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# Cannes Podcast: Jim O'Leary on agency upheaval, AI myths & Cannes' transformation
- URL: https://www.earned-first.com/cannes-podcast-jim-oleary-on-agency-upheaval-ai-myths-cannes-transformation/
- Published: 2026-06-30T06:51:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-30T10:46:09.000Z
- Description: Penta's global CEO on why he sees more change ahead in the next five years than the previous five decades, the gap between agencies' AI claims and substance, and how Cannes itself is being remade by technology.
- Author: Arun Sudhaman
- Tags: Earned First Podcast, Cannes

Newly-installed Penta gobal CEO Jim O'Leary joins the Earned First podcast at Cannes to argue that legacy agency models are buckling under client demands they weren't built for, and that most firms are far better at marketing AI than deploying it. He traces the disruption to three converging forces — AI transformation, geopolitical risk, and a fracturing media landscape — and explains why private equity is moving into PR just as some legacy networks pull back.

The conversation closes on Cannes itself, which O'Leary describes as splitting into two festivals: a fading legacy version built around advertising, and a tech- and creator-economy-driven version steadily taking its place.

[Cannes: Jim O'Leary on agency disruption, AI trans | RSS.com](https://rss.com/podcasts/earned-first/2953394/?ref=earned-first.com) 

The [Earned First Cannes podcast](https://www.earned-first.com/earned-first-podcast/) is produced by Reel Films. 

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