[00:00:00] Welcome to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, where industry leaders share insights, strategies, and stories to help brands win in the ever-changing world of commerce.
[00:00:22] Welcome back to Unpacking the Digital Shelf live from Cannes Lions. I'm Lauren Levec-Gilbert and today I'm joined by Eric Scheinkopp in the press room as we dive into the biggest themes shaping the marketing and commerce world. We're talking about what brands are missing, how AI will shape our future, from influencer marketing to grocery shopping, and why human connection might be the only thing that saves us from becoming obsolete. Let's get into it.
[00:00:50] All right, here we go. We are at Cannes Lions and I'm here with Eric in the press room recording a pod. How's it going? Very exciting. Yeah, it's beautiful overlooking the yachts. Yeah, oh my gosh. I know, but we're in air conditioning, so that is the key point here. That is absolutely the most important thing about Cannes. Yes, it is so much hotter than last year. I know, I know. I mean, I guess that's global warming, right? Yeah, here it comes. You know, that's another podcast. Yeah.
[00:01:16] So Eric, how has Cannes so far? Big themes, big takeaways? What are you feeling? I mean, it's great. It's the, as you were saying, it's the place just to get everybody in one room, so to speak, and just go, you know, door to door to door to door and all of our clients, all of our meetings. You know, the takeaways, it's a good question. It's the same themes from any conference these days. I know, right?
[00:01:43] But, AI. But I mean, I think it's interesting to see the themes come and go. Like I was just saying, like ShopTalk two years ago was only the metaverse. Like that's, and everybody's like, if you don't have your brand on the metaverse, you're behind. I haven't heard that word once. That's what I'm saying. Like, so it's always interesting just to hear what's hot at the moment. But obviously AI is not going to be a fad. It is, it is here. It is going to be an institutional shift. Yes. So we might as well learn about it.
[00:02:12] I agree. You know, and there's also, we were talking about this. There's a younger crowd. Yeah. A lot more creators. Yeah. A lot more influencers. Yeah. It's very interesting. Bigger focus on TikTok and Snap. They're coming for the money. They know the brands are here. So it's, they're coming for it. They are. They are. Well, speaking of brands, what do you think brands are really underestimating right now?
[00:02:33] I think connection, real, true, human, emotional connection, I think is completely lacking in marketing these days. And I totally understand how we got here. You know, it's the pendulum always swings and brands are scared. They're timid. So they're not taking a stance one way or another. They're just trying to play right down the middle. And in doing so, they're not connecting with anybody.
[00:03:02] So, you know, this is my, I started coming to Cannes 15 years ago. Oh, wow. You are like a champion. Yeah. I met my wife here 15 years ago. Oh, I love this story. Yes. Oh, best story ever. Cannes meet and greet.
[00:03:14] Yes. So I love it. But, you know, there used to be so much, there was a stance, every brand, like you knew where they stood and you could even put them on a diagram and say, okay, this brand stands for this and this, you know, and they still say, well, Disney and Coke, they sell happiness. And this one sells family and this one sells that now it's like really hard to know where brands stand. And so if you don't have that emotional connection, then people don't care about your brand.
[00:03:43] So what are they not realizing from all this is in all honesty, I think brands are going to become unnecessary. And what I mean by that is like when we look for something on Amazon right now and it's kind of like hangers or whatever, it's just like the Amazon basic is fine. Like things for my kids. Yeah. Amazon basis. Fine. I just, I don't care.
[00:04:09] And if there's not a loyalty, if there's not a connection, if there's not a reason to actually support, then brands are going to lose customers. And we're just going to be buying from factories and, but think about the iconic brands, right? Sure. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, like I think of a bandaid, you know, they didn't start this year, last year. Like they are institutional brands and that's amazing.
[00:04:36] And they have so much equity and they have a lot of power in the industry and they're in a great position. They can do a lot of amazing things, but tell me a brand that has become like that in the past. Three, five years. That's really everywhere. I mean, Stanley is the first one that comes to mind, but it's different. Yeah. But again, that was a, that was a fad. Exactly. A trend, a trend I should say. But it's not like an institutional brand. No, it's not a staple. I mean, you see things like Oura ring, but that's because of the function. I'm wearing one.
[00:05:05] Everybody's wearing them, but it's the function. It's not the brand love. Like Coca-Cola didn't become what they are today because they sell sugar water. Like they sold a brand and people wanted to wear their brand. And like, I don't, I just don't think that exists. I think you're right. There isn't something that comes to mind. There's popular brands, but, but not ones that people are loyal to.
