MIPCOM Cannes launches MIP BrandWorks with Doug Scott

PARIS: Cannes has never been shy about reinventing itself, and MIPCOM is doing it again. The market has unveiled MIP BrandWorks, a new initiative built to drag brands and agencies out of the sidelines and into the same room as studios, streamers, creators and rights holders, all haggling over the same thing: brand-funded content and IP. This is not a tentative toe in the water. It is a full-scale expansion of last year’s tentative “brand entertainment” experiment into something with real teeth.

The appointment of Doug Scott as co-producer is the tell. Scott is not a marketing dabbler brought in for optics, he co-founded UNXNOWN, was Emmy-nominated as a producer, built OgilvyEntertainment from scratch and once presided over the Cannes Lions jury for branded content. His résumé includes stints at Ogilvy, Endeavor and Culture Group, and campaign work with the likes of Google, Amazon, Nike, VISA, ESPN and Rolex. That is not a name MIPCOM attaches lightly, and it signals the market intends to be taken seriously by brand-side dealmakers, not just content buyers.

The mechanics are sensible enough. A Brand Showcase puts brands in the commissioner’s seat, face to face with producers and creators. Curated Matchmaking sessions run themed tracks across microdrama and vertical series, spanning scripted and unscripted formats. A Brand x Creator Pitch Fest turns the whole thing into a live marketplace rather than a talking shop. Layered on top sits the invitation-only CXO Summit, co-produced with David Freeman of Kynetic Media Ventures, a former CAA digital media chief who spent 15 years building out creator representation, branded entertainment, gaming and immersive media verticals. Freeman’s framing, that the industry has been missing “connective tissue” between creators, brands and studios, is the kind of line that sounds like consultant-speak until you notice how many companies are already circling. Ancestry, Banijay, the BBC’s StoryWorks arm, CAA, Dentsu, Fremantle, Hasbro, Mattel, Publicis, Toys R Us, UTA and WPP Media have all shown up at MIP markets in Cannes and London over the past year, hardly a guest list assembled on hope alone.

Lucy Smith, director of MIPCOM Cannes, calls this a “full transformation” rather than a step change, and the timing backs her up. Brands no longer want to buy a media slot, they want to build always-on programming and bake commerce directly into the story, exactly the shift Scott describes. With the Creator Economy, AI and microdrama also getting bigger billing at MIPCOM 2026, running from 12 to 15 October at the Palais des Festivals, the market is placing a clear bet on where the money in content is actually moving. Given the calibre of names already lining up, it looks like a bet worth making.