Cannes Lions 2026 runs from Monday, June 22 to Friday, June 26, in Cannes, France, along the Boulevard de la Croisette. The 73rd edition of the world's most watched creativity festival brings together advertising, media, and tech's biggest names for five days of award shows, big-stage talks, and the kind of deals that happen over a glass of rosé at sunset.
For years, this page has been the most visited guide to Cannes Lions parties and events on the internet. Tens of thousands of attendees, from first-timers figuring out their schedule to seasoned Croisette regulars, have used it to find the right rooms, the right people, and the right after-hours moments.
At Akommo, we know Cannes from both sides: we help companies plan and execute their presence here, handling accommodation, logistics, and venue sourcing, and we track every party, activation, and networking event worth knowing about.
This is our 2026 edition. We update it as new events are confirmed, so bookmark it and check back often.
Hosted by The Wall Street Journal
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026
Location: 61 Boulevard de la Croisette
Journal House returns to the Croisette for Cannes Lions 2026 with a program built around the question the whole industry is circling: how do you move at the speed of AI without losing the credibility that makes your brand worth trusting? Over four days, WSJ brings together marketing leaders, senior executives, and creative voices for discussions at the intersection of artificial intelligence, media, and accountability.
The format blends editor-led interviews, intimate member sessions, and evening gatherings in one of the festival's most recognizable venues. Full programming details are still to be announced, but Journal House consistently draws some of the highest-profile names on the Croisette. If an invitation lands in your inbox, clear the calendar.
Keep an eye on the Journal House website for program updates and registration details.
Hosted by DEPT®
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; from 10:00 CEST
Location: 5 Rond-Point Duboys d'Angers
The DEPT® Secret Garden is back for 2026, and if last year is any guide, it will fill up fast. Tucked just off the Croisette under the trees, it runs at a different pace from the rest of festival week: shaded, unhurried, and built around actual conversation rather than stage performance. Senior leaders from brands, tech, and the creator world made it one of the unexpected highlights of Cannes Lions 2025, and DEPT® has kept the format deliberately similar this year.
Programming covers the topics dominating the industry right now: AI-native workflows, discoverability in a world where algorithms and agents increasingly decide what gets seen, the role of craft when AI enters the creative process, and what functional AI teams actually look like in practice. Expect live demos, in-depth sessions, and the kind of off-the-record exchanges that tend to happen when the environment is right. Space is limited and goes quickly.
Hosted by JCDecaux, Displayce & VIOOH
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; from 14:00 CEST
Location: Yacht Nela, Jetée Albert Edouard, Cannes Port
Three of the biggest names in Digital Out-of-Home have pooled their presence at Cannes Lions 2026 into a single shared space aboard Yacht Nela, moored directly behind the Palais des Festivals. The yacht is open from Monday afternoon through Thursday evening, running a curated mix of networking sessions, workshops, and happy hours across the week. It is a premium setting designed for the kind of unhurried conversations that the DOOH and programmatic outdoor space rarely gets space for during festival week.
The highlight of the week is Wednesday, June 24, when Displayce takes over the deck with two back-to-back events: a 45-minute masterclass on the next generation of programmatic DOOH from 16:30 to 17:15, followed by a sunset aperitivo happy hour from 17:30 to 20:00 for brands, agencies, and adtech leaders. Access across the full week is by invitation only and capacity is intentionally limited.
Request your invitation and find more details at displayce.com.
Hosted by Little Black Book (LBB)
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26, 2026
Location: La Plage Croisette, 65 Boulevard de la Croisette
The LBB & Friends Beach marks its 15th year at Cannes Lions in 2026, which makes it one of the longest-running independent fixtures at the festival. It has earned its reputation the straightforward way: no intimidating door policy, no velvet-rope energy, just a reliably welcoming space on the sand where creative professionals from across the industry come to meet, talk, and decompress between sessions. Headline content sponsor MurphyCobb and Associates returns for another year, bringing a program of panels covering creativity, brand strategy, AI, and large-scale content production.
Daily programming runs throughout the week, with wristband holders getting access to free drinks from 16:00 to 18:00 each afternoon. LBB member companies and sponsors have dedicated guest list allocations, and space has historically gone fast. If you are planning to be in Cannes for the full week, this is one of the easier commitments to make early.
Get your tickets and more information!
