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Meta announces generative AI advances for advertisers at Cannes Lions

Meta introduces new AI-powered advertising tools, video generation features, and WhatsApp ads at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Luis Rijo

• 6 min read
Meta's new Creative Sticker CTA and Virtual Try-on features showcase AI-powered advertising innovations.
Meta's new Creative Sticker CTA and Virtual Try-on features showcase AI-powered advertising innovations.

Meta announced significant expansions to its generative AI advertising capabilities on June 17, 2025, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The announcement introduces enhanced branding tools, upgraded video generation capabilities, and new engagement features designed to improve campaign performance and drive business growth.

The advertising platform upgrades build on existing AI innovations. According to Meta, Advantage+ sales campaigns already boost return on ad spend by an average of 22%, while backend AI innovations like GEM improve ad conversions by up to 5%. The new features extend these performance improvements across creative production and audience engagement.

Summary

Who: Meta announced the changes at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, with testimonials from adQuadrant CEO Warren Jolly, Dentsu's Clive Record, WPP Media's Gillian Collison, INTO THE AM's Chris Connors, and Caraway's Jenna Johnson.

What: Meta introduced enhanced branding tools with AI-powered text and image generation, upgraded video generation capabilities that transform images into multi-scene videos, expanded Business AI testing across more ad formats, creative sticker call-to-action buttons, and virtual try-on features.

When: The announcement occurred on June 17, 2025, at Cannes Lions, with targeting consolidation beginning June 23, 2025, and various rollout phases planned throughout 2025 and into 2026.

Where: The announcement took place at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, with features rolling out globally across Meta's advertising platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

Why: Meta aims to improve ad campaign performance and drive business growth through AI automation, building on existing success where Advantage+ sales campaigns boost return on ad spend by 22% and backend AI innovations improve conversions by up to 5%.

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New branding and personalization capabilities

Meta introduced text and image generation brand capabilities that allow advertisers to incorporate brand logos, colors, fonts, tones, visual styles, and advanced personalization features including text personas and translations. The system utilizes existing brand assets from website content, previous advertisements, and product information from integrated platforms like Shopify to maintain consistency across touchpoints.

"Meta's generative AI branding tools have significantly elevated our creative output, ensuring brand consistency at scale," said Warren Jolly, CEO at digital marketing agency adQuadrant. "They have allowed rapid experimentation with brand-aligned creative variations, empowering our team to consistently deliver impactful ads."

Dentsu reported measurable improvements from the technology. "With Meta's Advantage+ AI tools we've been able to unlock new levels of creative efficiency, allowing us to focus on higher-level strategic work for our clients like developing innovative campaign concepts and crafting compelling brand narratives," said Clive Record, President, Global Solutions at Dentsu. The agency achieved a 5% reduction in cost per lead and a 3.7X media ROI for Feld Entertainment campaigns using text variations through Advantage+ AI.

WPP Media has participated in developing the generative AI tools. "As a long-standing partner in the development of generative AI tools, WPP Media has been instrumental in shaping and testing these solutions within Meta's ad platform," said Gillian Collison, Executive Director, Global Head of Social, WPP Media. "We're excited about the potential of these tools to enhance creative efficiency and performance at scale, particularly as they evolve with enterprise advertisers in mind."

Video generation advances

The platform now transforms multiple images into dynamic multi-scene videos using generative AI models, with text overlays and music integration. Video Generation capabilities, currently in testing, help advertisers diversify creative content and create more engaging video advertisements.

Meta also introduced Video Highlights, which allows viewers to skip to key sections of video advertisements. The feature extracts short phrases and words using AI algorithms, along with thumbnails of important scenes that reflect brand value propositions.

"With Meta's upgraded video generation tool, we were able to produce a wide range of captivating ads that bring our brand's story to life," said Chris Connors, Associate Director, Growth, at INTO THE AM. "This ability to generate realistic, high-quality video from images has allowed us to engage with audiences in fresh and exciting ways."

Business AI expansion

Meta expanded Business AI testing across Instagram and Facebook Reels and Instagram Stories advertisements. The feature enables customers to start conversations with agents directly from advertisements, asking questions about products and return policies without leaving the application.

The Business AI advertisements feature AI-generated prompts and quick answers to commonly asked customer questions. Voice capabilities are being explored for select businesses on Facebook, allowing customers to tap a "Tap to talk" button to communicate with Business AI using voice commands in the in-app browser.

"From answering FAQs to recommending products, Business AI enabled by Meta helps remove initial friction, reduce inquiries for our CX team, and drive more confident purchases," said Jenna Johnson, Director of Growth at DTC cookware brand Caraway. "At Caraway, we're all about working smarter, not harder — so anything that smooths the path to purchase is a win for everyone."

Creative engagement features

Meta began testing customized stickers for call-to-action buttons. Creative Sticker call-to-action allows brands to create customized stickers including products, slogans, and graphics with call-to-action elements like 'shop' and 'learn more'. Testing started on Facebook Stories and Reels with a small group of advertisers, with expansion to Instagram Stories planned later in 2025.

Virtual try-on features expanded testing, using generative AI to showcase clothing on virtual models of different shapes and sizes. The technology provides customers with better understanding of how items might look and feel, while Meta explores personalized user experiences and greater advertiser customization options.

Targeting and optimization updates

According to the LinkedIn post from digital marketing specialist Bram Van der Hallen, Meta implemented several operational changes alongside the AI announcements. The 'Maximize 2-second continuous video plays' optimization became available for Facebook and Instagram Reels and Stories. 'Value optimization' expanded to standard and custom events, requiring at least 100 attributed optimized conversion events with at least 5 distinct values over the past 14 days.

Meta announced targeting consolidation beginning June 23, 2025. Certain interests will combine into broader groups when they fall within similar categories, genres, or models. Existing campaigns using impacted interests will continue running until January 15, 2026. Meta will provide alternative targeting suggestions for affected campaigns.

The 'Website and app' conversion location became available for Collaborative Ads, offering flexible conversion location options that may improve collaborative campaign performance.

Platform expansion announcements

Meta confirmed upcoming WhatsApp advertising features. The company announced 'Status ads', 'Promoted channels', and 'Paid subscriptions' for WhatsApp implementation. This represents the first major advertising expansion into the messaging platform since Meta's acquisition.

The announcements build on Meta's existing advertising infrastructure, which generated $46.8 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2024, according to financial results released in January 2025. Ad impressions increased 6% year-over-year while average price per ad rose 14%.

The generative AI tools address growing demand for automated creative production in digital advertising. Previous AI-powered features have demonstrated measurable performance improvements for advertisers across Meta's platform ecosystem, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

Industry analysis suggests these developments position Meta competitively against other advertising platforms implementing AI-driven creative tools. The focus on branding consistency and video generation addresses common challenges faced by agencies and advertisers managing large-scale campaigns across multiple platforms.

The Cannes Lions announcements reflect Meta's strategy to integrate AI capabilities throughout its advertising ecosystem while maintaining brand safety and performance standards. The gradual rollout approach allows for testing and refinement before broader implementation across the global advertiser base.

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