By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be in France, hopefully with my luggage.
It’s time again for the weeklong Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Day Drinking, Sweltering Heat, and Sparse Air Conditioning with 15,000 of my closest friends.
The timing is anything but ideal. I wait all year in Pennsylvania for one month of good weather, only to flee nearly 30% of it. I’ll miss Father’s Day, most of the U.S. Open, and two precious summer weekends at our cabin. They should do the event in April.
Nonetheless, I saw the light on my maiden Cannes voyage last year. It’s, hands-down, the most productive conference I’ve ever attended. The people who make the commitment, who spend the money, who live high enough in their organization to get the nod, are there to do real business. We covered last year’s budget – which was considerable – in the first 24 hours. I formed substantive relationships you simply can’t build in an Orlando hotel ballroom or Midtown coffee shop. Even the content – the speakers, panels, and events – is top-notch.
I’m curious to see how the vibe shifts this year. Unsurprisingly, for a media and advertising conference, seemingly 90% of the agenda is about AI. It should be. No corner of the business world is escaping it. The challenge will be to find the actual luminaries doing interesting things amid a sea of hot (literally and figuratively) air.
The other fascinating dimension is the overall market climate. The pending blockbuster IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI will have untold ripple effects. Already, M&A activity is ramping up with deals like Publicis Group’s acquisition of LiveRamp and Fox’s acquisition of Roku, signaling a blurring of the lines between advertising, media, and tech. Like 1999 all over again, the AI land rush (and capital infusion) could lead to all manner of new bedfellows. Cannes is the perfect place for potential mates to get under the sheets.
For CivicScience, it’s all about using the venue to tell our story. Our advertising platform is a game-changer. We’re finding ourselves particularly adept at optimizing campaigns for connected TV, which, if you spend any time watching ad-supported shows like we do, has enormous room for improvement. We’re also driving ever more advertiser dollars to the premium publishers who partner with us – and very much need it. Meanwhile, we’re proving how much better AI can be when it feeds on our data.
So, I’ll be doing a ton of talking (even singing) in front of audiences, reporters, small meetings, and among large crowds over ear-splitting music before I write to you next. Hopefully I learn even more. And, by all means, hit me up if you’ll be there.
Stay tuned for a recap.
Here’s what we’re seeing:
Consumer confidence had a non-negligible rebound this week as the chaos in Iran subsided. Our Economic Sentiment Index jumped more than a full point in its latest reading, just days ahead of the June FOMC meeting (inflation must be real, after all, Kevin Warsh held steady on rates). It caps what has been an overall upward trajectory for the ESI since early April, barring some rocky weeks in May. Boosting the numbers this time around is an improved outlook for the job market and major purchases. People are still feeling apprehensive about their personal finances.
Amazon should have a banner day next week. While I’m networking my way around the Cote d’Azur, Amazon Prime Day will make its triumphant return, timed perfectly for a consumer population looking for deals. Our annual tracking data indicates that U.S. shoppers are poised to spend more than they did last year, particularly those in lower income cohorts (although a plurality of all income groups expect to up their spend). While electronics and tech are still the number one (but declining) go-to products, home goods, beauty, and wellness categories are set to see the most notable YoY increases.
Maybe it was only a matter of time until Gen Z started drinking. The latest dive into our alcohol consumption tracking data revealed some interesting findings. For starters, after multiple years of post-pandemic declines, the percentage of Americans who report boozing at least occasionally has increased slightly thus far in 2026. Perhaps more notably, when we asked about people’s drinking plans this summer, Gen Z is the one generation that plans to imbibe more this summer than in summers past. Mixed drinks, wine, and crafty cocktails are seeing the highest gains, while the story isn’t as positive for beer.
Fandom culture is on the rise. In our 3 Things to Know this week, we looked at the growing popularity of fandom – namely, social (online or IRL) communities centered on entertainment such as TV shows, games, or books. Nearly 40% of Americans report being part of at least one fandom community, peaking at 64% among Gen Z and 54% among Millennials. We also learned that about one in four Americans have the day off work for Juneteenth, while nearly half plan to acknowledge or observe the event in some way. Finally, we found that 36% of Americans aged 45 and older are interested in some form of educational activity – formal or otherwise – in the next 12 to 24 months.
Podcasts are killing it. The number of U.S. adults who listen to podcasts weekly or more is up a whopping 70% since 2022, with no signs of slowing. Percentages are highest among Americans aged 30-44, 23% of whom listen to podcasts every single day, though they’re even gaining popularity among older folks. The data also taught us that summer is prime podcast-listening season, with nearly half of respondents reporting that they tune in more from June through August. Genre preferences are also shifting as more listeners enter the fray – frequent listeners are leaning more toward deep-dive topics like news and politics, less toward sports and pop culture. Learn everything else you need to know about podcast fans here.
The most popular questions this week:
Do you know any sign language?
Do you think it’s appropriate for a school to prohibit student social media use outside of class?
How comfortable are you with the idea of a robot caregiver?
Do you ever write letters by hand and send them in the mail?
Do you think women’s beauty standards have eased or worsened in recent years?
Answer Key: A little – my sister is a teacher of the deaf; Definitely not; Maybe by the time I need one; I do indeed; I’m in no way qualified to answer that question.
Au revoir,
JD