[00:05:31] And I think it's going to be more niche, right? So you're going to find a community of people that you as a brand can really connect with, right? Because you understand how they're shopping. You understand what they want and people crave connection, right? So there's still a place for brands, but I think it's shifting in the traditional word of brand. Absolutely. I do think though that this like not trying to offend anyone, it's just they're losing their voice. There's nothing memorable.
[00:06:01] So I agree. I agree. Well, speaking of that in terms of being memorable and making sure. Yeah. And offensive, obviously like, cause we're going to dive into that. There's also a fear around being replaced, being replaced as a brand, being replaced as a human with AI. So what do you think is the defining feature or characteristic that will make sure that we don't get replaced by AI? So when I think about AI, like here's the worst case scenario.
[00:06:29] We have shopping bots that we could have do our shopping and every retailer has shopping bots. So our bots are going to be buying from bots. Agent to agent. Agent to agent. They are going to not care about the brand or anything of that nature. They're going to care about the cheapest, fastest delivery. And again, just kind of cutting out the human relationship. So my whole thing is like, you have to start with human. I believe that AI influencers will replace regular influencers.
[00:06:59] Wait a second. Can we talk about that? When you say AI influencers, you mean like you're creating a persona. Yeah. That's made by AI. Yep. And has an opinion. And has an opinion. Are you seeing that now? Yeah, absolutely. Really? Do you have like an example in the future? Yeah. I mean, there's a couple of companies that have been out for several years. They were way ahead. Chris Tavern's company, and I'm forgetting the name of it. He used to create digital humans and they would look fake, but that was kind of like the point. The point.
[00:07:28] Now they've evolved so much that you don't even know they're fake. They look real. And the problem is like our whole thing at the desire companies, we talk about you could buy reach, but you can't buy expertise. So influencers right now, they're not even getting organic reach. You have to pay for it anyway. So if they have a million followers, less than 1% are seeing it unless they pay to boost it. So you might as well just cut them out and pay to boost anybody, anything, even if it's fake.
[00:07:54] So I think that the influencer world, I think we are seeing the last pop of it right now. Okay. And I think that will be replaced with AI, but I think something that AI will never be able to replace is the actual human experience. And it's not necessarily that emotional connection that I was talking about, but AI will never be able to tell you the truth. It only knows what the world has put on the internet. Right.
[00:08:22] It's whatever model it's created off of, or it's learned from, that's its truth. So, and the internet is full of untruths. Everything on the internet is true. What are you talking about, Eric? Yeah, exactly. So that's what AI knows. That's what AI is working off of. And human experience is taking a brand, using it, touching it, feeling it, getting the results, and then saying, here's what I think about it. Here's why I like it.
[00:08:52] Here's why I don't like it. Here's what I recommend it for. Here are the results that you can expect. AI will never be able to do that, ever. So I think that's where AI will not replace. But in terms of jobs and everything else of that nature, absolutely, it's here. It's going to change. There was even an AI, fully AI creative piece that was submitted as a part of CanLions, right? Yeah. So I agree it's here, but we're still not sure where it's going to end, right?
[00:09:21] But we know it is going to enable us and supercharge us to be able to do more. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I love the thought that literally in five years from now, the average work week will probably be like 10, 15 hours. That sounds fantastic. Yeah, it does. Can we just come to the south of France? Yeah, exactly. But I really do because like, why would we do all the, I mean, all this stuff, I save tens of hours a week with AI already. Agreed. So just imagine where that's going to go.
[00:09:50] Well, what I think is really interesting or exciting, I should say, is we are on a constant hamster wheel, right? Like we're staying up with what's happening in the industry. We're like making content, we're reading, we're doing all these things. And when you are constantly running like that, it is harder for your brain to come up with new ideas and to really kind of get into a state of flow and like really be creative.
[00:10:11] So I think it's exciting because it can automate a lot of that work where hopefully it can bring out new ideas because people have more time to like go for a walk. 100%. And think about what's happening or come up with some new amazing concept that we just can't because we're just constantly moving. Yeah, no, creativity has been sucked out of the average human because we don't have time to think. Yes. So I do look forward to that and excited about some free time to create.
[00:10:42] I agree. And let's think about like the PDP, right? So content on the PDP. Do you think that AI is going to create all of that content and it's going to be constantly optimized? Like how do you see the kind of brand manager, the e-commerce manager kind of fitting into that scenario? Yeah, I think that the majority of them absolutely will be created by AI and optimized and personalized by AI.
