Dara Treseder, CMO of Autodesk, joins live from Cannes Lions 2026 to break down what the festival's best and worst campaigns reveal about the state of advertising. She discusses the industry's wary embrace of AI, names the campaigns she found most overrated—including a notable Starbucks misstep—and shares why the CMO-to-CEO path is gaining momentum. Treseder also offers a candid take on Elon Musk's personal brand and explains what Autodesk's $350 million workforce-development fund signals about the future of talent.
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Highlights
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The CMO-to-CEO pipeline is accelerating00:00:00
Treseder argues that the path from chief marketing officer to chief executive officer has become the most interesting and viable career move in business today, driven by the strategic centrality of brand, customer, and data.
Starbucks campaign called overrated at Cannes Lions00:00:00
Treseder identified Starbucks' latest advertising effort as one of the festival's most overrated campaigns, a high-profile misstep that drew criticism from the Cannes crowd.
Autodesk's $350 million next-generation workforce bet00:00:00
Treseder explains that Autodesk's $350 million investment is a long-term signal that the company intends to shape—not just react to—the skills of future designers, engineers, and creators.
What makes a brand collaboration actually work00:00:00
Treseder distinguishes between partnerships that break through culturally and those that simply ‘break’—falling flat or damaging brand equity—by examining recent cross-brand efforts at the festival.
Treseder's candid read on Elon Musk's brand post-IPO00:00:00
Treseder offers a frank, off-script assessment of how Elon Musk's personal brand has evolved following recent IPO events and what that means for the companies tied to his reputation.