Hosted by Ladies Who Strategize
Date & Time: Saturday, June 20 – Friday, June 26, 2026; various times
Location: Private attic space, central Cannes (address shared upon RSVP)
Now in its third year, the LWS Salon occupies a private attic seven minutes from the Palais and operates on a completely different frequency from the rest of festival week. No badge scans, no pitch energy, no sponsor logo walls. The guest list is deliberately small, capped at 12 to 15 people per session, drawn exclusively from agency owners, CSOs, SVPs, and CMOs. Breakfasts, afternoon panels, and dinners run across the full week, and for the attendees who skip half of Cannes' official programming, this is consistently the part they make non-negotiable.
LWS has sold out both previous editions, and the format stays intentionally tight: a maximum of two sponsors per slot, a room full of people who actually run things, and the kind of conversation you are still processing on the flight home. If access to senior strategic and creative leadership in a setting that feels nothing like a standard activation is what you are after, the details are below.
Contact Ladies Who Strategize for attendance inquiries.
Hosted by Yahoo
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26, 2026; various times
Location: La Plage du Martinez, Cannes
Yahoo transforms La Plage du Martinez into the Yahoo Explorers Society for Cannes Lions 2026, a beach activation built around the spirit of Jacques Cousteau and designed for what Yahoo calls the chronically curious. The space runs programming across the full week, from sunrise wellness sessions through to sunset networking, with immersive experiences, surprise giveaways, and content capture moments throughout. At the center of the physical activation is Yahoo Scout, a traveling purple submarine appearing both at the beach and at the Parvis beside the Palais, serving as an interactive landmark and content opportunity across festival week.
The headline moment is an exclusive Wednesday night concert with DJ Tiësto. As one of the internet's longest-running platforms, Yahoo is leaning into its heritage as a guide and discovery tool rather than downplaying it, and the Explorers Society framing suits that angle well. If you want a beach space that offers something beyond the standard drinks-and-a-panel format, this is worth putting in the calendar.
Register and find full details
Hosted by Ad Age
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; various times
Location: TBA
Ad Age returns to Cannes Lions 2026 with a full week of invite-only gatherings, editorial discussions, and community meetups at The List Lounge, a dedicated hub for industry leaders, honorees, and partners. Programming runs across all four days and covers the full Ad Age community: The List kicks things off Monday evening, the CMO Roundtable takes place Tuesday morning, the Small Agency Network meets Tuesday afternoon, and Leading Women convenes Wednesday morning alongside a fireside chat and a VIP lunch with Razorfish.
The week's most open moment is the annual Cannes Lawn Party on Wednesday, June 24 from 17:30 to 19:30, an invite-only evening cocktail gathering that has become one of the festival's most reliably enjoyable social fixtures. The List closes out Thursday morning with a breakfast for honorees spanning Ad Age's 40 Under 40, Tech Power List, and Gen Zers to Watch programs. If you are a past Ad Age honoree or relevant to any of the communities above, the RSVP link below is where to start.
https://www.adageevents.com/event/cannes2026/summary
Hosted by Shakuri Studios & Trailblazers Sweatworking Club
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; meet at 06:45, running starts at 07:00 CEST
Location: Esplanade Pantiéro, Monument aux Morts de Cannes, Vieux Port
Before the badge lanyards go on and the calendar fills up, there is a 5k along the Croisette with your name on it. The Cannes Lions Run Club is an easy, inclusive morning run at a pace designed for conversation rather than competition, organized by Shakuri Studios in partnership with Trailblazers Sweatworking Club. Runners, joggers, and walkers are all equally welcome.
The run wraps up with coffee and pastries, which is where much of the actual networking happens. It is an unpretentious way to start the day, meet people before the festival noise kicks in, and still be showered and back at the Palais well before your first morning meeting. No performance pressure, no pitch energy, just good people and good views at a civilized hour.
Register and find full details here.
Hosted by BIMA & Webflow
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23 – Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 09:30 – 11:15 CEST
Location: Hotel Le Suquet, Cannes
BIMA House kicks off each morning of its two-day run with high-energy sessions designed to get the thinking going before the rest of the festival catches up. Tuesday opens with "The Taste Gap," a conversation convened by Webflow CEO Linda Tong about what AI cannot brief itself on and where human creative judgment becomes the scarce, valuable thing in an increasingly automated production environment. Wednesday's programme is still being confirmed, with further details coming soon.
The format is panel-led and deliberately practical, built around the kind of direct conversation that tends to happen more easily at 09:30 than at a 17:00 drinks reception. BIMA has a strong track record of filling its Cannes sessions with people who actually run things, and this year's partnership with Webflow adds a sharp technology lens to the usual creative industry mix.
Register on Eventbrite for both days here.