[00:11:08] But I also think that we're going to see regulations where you can't fool the consumer, right? Like that's the number one rule of the FTC is you cannot mislead the shopper. So if you're showing a product and it's in somebody's hand and it's in the snow and then it's in somebody's hand and it's in the desert, like, you know, that's an AI image. Like that is a generated image that they did not do an actual model shoot.
[00:11:34] And I think in the near future, I haven't heard anybody talk about it yet, but I just I feel like in the near future, it's going to have to say like the same way it does on Instagram that it has hashtag paid or ad or, you know, created by AI. Why? Created by AI, AI generated. Because otherwise, again, like it's not true. It's not telling the truth about the product and the use case of the product.
[00:11:59] So I think that when it comes, you know, and I'm also saying that because otherwise my company is in trouble, but I think we're in a good situation. Also, we don't want to be fooled, right? Like I want to know. I don't want to have a moment where I'm like, is this real? Right. And that's already happening. It's already happening. I'm watching, you know, whatever you see, like, I remember my daughter coming in and being like, did you know that? I was like, where did you see that? No, no. And I was like, that did not actually happen. We need to teach people to ask questions. Right? Yeah, absolutely. It's scary.
[00:12:28] It is scary. And, you know, I feel like the like Europe in general has a lot more regulation. So I think we're probably going to see a lot more happen around AI here before it kind of moves to the US. But I do believe there needs to be more regulations. But I just don't think people understand it enough to be able to make a regulation about it. Like, it's even in schools, like I'm sure like as your daughter gets older and is like getting a phone and writing essays and like, you know, they took away their laptops this year.
[00:12:57] And next year they're replacing them with school monitored laptops because they do not want them using that AI, which I think is silly because AI is here. It's not going anywhere. Like, I understand you have to learn how to do, you know, five plus five is ten. But we have calculators. And so, you know, we should think about AI in the same way that it's here.
[00:13:24] Let's learn how to use it effectively instead of being scared and trying to ban it. And we do see a lot of I mean, you are right about Europe. They're really good at actually like kind of a negative word, but like suppressing certain things that they don't want in their society. Well, look at the data security here, which is fantastic. Right. Like, you know exactly where your data is being used. And you usually see it happen here and then the kind of trend moves. It'll be interesting to monitor that. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's coming sooner than later.
[00:13:51] I agree. I agree. How we're still talking about AI because obviously we're going to be talking about AI for the next how many years? I don't know. Yeah. So how do you think it'll affect the cost of products? Right. Like we're in the world of tariffs right now, but is it going to help with pricing supply chain and even like jobs? Like how are you kind of predicting that? So I think the price of products will drop dramatically over the next five years. That's music to everyone's ears. Yeah. Except.
[00:14:21] Said by Eric. Except so will jobs to create those products because we won't need designers. We won't need packager, you know, like the many. All of this stuff will be generated by AI manufactured without people and shipped out without marketing and people because it will be the AI bots right from AI bots.
[00:14:41] However, I think that we will see absolute job cuts, but people will have more disposable income because things will be cheaper. See, that is a beautiful non doomsday approach. I really like that. Okay. All right. So that's that's where I think it's going. It's like we are going to work less. We are going to have less jobs as we know them today, but it will be more affordable.
[00:15:08] Now, that being said, food and stuff. I don't know. I don't know how that how that's going to change. Eggs are finally cheaper than they were. Right. But like ten dollars before. So I'm happy about that. Yeah. But like, you know, soil and getting the most out of your soil and the lighting and making sure that diseases don't kill plants and like things that that bring up the cost of food that will decrease like that will go away.
[00:15:35] I think that AI is really good at like detecting when there's an invasive species or something of that nature. But but yeah, so I think food will remain expensive and I think everything else will be dirty. Well, this is the least doomsday approach I have heard, which is fantastic. Thank you. It'll be interesting to see what plays out. I feel like you're in five years and need to do another podcast and be like, huh, what happened? We'll be in the same place. Like, I'm sure it's going to take off. It's going to be great. You never know. You never know.
[00:16:04] OK, I'm going to play. We're going to play a little fun ending here. Yeah, it's 2035. OK, and you have to go grocery shopping. What do you think that experience will look like? Go grocery shopping or you need. OK, that's a great. I should have said you need groceries. Yeah. In 10 years. How is that going to work? I think it will be based off of food planning. So, OK, let's say it for me. Yeah, yeah, please.
