{"id":3508,"date":"2026-07-03T18:37:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:37:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:37:56","slug":"strictly-business-from-cannes-lions-nbcuniversal-ibm-state-farm-autodesk-and-coinbase-leaders-on-marketplace-trends-ai-and-reaching-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508","title":{"rendered":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tOn the latest episode of <em>Variety<\/em>\u2018s \u201cStrictly Business\u201d podcast, top leaders from NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase talk shop and compare notes on marketing, tech and consumer trends in conversations with Todd Spangler, <em>Variety<\/em> business editor. The conversations were recorded June 22-25 in the Canva Creative Cabana space at the\u00a0Cannes Lions international festival of creativity.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3506\">\u2018Minions and Monsters\u2019 Director Breaks Down the Film\u2019s Easter Eggs, From \u2018Citizen Kane\u2019 to Old Universal Logos, \u2018The Blob\u2019 and More<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"pmc-protected-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"180\" id=\"pmc-protected-embed-2\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/strictly-business\/strictly-business-from-cannes-lions-leaders-from-nbcuniversal-ibm-state-farm-autodesk-and-coinbase-on-consumer-trends-ai-and-reaching-audiences-amid-fragmentation\/embed?media=audio&amp;size=wide&amp;style=cover\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\n\tDara Treseder, CMO of Autodesk, and Cat Ferdon, CMO of Coinbase, compare notes on how they reach audiences and how they\u2019ve harnessed the power of AI at their next-generation digital giants.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTreseder cited research indicating that an overwhelming (82%) number of people \u201care comfortable using AI in their general lives \u2014 maybe a little too comfortable, I don\u2019t think we need AI to be our therapist \u2014 but only a third feel comfortable using it in their field. Meanwhile, the increase jobs with AI as a prerequisite has more than doubled. So there\u2019s a mismatch between job seekers and the jobs that are available. [Autodesk] just announced a $350 million commitment that is focused on preparing the next generation and job seekers for jobs in this AI era across design and \u2018make\u2019 \u2014 whether it\u2019s architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, or media and entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFerdon detailed how the crypto currency exchange became one of the biggest brands in the emerging world of nontraditional finance and banking options. AI has been baked into Coinbase from the start, she noted. <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cCoinbase has been super agentic-forward and our CEO and founder [Brian Armstrong] has been very public about that. So we\u2019ve been working into our workflows for well over the last year, and we\u2019re using it to kind of optimize everything across marketing,\u201d Ferdon says. \u201cBut we believe pretty strongly at Coinbase that AI can help you get to creative outcomes faster, but it\u2019s not a replacement for human creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tJonathan Adashek, Senior VP of marketing and communications for IBM, offered perspective from one of Big Tech\u2019s most enduring brands, which is increasingly focused on helping large organizations build the systems to help them make the most out of their AI investments. For Big Blue, it started by embracing AI in their own workflows in a serious way. It\u2019s been transformative, Adashek says.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3505\">Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Getting Married at Madison Square Garden on Friday<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cOur creatives were spending 80% of their time working on derivative assets. So they\u2019re not really getting to be creatives. They\u2019re doing grunt work. Yes. And that\u2019s not what they they\u2019re passionate about,\u201d Adashek says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to take that number down to about 40% and dropping. We did something with the Sphere in Las Vegas and we turned it into a giant fishbowl and using AI to help us with the creative design and concepting. We thought it would take us about 15-16 days to do that. It took us two days, and the creatives who were involved actually said they got more ideas out of it because it gave them new things to think about. As an organization inside of IBM, we\u2019ve used AI and automation and corresponding process improvement to take $4.5 billion out of our annual spend in the last three years, and we\u2019re going to take another $1 billion out this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMark Marshall, chairman of advertising partnership for NBCUniversal, and Kristyn Cooke, chief agency sales marketing officer for State Farm, have done a lot of business together over the years and it shows in their conversation. Cooke explains why an event like NBCU\u2019s BravoCon fan gathering is the kind of cultural event that where State Farm needs to have a presence to reach the next generation of consumers.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s about connecting around shared interests and relationships and your passion points. And that\u2019s what BravoCon brings to us,\u201d Cooke says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very powerful thing because the audience is actually the story. They just are, and they\u2019re super engaged. And we\u2019ve learned a lot because early on when we worked with BravoCon, it was creating branded spaces, and then we evolved to creating these like memorable experiences. We created a way for fans to interact and to feel something in that moment. BravoCon has been really good for us overall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWith the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles just two years away, Marshall spoke about NBCU\u2019s plans to elevate its coverage even beyond the heights achieved in in the Paris 2024 Summer Games with a hometown event. <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe last U.S. Summer Olympics was Atlanta [in 1996]. In that year, NBC aired 186 hours of programming. We will be close to 8,000 hours of programming in \u201928,\u201d Marshall explains. \u201cThe difference is, now fans can curate their own Olympic experience. You can watch live any sport you would like on Peacock, or you can have Mike Tirico\u2019s soothing voice talk to you at night and tell you about the day and what happened and the background stories of what it is. What we\u2019ve started to learn is that fans love watching the sports, but what they really love is the storytelling of how [the athletes and teams] got to that. Those are the stories we\u2019re telling now. And at NBC, across NBA, MLB and NFL, we\u2019re infusing that same strategy across everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3503\">Biggest Celebrity Weddings: 22 Ceremonies That Dominated Buzz Before Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders from NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase talk trends on Variety&#8217;s &#8216;Strictly Business&#8217; podcast recorded during Cannes Lions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[365,775,2439],"class_list":["post-3508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biz","tag-cannes-lions","tag-daily-variety","tag-strictly-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leaders from NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase talk trends on Variety&#039;s &#039;Strictly Business&#039; podcast recorded during Cannes Lions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508\"},\"wordCount\":944,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Cannes Lions,\",\"Daily Variety,\",\"Strictly Business\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Biz\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508\",\"name\":\"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp\",\"width\":800,\"height\":451},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3508#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Relocation Observer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer","og_description":"Leaders from NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase talk trends on Variety's 'Strictly Business' podcast recorded during Cannes Lions.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508","og_site_name":"Relocation Observer","article_published_time":"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"headline":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers","datePublished":"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508"},"wordCount":944,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp","keywords":["Cannes Lions,","Daily Variety,","Strictly Business"],"articleSection":["Biz"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508","name":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers - Relocation Observer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-03T18:37:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/49450e076559774cd97ea35ebd623259.webp","width":800,"height":451},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3508#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Strictly Business From Cannes Lions: NBCUniversal, IBM, State Farm, Autodesk and Coinbase Leaders on Marketplace Trends, AI and Reaching Consumers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/","name":"Relocation Observer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/relocationobserver.com"],"url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}