Hosted by Brand Innovators
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; 08:00 – 17:00 CEST
Location: Rado Beach & Armani Caffè, Cannes
Brand Innovators returns to Cannes Lions 2026 with one of the festival's most substantial programming footprints: four days, two stages, and a speaker roster that reads like a who's who of senior marketing leadership. Confirmed speakers include CMOs and senior marketing executives from McDonald's, Samsung Electronics America, Ulta Beauty, PepsiCo, Autodesk, Mattel, Bose, e.l.f. Beauty, Amazon, the NFL, and dozens more. Sessions run across a Beach Stage and a Showcase Stage simultaneously, covering AI-driven media strategy, retail media networks, commerce, cultural storytelling, brand building, and the future of the CMO role.
The format mixes fireside chats, panel discussions, and smaller showcase sessions across the full week, with breakfast and registration each morning from 08:00. Topics shift in focus as the week progresses, from growth and innovation on Monday through cultural relevance and storytelling on Tuesday, to media innovation and personalization on Wednesday, before closing Thursday with sessions on community, AI-powered media, and the commerce media revolution. Registration details are available directly through Brand Innovators.
View the full agenda and register at brand-innovators.com.
Hosted by Basis
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, 2026; 09:00 – 18:00 CEST
Location: 42 Boulevard de la Croisette, Floor 5
The Basis Oasis returns for another year as one of the more reliably welcoming spaces on the Croisette. Open daily from 09:00 with brunch, midday food and drinks, and a rotating programme of sessions throughout the week. Confirmed programming includes Beet Talks hosted by Beet.TV on Monday, a Fearless Voices session with She Runs It, a CMO Roundtable with Givsly on Tuesday, a Brand Safety Salon with the 614 Group, and a Wednesday session with Chief titled "Ambition, Redefined: How Senior Women Are Rewriting the Rules of Power, Influence & Impact." Athletes-turned-brand-leaders take the stage Wednesday afternoon for Game Changers. The Basis team will also be recording episodes of their AdTech Unfiltered podcast throughout the week.
Speakers confirmed across the programme include Michelle Crossan-Matos of SharkNinja, Sofia Hernandez of TikTok, Alison Moore of Chief, Dooley Tombras of Tombras, and Lynn Branigan of She Runs It, among others. Pre-registration is required for general Oasis access; individual sessions have separate RSVP links. More programming is still being added to the schedule ahead of the festival.
Pre-register for Oasis access and view the full schedule at basis.com.
Hosted by Fluent
Date & Time: Sunday, June 21, 2026; 16:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: Carline, Cannes
Fluent opens Cannes Lions week a day early with an evening reception built around a deliberate provocation from Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital. The argument: agentic AI is not coming for the top of the funnel, it is coming for the bottom, and most of the industry is still optimising in the wrong direction. The moment that cannot be automated away is the one that happens after the consumer has already decided, and that is precisely where Fluent thinks the most valuable and most overlooked opportunity in media sits.
It is a strong framing for the first evening of the week, before the Palais opens and the Croisette fills up. If you want to arrive at Monday morning's sessions with a sharper lens on where the AI conversation is actually heading, this is the right place to spend Sunday afternoon.
RSVP to the Welcome Reception here.
Hosted by Cognitiv
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26, 2026; various times
Location: E-Motion Yacht, Jetée Albert Edouard Nord, Cannes Port
Cognitiv returns to Yacht Row for Cannes Lions 2026 with the Performance Parlor, a week-long presence aboard the E-Motion Yacht combining daily industry conversations, two headline evening events, and quayside activations. The Brain Fuel Bar runs each morning from 10:00 to 14:00, serving coffee and the kind of spontaneous conversation that tends to be more useful than a scheduled meeting. The Cognitiv Library offers a curated selection of AI titles and creative provocations to take home.
Two events anchor the week. On Tuesday, June 23 from 17:00 to 20:30, the Pink Performance Club brings western glamour, bright pink cocktails, and electric music to the deck for an invite-only evening. On Wednesday, June 24 from 19:30 to 22:30, the Pride Party "Confidently Together" follows with high-energy performances, DJ sets, and a night built around connection and collective celebration. Throughout the week, Conversations in the Performance Parlor brings industry leaders together for sharp discussions on what advanced performance, powered by deep learning, actually makes possible.
Contact Cognitiv and find full event details at cannes2026.cognitiv.ai.
