That's What I Call Marketing

Jon Evans (Uncensored CMO) on Going Solo: Sponsorship, Podcasting as Networking & Cashflow Reality

Conor Byrne chats with Jon Evans (Uncensored CMO) about leaving the CMO track to run his podcast full time, using sponsorship to fund the work and turning “being good at talking” into a career. Jon explains why podcasting is a powerful networking tool—CMOs often decline coffee but say yes to being a guest—and how it accelerates learning by speaking to experts weekly. He also shares the less glamorous surprises of working for yourself: contracts, running a business properly, cashflow, and the difficulty of getting paid on time while supporting a team. Jon stresses that success is a long grind—“seven years to have an overnight success”—and that consistency and compounding effort are what make creator-led media businesses work in marketing.

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In this episode of the Cannes Sessions, Conor Byrne takes us through another packed day on the Croisette, starting with the CMOs in the Spotlight session featuring Jill Kramer of Mastercard, Michelle Klein of Westpac, Manuel “Manolo” Arroyo of The Coca-Cola Company, and Suhayl Limbada CMO of KFC India. There were big themes running through the day: how legacy brands stay useful, why marketers need to understand the P&L, what happens when creativity meets commercial pressure, and why the best brands do not throw away their distinctive assets just because the world has changed. There is also a brilliant conversation with Maddy Cooper, Founder and CEO of Flourish, on how AI can help marketers in regulated sectors get work to market faster without creating a compliance nightmare. That matters because the future of marketing is not just more content, more formats and more channels. It is whether brands can still make sharp, responsible, commercially useful work at the speed the market now demands. The Digital Voice team were also out on the Croisette speaking to marketers including Langton McCombe from Particular Audience, Rory McDonald from Market Media at The Warehouse Group, and Alex Springer from OpenAttribution.org about retail media, incrementality, AI, ROAS, creativity, and what Cannes is really for and James Taylor CEO of Particular Audience.

And, of course, there was a big moment for Ireland, with Heineken’s The Pub That Refused To Die winning a Grand Prix, plus a look ahead to the Cannes Young Lions results where Darragh Spain and Fardosa Flanagan from 123.ie represented Ireland in the Young Marketers category along with lots of amazing talent representing Ireland.

01:18 – CMOs in the Spotlight: Mastercard, KFC India, Westpac and Coca-Cola
02:01 – Why Mastercard is re-examining the Priceless platform
03:14 – KFC, Gen Z, universal truths and the role of the Colonel
04:19 – Westpac, jingles, legacy brands and speaking the language of the CFO
05:14 – Coca-Cola, creativity, behaviour and why great teams matter more than big budgets
11:28 – Spending time with Jonnie Cahill and the value of generous senior marketers
15:03 – Maddy Cooper on Flourish, AI, compliance and regulated marketing
18:29 – Inside the Cannes Lions work exhibition
21:00 – Ireland’s Grand Prix moment for Heineken
23:58 – Langton McCombe on retail media, commerce media and incrementality
26:32 – Rory McDonald on creativity, ROAS and business outcomes
29:54 – Alex Springer on attribution, AI, influence and the future of content
34:26 – Final reflections from Cannes Sessions 2026

Thanks to The Digital Voice for partnering on the Cannes Sessions.
Find out more:
The Digital Voice: thedigitalvoice.co.uk
Flourish: flourishingworld.com
That’s What I Call Marketing: follow the podcast for more conversations with the people shaping modern marketing.
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Cannes Lions Day 3: Moloco CMO Paul Darcy on AI Disruption, Brand vs Performance + Festival Voices & Award Highlights

