Cannes Lions 2025 was a fluorescent blur of rosé, yachts, and worried side-stage whispers that every AI-assisted pitch deck felt cloned from the next. Forrester and the 4A’s now estimate that three out of four U.S. marketing agencies deploy generative-AI tools – and most are eating the costs themselves. Great for speed; catastrophic for distinctiveness. One creative director quipped on LinkedIn that he could “swap agency logos and no client would notice”. Welcome to the era of AI sludge – mass-produced prose that glides straight down the middle. This piece unpacks why sameness happens and offers an alternative, built on divergence, debate, and decisive human editing. (more…)