America is great.
That’s my prevailing thought as I fly home from a week in Cannes.
It’s not because I’m homesick, although I am. And it’s not because of the ubiquitous air conditioning, although it might be the thing I miss the most aside from Tara and our dogs.
I’m also not saying it to disparage anywhere else. France – and most countries I’ve visited – are great too, in their own ways. In Europe, the lids on bottled water and soda stay attached when you open them. It’s incredibly convenient…and a no-brainer. I presume it’s a climate-related regulation we’re too laissez-faire to impose in the U.S. We suck at the environment.
And while there are many things that make America great, our culture of innovation, risk-taking, and overall boldness tops my personal list. Yes, I met and/or listened to speakers from amazing companies around the globe this week. They were needles in a haystack of American excellence.
The landscape of Cannes was blanketed by Google, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, and Meta, followed by the likes of Yahoo, Pinterest, and Disney. Spotify and TikTok were the non-American outliers with large footprints along the beach. I saw countless U.S. companies – small and large – doing the most extraordinary and inventive things.
To say we’re global leaders in tech and media may be the biggest understatement I’ve ever written. I take it for granted – until seeing those entire industries in one place. We all should be proud.
Anyway, here are five interesting things I heard, saw, did, or learned this week:
- While everyone seemed to be contractually obligated to say “AI” at least every third word, the big AI platforms were notably underrepresented, even absent, from the event. I suspect that will change dramatically by next year.
- I listened to a marketing exec of a large auto manufacturer and the head of a major ad agency talk about how local news is the single most effective place they advertise, Google and Meta notwithstanding. That story needs to be more broadly told. The future of journalism (and democracy) depends on it.
- Reddit is a way bigger deal than most people realize. Over half of their audience is now female, which completely bucks the prevailing perception. Roughly one-third of all AI search outputs are fueled by their data. That’s crazy.
- The best speaker I heard all week was Alex Rodriguez. In a far-reaching interview about Hispanic consumers and sports, he shared a remarkably candid and vulnerable story about his mental health journey. To see this mountain of a physical specimen, alpha athlete, and titan of business open up publicly like that was unexpected and inspiring.
- I sang a karaoke duet at a charity event with the very cool CMO of Omnicom, Nate Nicely, who I only met 10 minutes before we took the stage. We did “Walk This Way,” by Run-DMC (him) and Aerosmith (me) and it went a million times better than I feared. Also, Dick Nicely would make a great…umm…band name.
Here’s what else we’re seeing:
It’s a shame America’s 250th birthday fell during the current political climate. In our annual pre-4th-of-July consumer data, we found that the percentage of U.S. adults planning to celebrate is down from a year ago – ironic (and sad) given the landmark nature of this year’s holiday. Some respondents attributed the lesser plans to the current economic circumstances and higher costs of basically everything. That sucks, but not as much as the declining levels of patriotism that also showed up in the research. It’s obviously a partisan phenomenon – and likely one that will invert the next time the Oval Office changes colors. Sigh.
AI data centers are losing the PR battle. In our 3 Things to Know this week, we checked back on our tracking data on public sentiment toward the construction of AI data centers – and it’s taken a turn for the worse. Forty-five percent of U.S. adults now oppose them, up from 25% this time last year. In other news, we learned that the Food and Drug Administration is losing faith among the U.S. population as New World screwworm outbreaks cross the country. Lastly, we looked at the rising popularity of online casino apps, finding that usage of the apps has climbed by over 70% since 2022.
People have gotten much smarter about sunscreen. As a Gen X teenager who was more likely to wear a clown costume than sunscreen, the fact that I doused myself in SPF to survive a historic French heatwave this week is a big step. I’m far from alone. The prevalence of sunscreen usage among U.S. adults reached new heights in our latest numbers, driven of course by near universal adoption among younger adults, but also among a bunch of older and wiser folks like me.
Young American men are having a mental health crisis. Coincidentally, given the Alex Rodriguez blurb above, we published a study on the mental wellness of young men this week and it’s not awesome. Forty-nine percent of men aged 18-29 report feeling little to no control over their mental health. While a growing number are getting professional help, far too few have taken the step. It’s the one bit of advice A-Rod says he gives to every young athlete.
The nostalgia trend is essentially a secular one at this point. When we first began studying the impact of nostalgia in marketing and media several years ago, I assumed it was a passing fad, merely riding the coattails of Stranger Things. Alas, the trend is showing no signs of fading, as people fed up with the current state of culture, technology, and geopolitics long for simpler times. The heartbreaking twist is the fact that our youngest adults – having never known a world without cell phones, social media, and tribalism – are “nostalgic” for a time before they were born. For marketers, though, it’s a trend worth capitalizing on. Nostalgia-influenced consumers spend way more money than the average bear.
The most popular questions this week:
Would you be willing to wait in line for six hours just to try a particular food item?
Do you personally support or oppose Medicare expanding access to GLP-1 weight loss drugs?
How recently have you read a memoir?
Do you think getting older is generally a positive or negative experience?
Answer Key: There’s nothing on the planet I would wait in line six hours for; Strongly support; Whenever Billy Joel’s book came out; Fairly likely and I’m here for it; That’s a complicated question, but it’s definitely net positive.
Hoping you’re well.
JD
P.S.- I’ll be taking off from writing next week to celebrate our great nation.
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