Cannes: Jim O'Leary on agency upheaval, AI myths & Cannes' transformation

Yeah, you gave a presentation last year at the Eco Global Summit about this.

And you pointed to, I think, five different areas where everything is changing.

We will talk perhaps in particular about what's changing in the agency world to begin with.

You left a big job at Weber, Shandwick, where you were global president.

You'd been there a few years.

And you've gone to Penta, which is...

You know, quite a different kind of animal compared to Weber Shandrick, right? It's private equity backed, created by, I think, eight different agencies that have come together.

Yeah.

So very different from like the legacy network.

Right.

Certainly.

I

mean, that's why that's why I chose

to join it.

Right.

That's a new

model for a new era.

Right.

Yeah, so what was it about that new model, new era that attracted you? Because, let's be honest, not many CEOs are leaving that big a job to go to something like a Penta.

Yeah, you gave a presentation last year at the Eco Global Summit about this.

And you pointed to, I think, five different areas where everything is changing.

We will talk perhaps in particular about what's changing in the agency world to begin with.

You left a big job at Weber, Shandwick, where you were global president.

You'd been there a few years.

And you've gone to Penta, which is...

You know, quite a different kind of animal compared to Weber Shandrick, right? It's private equity backed, created by, I think, eight different agencies that have come together.

Yeah.

So very different from like the legacy network.

Right.

Certainly.

I

mean, that's why that's why I chose

to join it.

Right.

That's a new

model for a new era.

Right.

Yeah, so what was it about that new model, new era that attracted you? Because, let's be honest, not many CEOs are leaving that big a job to go to something like a Penta.