Cannes Lions: Marcus Startzel, GumGum on Why Mindset Is the Future of Advertising
Business of MarketingShow Notes
Recorded live at Cannes Lions 2026, Justin Cooke sits down with Marcus Startzel, CEO of GumGum, to explore what the next era of advertising looks like when brands stop thinking only about audiences and start thinking about mindset. Marcus explains why context, attention and receptivity are becoming critical to advertising effectiveness, and how AI is making the old promise of reaching the right person, with the right message, at the right moment far more achievable. They discuss:
Why consumers are different people at 7am and 7pm, even if the audience data says otherwise
How GumGum is using its Mindset Graph to understand when people are most receptive to advertising
Why attention alone is not enough without relevance
How AI could reshape targeting, optimisation and brand outcomes
Why customer obsession still matters more than the technology
What Marcus learned about leadership from Amazon and serving as a nuclear submarine officer
Why “ship, shipmate, self” still shapes the way he leads
How fast decision-making, trust and constant innovation separate the companies that grow from those that get left behind
A conversation about AI, adtech, customer obsession and leadership, and why understanding the moment someone is in could become one of advertising’s biggest competitive advantages.
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