Hosted by Reddit
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26, 2026; open hours 11:30 – 14:30 CEST daily (Friday 10:00 – 14:00)
Location: Intersection of Rue Buttura & Promenade Robert Favre Le Bret
Reddit's Cannes Lions activation this year takes the form of a Community Deli, an immersive space built from real Reddit conversations and designed to make one argument clearly: as AI reshapes discovery, human perspective has become more valuable, not less. The deli is open to all Cannes Lions badge holders during daytime hours, with an access pass available for those without a badge. Daily programming includes a 11:30 Reddit Drop featuring redditor-recommended products and surprises, an on-site interview studio running Monday through Wednesday, and a WPP Health Breakfast on Monday morning for invited senior marketers.
Reddit's leadership team is in Cannes in force, with CEO Steve Huffman, COO Jen Wong, CMO Jim Squires, and EVP of Ads Monetization Roelof van Zwol all attending. The highlight of the evening programme is the Art of Conversation dinner on Monday, June 22 from 19:00 to 21:30, an intimate gathering of agency leaders for a private audience with Huffman, Wong, and the executive team. Meeting slots with the Reddit team are available Monday through Thursday from 09:00 to 18:00 by arrangement with your Reddit representative.
Register and find full details at redditcannes2026.splashthat.com.
Hosted by Business Insider
Date & Time: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26, 2026; various times
Location: BI Suite, First Croisette, Cannes
Business Insider returns to Cannes Lions 2026 with a full week of programming built around a single provocative premise: in today's market, the greater risk may be playing it safe. The week runs across three formats and locations. The BI Suite at First Croisette hosts intimate roundtable discussions, CMO Insider video interviews, and top-to-top meetings throughout the week, including a dedicated AI Marketer roundtable bringing together 15 senior marketing and innovation leaders to discuss real-world AI applications, governance, and the evolving role of the CMO, moderated by CMO Insider Executive Editor Julia Hood and followed by a curated happy hour. Over at Sport Beach, bold leaders and live programming anchor the daytime schedule. At FQ Beach, the CMO Daily Take delivers real-time insight drops and cultural pulse checks from the week's most influential marketers.
The headline event is the fourth annual CMO Insider Breakfast on Tuesday, June 23 from 09:00 to 11:00, an invitation-only session examining how senior marketing leaders decide when caution is strategic and when it becomes stagnation, covering creative risk versus revenue accountability, defending bold investments to boards, and how AI disruption can strengthen rather than sideline the marketing function. Editor in Chief Jamie Heller, Senior Correspondent Lara O'Reilly, and the broader BI editorial team are on the ground across the week covering the business of creativity as it unfolds.
Request your invitation at businessinsider.com.
Monday June 22 Events at Cannes Lions
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 09:30 – 11:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Winning brands treat intelligence as a competitive advantage, not a reporting function. This session shows how AI can merge creative and media intelligence into a single growth engine, turning smarter signals and stronger storytelling into measurable market outperformance.
Expect concrete takeaways on how to activate the right data at the right moment and build campaigns that compound over time rather than peak and fade.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Hosted by VIA & Amsterdam Trade & Invest
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 14:30 – 18:00 CEST
Location: Clipper Stad Amsterdam, Ponton Débordoir, Cannes Harbour
VIA's Cannes event this year takes place on board the Stad Amsterdam, a tall ship moored in the harbour and reached by dinghy transfer from the quay next to the Palais. The afternoon opens with a panel on industry transformation and Amsterdam's case as a destination for international agency operations, featuring Victor Knaap of Monks, Hollie Loxley of 72andSunny, Darre van Dijk of TBWA\NEBOKO, and moderator Kerrie Finch. The panel runs from 15:00 to 16:00, followed by two hours of sunset drinks and live Amsterdam music on deck.
Capacity is capped at 40 guests and pre-registration at least one week in advance is mandatory: no registration means no access, full stop. Bring a valid passport or ID, wear flat shoes suitable for a boat deck, and factor in an extra 15 minutes each way for the dinghy transfer. It is one of the more logistically involved events on this list, but a panel and a sunset on a tall ship in the Mediterranean is a reasonable trade-off.
Register and review full terms at vianederland.nl.
Hosted by Kantar & Saïd Business School
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 14:30 – 16:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
This session presents the largest global analysis ever conducted on the relationship between creative quality and brand strength, drawing on more than a decade of Kantar LINK and BrandZ data. The findings lay out exactly how great advertising builds brand equity and which creative elements drive long-term growth.
