Cannes Lions: Marketing Execs From Fox, BBC, Mattel and More Talk About Piloting Their Brands Into the Future
Day 3 of the Variety in the C-Suite in collaboration with Canva featured more lively discussion on the beach from marketing pros in entertainment and other industries — with a common thread of how they’re looking to stretch their brands in new directions amid shifts in tech and consumer behavior.
Execs speaking on stage at the Canva Creative Cabana at Cannes Lions this week were: Darren Schillace, chief marketing officer of Fox Entertainment; Shelley Macintyre, CEO of brands and licensing at BBC; Jill Kramer, CMO of Mastercard; Marisa Thalberg, CMO of Catalyst Brands; Robert Stanichi, EVP and chief global brand officer, Mattel; and Claudia Calori, head of marketing for Philips’ Personal Health division.
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Here are highlights from the sessions, along with full video replays:
Powered by Fans: Creating Entertainment Brands That Last
Darren Schillace, chief marketing officer of Fox Entertainment, and Shelley Macintyre, CEO of brands and licensing at BBC
At Fox, fans saved animated hit “Family Guy” twice, Schillace said. The show was canceled two times; Fox had programmed it opposite “Friends” and the ratings collapsed. However, back in the day, DVD sales “pulled it forward” — and the passion of the fans “brought it back and now it’s one of the longest-running shows on TV.”
“Not every show we make is going to have that fandom, that passionate level,” Schillace said. “But when you have the fandom, you have a different level of connection. It’s a different opportunity for marketing also to really go deep.”
Catering to fans is now a year-round job, he said. “We used to support fans while the show was on. Now we’re engaging with them all year long. You know, we could have a show on for 12 episodes, but, you know, all 52 weeks of the year, they’re still fans and I have to now create extra things to keep feeding that,” Schillace said.
For the BBC, Macintyre called out kids show “Bluey,” the massive global hit jointly commissioned with Disney/ABC. “Bluey” notched 45 billion streaming minutes in 2025 in the U.S., making it the No. 1 most-streamed show for the year. She said that because of fan demand, BBC and Disney, along with production house Ludo Studio, created spinoff YouTube channels to tell the story of Bingo, Bluey’s little sister, and her cousin Muffin, “who has a lot of emotional meltdowns and parents and children alike can identify with Muffin in a way that extends the show beyond Bluey, the character herself,” Macintyre explained.
Looking to the future of fandom, Macintyre said, “we’re gonna see a lot more from our creators building multi-touchpoint media businesses, and actually for our properties thinking about how we behave as creators ourselves.” She said that will encompass gaming, audiobooks, podcasts and more, she said, as the BBC works with partners “who want to find an engaged audience.”
Making Moments Matter: At the Intersection of Culture and Commerce
Jill Kramer, CMO of Mastercard, and Marisa Thalberg, CMO of Catalyst Brands
Mastercard has used its 30-year-old tagline — “Priceless” — as a launching pad to create experiences with partners. The company sponsors the McLaren MasterCard, a Formula 1 team, and it recently invited fans to submit stories of “why they’re the greatest McLaren racing fan ever,” said Kramer, chief marketing officer of Mastercard. Four women were picked as the winners to go to an F1 race and meet the team’s drivers.
“It was so personal. They were then ending up in this experience that was life-changing for them,” Kramer said. “There are priceless moments and these moments that really matter.”
Thalberg, CMO of Catalyst Brands — parent of Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand, Nautica and JCPenney — said her team has been running two kinds of campaigns for Brooks Brothers: “Moments,” reflecting shopping moments for special occasions; and a celeb-focused campaign featuring actress Leslie Bibb, comedian Alex Edelman and other “style icons.”
About reaching Gen Z consumers, Kramer said, “They will give you feedback so participate, listen, learn and adapt… I think the danger there is not listening.”
Thalberg picked up the thread: “It’s obviously dangerous to homogenize assumptions about an entire generation of just that’s only united by age.” That said, “Gen Z has grown up totally native to technology” — and because of that, they’re craving real-world experiences. “I think that’s interesting that Gen Z is the one that’s, like, leading the charge going back into the mall for example.”
How CMOs are Building Legacy Brands for a New Era
Robert Stanichi, EVP and chief global brand officer, Mattel, and Claudia Calori, head of marketing for Philips’ Personal Health
Mattel is a toy company — of course! But the 81-year-old enterprise continues to push its brands in all different directions, including into entertainment, as it looks to cultivate the “emotional connection” people the world over have with its intellectual property.
“We are a joy company,” said Mattel’s Stanichi.
The marketing exec still cites 2023’s megahit “Barbie” as a watershed moment for what was possible. “What was great about it is that we had that line of what the brand stood for, but partnering with an incredible creator like Greta Gerwig and allowing her to push the boundaries of what that was,” he said, adding that the movie has “so much of self-awareness about Mattel, about Barbie, about society. That’s what created the right cultural conversation and the right emotional connection. You have to be bold, but at the same time knowing where to draw that line.”
The latest move with Barbie: Mattel staged an activation for the brand at 2026 Coachella. Stanichi said data compiled by the company shows Barbie was the music festival’s most talked-about brand.
“I think that that’s what’s powerful about our IP is that the emotional connection that it generates with every single one of you, be it Barbie, be it Hot Wheels, be it Uno or Thomas [the Tank Engine] or Fisher Price, it allows you to extend that brand beyond toys and into film and into publishing and location-based entertainment,” Stanichi said. The whole flywheel revolves around “the emotional aspect and the place that these brands can have in pop culture.”
Meanwhile, Philips is even older, with the Dutch company having just turned 135 years old. “I didn’t invent Phillips,” said Calori. “We are incredibly fortunate as marketeers to inherit this wealth that is given to us and to our teams and continue that journey.”
She continued, “The critical point for legacy brands is not so much about reinventing yourself. It’s how you can continue to interrogate yourself on how you’re serving the deep human need at the center of your mission.”
Pictured top (l. to r.): Fox’s Darren Schillace, BBC’s Shelley Macintyre, Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
