The Anatomy of an Icon

Heritage brands hold a hidden advantage: decades of creative work that shaped culture, emotion and identity. But what if AI could decode why certain ideas endure – and help design what comes next? In this session, The Estée Lauder Companies partners with Meta to explore “The Anatomy of an Icon” – how AI can analyse a heritage archive to uncover the emotional signatures, sensory patterns and creative decisions behind iconic ideas. Using beauty – the most emotionally expressive creative category – as a living case study, we examine how artistry, representation, innovation and cultural relevance evolve over time, and what they reveal about lasting impact.

• How can you audit your brand or company archives to uncover the emotional, aesthetic, and cultural patterns behind what has truly endured—and why?
• How can you use AI not just to generate ideas faster, but to analyze past creative work and reveal the emotional signals and decisions that drive lasting impact?
• How can you design future campaigns around cultural resonance and emotional meaning, rather than just trends or performance metrics, to build icons instead of fleeting moments?