The Advertising Vanguard Cannes sequence continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Lara Balazs, chief advertising and marketing officer and EVP of worldwide advertising and marketing at Adobe. 

On this episode, Lara breaks down why enterprise AI adoption is shifting towards tangible workflow wins. She highlights how heavyweights just like the NFL, Disney, and L’Oréal deploy Adobe Firefly to automate guide asset scaling whereas defending proprietary IP. 

Be taught why human empathy, model belief, and strategic judgment stay irreplaceable within the age of generative AI.

What you’ll study:

  • Why the AI dialog has moved from worry to confidence
  • How AI can increase human perception, empathy and model visibility
  • Why actual case research matter greater than hypothesis
  • How Firefly helps inventive groups scale back repetitive manufacturing work
  • Why being a CMO now requires humility, curiosity and fixed studying
  • How the multi-hyphenate marketer applies fundamentals throughout totally different enterprise fashions
  • Why style, belief and judgment nonetheless require buyer empathy and human decision-making

This episode is a part of a particular vidcast sequence that was recorded stay throughout Cannes Lions 2026 and offered in partnership with Edelman.

About our visitor: 

Lara Balazs is CMO and EVP of worldwide advertising and marketing at Adobe, the place she leads international advertising and marketing and communications, drives worthwhile development and helps construct Adobe’s model within the AI period. 

Earlier than becoming a member of Adobe in 2024, Lara was CMO and common supervisor of the Strategic Companion Group at Intuit, the place she led advertising and marketing and communications throughout the corporate’s manufacturers and likewise served as common supervisor of Intuit’s ProTax group. She has additionally held advertising and marketing management roles at Amazon, Visa and Nike, with expertise spanning B2C, B2B and B2B2C fashions. 

Lara has been acknowledged on Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs checklist, Forbes’ Entrepreneurial CMO 50, and obtained ADWEEK’s CMO Vanguard Award.

Episode Highlights: 

[01:50] Why Cannes Is a Focus Group for Adobe — Lara describes Cannes as a significant suggestions second for Adobe as a result of the corporate serves everybody from particular person creators and college students to enterprise professionals and huge enterprises. This yr, Adobe activated in a much bigger method with Firefly, its all-in-one AI studio instrument, and created a creator seaside for hands-on experimentation. For Lara, Cannes isn’t just a visibility play. It’s a place to pay attention, study and perceive how totally different inventive communities are utilizing the instruments.