[00:16:34] Not everybody. But what I would what I would do is and I'm already doing this. I'm already having, you know, we've got three kids. We cook. I'm already going to A.I. and saying, you know, I'm see I'm vegan, except I eat fish. My wife is kosher. She doesn't eat certain things. So I give it A.I. that and I say, make me a couple of recipes, make me a couple of meal plans. And then it will say, do you want me to create a shopping list for this?
[00:17:00] And it will give you all the ingredients. Now, at this point in time, I'm still going out and buying those. But all of that will be one process. So meal planning will be the basis of food shopping. It will cut down on waste. We'll buy less, less stuff that we don't use. And then the food will be delivered by magic. One way or another. A drone. Nanotechnology. Space ship. Yeah. And then and then my automated chef will cook it.
[00:17:28] An automated chef. Yeah. So you think you're going to we're going to have robots in the home to do it? Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. And ten years from now. Absolutely. So what is the value then of like let's talk about influencers and experts? What's the value of a chef then? Like a like a real chef, like who has years of experience. Do you see that being like an input to the A.I. that helps make those suggestions? Like where do those experts fall? Yeah, they have to. A.I. has to always learn from something. So it's going to learn from the best chefs out there.
[00:17:57] However, if you just have A.I. absorb the past, you know, 20 years of the food network, it's going to be a pretty good chef. I think what is going to be missing and this will I think this will change.
[00:18:09] But if you think about certain moments of creativity, like going from jazz music or classical music and jazz music and rock and roll and hip hop, like those were moments where somebody did something really creative and they took a very, very different approach that had never been done before.
[00:18:32] So I think that is where A.I., I don't I don't know how to think about that, like how it's going to advance us forward in the stages of innovation. Yeah, the innovation, it comes from A.I. already. But at the same time, like it's very linear, it's very algorithm based. You have to break that algorithm to create something that new.
[00:18:55] And I don't know if A.I. will be able if my home robot chef will be able to break that algorithm of itself to create something drastically new and like a new way. I mean, every once in a while you go to a fancy restaurant and like I have a texture that I've never had before. Yeah. And that's somebody who spent years developing that and perfecting it.
[00:19:20] And that that's a question. But yeah, how I would go grocery shopping, I will I will tell the computer or whatever it is probably won't even have computers. I will tell something in your house. It'll just come on what what I want to eat for the week or, you know, whatever. And it will take it from there and I will have my food prepped for the week. You know, you sparked a thought here and I think what's going to be more important. You talked about connection is also experiences.
[00:19:49] I feel like because we're moving so far into the digital side of things, people crave coming to conferences, going to a pop up, doing something really, really cool and then talking about it on social media. Right. Like those experiences, I think we're going to be even more exciting for people as we move this way. Yeah, we're already seeing that like people are spending like 80 percent more on experiences than they were a couple of years ago. Oh, really? Like that makes sense. Yeah. And and I'm not just talking about from the pandemic like that.
[00:20:19] I think the pandemic put us in a state of mind where it's like, OK, life right now. Yeah. And OK, all this stuff I have in my house is not helping right now. What does help is these memories that I create and, you know, all of that. So absolutely. And again, I think people will have a little bit more disposable income and all of that stuff will get cheaper to these. You will need less people on cruise lines. We'll need less people to work at the air airports and teleportation pads.
[00:20:48] Oh, my gosh. That I've always wanted that. You know, I get motion sick. So like I do not want to be on any moving object. Just beam me up, Scotty. Like I know that shows my age, but like I want to be in a new place. That's coming to I really I really think like, you know, watching TV will be able to press a button. Yep. I want to buy that. And we will have our nanotechnology printed out in front of us. So right there in our living room. This future world, Eric. Cool, but scary. Yeah. Right. But it's happening. It is. We got to embrace it. It is. I agree.
[00:21:18] As someone's going to create it, too. So you might as well be part of the creation. Part of the change. Yeah. Amazing. Eric, thank you so much for your thoughts for your non-dystopian future with AI. And for your robot chef. Yeah, thank you very much. Come over and try it sometime. Amazing. All right. Thanks, Eric. Thanks for having me. That's a wrap from the CanLines Press Room. Huge thanks to Eric for sharing his insights, optimism and yes, robot chef predictions.
[00:21:43] If you're feeling inspired or a little overwhelmed by the AI powered future. Remember, creativity, connection and curiosity will always be our superpowers. Don't forget to subscribe and we'll catch you on the next episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf.