can wow the customer. So, that's

where you need to lean in.

>> Okay, and one one trend that we need to

be talking more about.

>> Um

one trend. Oh my god, you got me at

>> What should I be reporting on? What

should I be digging into?

>> Um, I think uh being um

being more um agile. I think is agility

in marketing is so important these days

to really make sure that you pivot. You

you talked a little bit about it. Um,

being agile in marketing and especially

at the higher level, I think sometimes

we forget, we become bureaucratic. Uh,

we have to make decisions fast, and it's

not necessarily a trend, but it's

something that we need to remember. How

do you empower and enable your younger

teams by really following the the

strategy, the playbook, the things that

we need to do, and making sure that we

become agile marketers because our

audiences, our fandoms, our brand

lovers, they demand that they the

sagility and and and and really eating

content at the speed of culture.

>> I'm I'm afraid that really is all we

have time for. If we could give a big

hand to our fabulous panel of innovative

CMOs. Thank you so much.