On day three of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, host Conor Byrne records The Cannes Sessions in partnership with The Digital Voice and interviews Paul Darcy, CMO of Moloco, fresh off an Adweek panel on how AI and LLM-driven consumer behavior are disrupting digital brands and acquisition channels. Darcy discusses the growing importance of brand as a signal to LLMs, the rising opportunity cost and measurement challenges of brand media versus increasingly optimized performance marketing (including CTV and in-app video), and Moloco’s focus on expanding modern performance surfaces. He also summarizes Moloco and BCG’s report on AI disruption by industry, highlighting discovery and customer-relationship durability, and notes AI overviews reducing clicks. The episode also features Cannes attendee perspectives (Amir Rasekh of Nectar 360, Beatrice Bordel Grant, Pauline Yoo from Samsung Ads, and Max from Adnormally) and Conor’s press-room roundup of select Cannes Lions winners.
00:00 Welcome to Cannes
01:15 Meet Paul Darcy
01:39 AI Disrupts Brands
02:43 Brand vs Performance
04:29 Performance as Brand
05:19 Fixing Ad Inefficiency
06:44 Moloco Growth Mission
07:19 BCG Disruption Report
10:33 Digital Voice Street Chats
10:56 Nectar 360 Goals
11:50 Amazon Port Surprise
14:24 Samsung Ads Highlights
16:12 Networking at Cannes
17:34 Press Room Winners
20:07 Wrap and Tomorrow
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Cannes Lions 2026 Day 2: Google’s Paul Limbey on AI Transformation, LinkedIn Creators & Heineken’s Bronze Lion

On day two at Cannes Lions 2026 (Tuesday, 23 June), host Conor Byrne recaps a busy schedule at Brand Tech Beach, including an interview with Natasha Wallace to be released later in the summer with The Digital Voice. He doorstops Google’s Paul Limbey, who warns against the “double shift” of giving top performers both day jobs and transformation work, highlights the rise of forward-deployed roles backed by major programs from Google Cloud, Anthropic and OpenAI, and explains his upcoming leadership fable The Frog in a Sock (out early July) about organizational constraints like workflows, approvals and pilot obsession; he also argues for product-minded scaling, better performance metrics for transformation, and repeated communication. At the System1 party, Conor discusses talks from Andrew Tindall, Mark Ritson and Jon Evans, chats with creator Henry about high-effort LinkedIn video, and interviews Jon Evans on going full-time with Uncensored CMO. Fiona shares Heineken Ireland’s Bronze Lion wins for The Pub That Refused To Die, while Digital Voice street interviews cover AI, retail media, and creators seeking long-term brand partnerships.
00:00 Day Two Kickoff
01:02 Paul Limbey from google
01:28 Ending The Double Shift
05:00 Frog In A Sock
05:50 Scaling Beyond Pilots
06:45 Performance And People
08:07 Repeat To Lead Change
09:31 System1 Party Recap
10:35 Henry Hayes On LinkedIn Comedy
14:45 Jon Evans Goes Solo
20:54 Heinekens Bronze Lion with Fiona Curtin
23:19 Croisette Street Interviews
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Cannes Lions 2026 Day 1: Young Lions Kickoff, AI Takes Over the Croisette & Early Winners

On day one of Cannes Lions 2026, host Conor Byrne covers the Young Lions competition as teams prepare for a 24-hour brief, and shares highlights from meetings and sessions across the festival. He recaps a coffee catch-up with Karen Nelson-Field and plans to feature her on the podcast, then reports recurring Cannes themes around AI, including agentic AI in ad tech and the importance of transparency and human-in-the-loop control discussed by Limelight leaders. From Adweek House, he notes talks on moving at “the speed of now,” AI enabling human connection (including Grindr and TD Bank), and sponsorship as a marketing lever. He also shares early Lions winners across Creative B2B and health categories, and summarizes research from WARC, Jellyfish, and Inseed on how creativity performs differently for humans versus LLMs.

00:39 Young Lions Kickoff
01:24 Coffee With Karen Nelson-Field
02:19 Limelight on AI Transparency
04:48 Adweek House Highlights
06:31 Early Lions Winners Roundup
07:59 Creativity in an LLM World
12:21 Oshri on Limelight US Growth
14:46 Ritson vs Sharp Debrief with Marc & V from the Sleeping Barber Podcast

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