Carlos Santiago on Building Trust, Loyalty, and Business Growth at Cannes Lions 2025
At Cannes Lions 2025, Carlos Santiago (CEO of SSG, Co-Founder of AIMM, and Co-Architect of the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator) delivered a clear message to the global marketing community: inclusion isn’t a side effort; it’s core to modern brand strategy.
In a session hosted by AIMM and Nielsen, titled “Connecting to Rising Consumer Expectations Through Authentic Storytelling and MarTech Innovation,” Carlos Santiago joined Tammy Johnson (Alpha Precision Media) and Alex Miranda (KNOCK Inc.) to outline how data, AI, and cultural fluency work together to meet rising consumer expectations and drive real, measurable growth.
(from left to right) Carlos Santiago speaking with Alex Miranda (KNOCK Inc) and Tammy Johnson (Alpha Precision Media)
The Expectation Gap
Despite progress in reducing stereotypes, 52% of consumers still feel unseen in advertising. While representation has improved, meaningful cultural depth is still lacking. Inclusion must be embedded in how brands think, plan, and execute.
Scaling Inclusion Requires Both Infrastructure and Empathy
A central theme of the session was the challenge of delivering cultural authenticity at scale. Doing so requires strong infrastructure – clean, inclusive data, precise segmentation, and the right technology to activate insights across creative and media. Tammy Johnson emphasized that an inclusive strategy depends on quality inputs. Alpha Precision’s predictive targeting engine pulls from browsing behavior, video engagement, and social signals, not just demographics, to personalize campaigns. “There truly is a human touch that’s added,” she said. “The human element is needed for the intentionality to really make sure that we’re reaching and touching this audience in a manner that we know that they’re going to engage and react.”
Alex Miranda reinforced that point through a healthcare campaign aimed at multicultural seniors, where standard datasets were incomplete. His team brought in cultural anthropologists to gather emotional insights that shaped the final creative. The effort was necessary, he explained, because emotional and cultural context often sits outside the data. “If we cannot reach the core, the heart, of the consumer… we’re not going to be involved in loyalty for brands,” he said. This mix of tech precision and human insight emerged as a key strategy: AI can optimize, but only people can make the message land.
Inclusion Moves the Metrics That Matter
The panel backed their points with data. Campaigns that deliver high inclusion and cultural relevance drive up to 15x higher purchase intent and 34x more brand trust. These metrics directly impact market share and long-term growth. And yet, 60% of consumers report that they trust few, if any, brands. That’s not a messaging problem; it’s a business risk.
What Comes Next
Looking ahead, the conversation turned to inclusive AI – not as a future ideal, but an immediate priority. Without diverse training inputs and oversight, AI tools reflect existing bias. When AI is inclusive, it performs better.
Santiago closed with a reminder that reached beyond tactics and tech: “We focus on the dollar and forget the heart. But the heart must come first.” Cultural inclusion is more than a capability – it’s a strategic pathway to building authentic brand trust and emotional relevance in a market where consumers increasingly expect inclusion yet remain skeptical of brand intent. Brands that embed cultural fluency across leadership, strategy, data, and execution aren’t just set up to grow – they’re equipped to lead with greater agility, resonance, and impact. At Santiago Solutions Group, we help marketers unlock this edge with the clarity, insight, and strategic precision it takes to turn inclusion into real business performance.