Like many people attending Cannes this year, Doug Ray is looking for a return to the “core” of what the International Festival of Creativity was meant to celebrate: creativity. “Cannes has changed so much since the first year I went, which was 2006. It has become the new CES in some respects. It’s become an ad tech, media-owner-palooza if you will,” says Dentsu Aegis Network’s President of Product & Innovation.

“We’ve sort of gotten away from the core essence of the reason for Cannes, which is creativity. It’s a creativity festival. It’s about celebrating the work.”

Ray welcomes an anticipated move back to brand storytelling, complemented by data and technology that when combined make the end result much more compelling and engaging.

“I’m really looking forward to how can we think much more about the technology or the data or the capabilities to allow us to create more personalized, connected storytelling that then puts the relationship that consumers have with brands much more on their terms,” he says.

Ray will be a featured speaker on June 6 at Beet Retreat in the City. Titled Television Advances as Consumers Choose: The Beet.TV Town Hall, the event will bring together leaders in the advertising and media industry for a full day of conversation and interaction.”

This video is part of The Road to Cannes, a preview of topics to be addressed at Cannes Lions. The series is presented by the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more videos from the series, please visit this page. FreeWheel is a Comcast company.

By Steve Ellwanger on    @steveellwanger