It is the kind of evidence base that tends to change how rooms full of senior marketers think about justifying creative investment. If you are making the case internally for quality over quantity, the data presented here will be useful.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 17:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Based on consumer ratings of more than 2,000 organisations, this panel brings together the brands sitting at the top of Kantar's sustainability rankings for a candid conversation about how environmental and social positioning translates into equity, growth, and sharper creative decisions.
The session is built around strategic intelligence rather than purpose-washing talking points, covering what sustainability leaders actually do differently and how those choices show up in brand performance.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Hosted by RTL AdAlliance, Adform & TikTok
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 17:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: RTL Beach, Boulevard de la Croisette
A relaxed start to the week from three names well known to the Nordic adtech and media community. RTL AdAlliance, Adform, and TikTok are bringing together their shared audience for an informal pre-dinner gathering on the beach, with drinks, finger food, and the kind of low-pressure atmosphere that makes the first evening of Cannes Lions one of the best for actually talking to people.
If your festival week is built around the adtech and media side of the Croisette, this is a natural first stop on Monday evening. Familiar faces, a central location, and no agenda beyond good conversation before the week properly kicks off.
Hosted by Fluent
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 09:00 – 11:00 CEST
Location: Belle Plage Beach Club, Cannes
Retail media's first wave is cresting. Inventory is tightening, CPMs are climbing, and the endemic advertiser budgets that built retail media into a $100 billion category are actively looking for what comes next. This breakfast panel, led by Boston Consulting Group with panelists from Dick's Media, PMG, Fluent, and Bilt, takes on the question directly: which categories are positioned to capture the ground that endemic advertisers are giving up, and why the post-transaction moment extended into physical retail is where the most forward-thinking non-endemic budgets are already moving.
It is a focused, senior conversation over a two-hour window at the start of the week, before the day's programming pulls everyone in different directions. The kind of session where the breakfast is an afterthought and the discussion is the point.
Hosted by Advertising Association
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 17:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: TBA
The Advertising Association opens Cannes Lions week with an invite-only welcome drinks for its members and partners, a low-key gathering to get the UK advertising community together before the week properly gets going. Details are deliberately light: no panels, no programme, just a chance for the right people to reconnect ahead of five days of festival activity.
Location is yet to be confirmed. If you are an Advertising Association member or partner, contact the team directly for details on access and venue.
Find more information at ukadvertising.co.
Hosted by Limelight Inc
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 13:00 – 15:00 CEST
Location: Beefbar, Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, 10 Boulevard de la Croisette
Limelight Inc takes over the iconic Beefbar inside Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic on the first full day of the festival for a lunch that does exactly what it says: gathers the publishers, platform partners, and adtech leaders shaping media in 2026 for two hours of food, Riviera sunshine, and the kind of conversation that tends not to happen at the crowded beach clubs. Moments from the action, worlds away from the chaos, as they put it.
Registration requires approval, so request your spot early. This one is for the adtech and publishing community specifically, and the format is deliberately relaxed.
Hosted by Press Gazette & NSMG
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; TBC
Location: Equativ Yacht, Cannes Port (minutes from the Palais)
Press Gazette launches The News Yacht at Cannes Lions 2026, positioning it explicitly as the gathering for news industry leaders during festival week and a direct counterweight to a media landscape where around two-thirds of UK and US advertising spend now flows to just three companies. The event brings together senior figures from news, marketing, and technology to examine what meaningful publisher monetisation looks like in 2026 and to make the case for quality journalism as both a democratic and commercial asset for advertisers. Confirmed speakers include Karl Wells, CRO of The Washington Post; Mark Howard, COO of TIME; Mike Peralta, CRO of Future plc; Maria Purcell, Interim CRO of Reach plc; and Katie Vanneck-Smith, CEO of Hearst. Panel discussions are followed by networking drinks.
Attendance is free for senior news industry leaders, but all registrations are reviewed by the Press Gazette team. If your background is in publishing, media, or advertising with a news-adjacent focus, this is one of the most substantive events on the Monday programme.
Register your interest at nsmg.live.
Hosted by LinkedIn & Microsoft
Date & Time: Monday, June 22, 2026; 11:00 – 13:00 CEST
Location: Microsoft Gardens, 64 Boulevard de la Croisette
Now in its third year, the Black Joy Brunch returns to Cannes Lions in partnership with Microsoft at the Microsoft Gardens. The event is a celebration of Black leaders across media, marketing, and beyond, opening the week with fireside conversations, panel discussions, and live music in a setting that is deliberately celebratory rather than corporate. Confirmed speakers include Jessica Jensen, CMO of LinkedIn, and Jerri DeVard, CEO of BECA. The agenda runs from a welcome brunch at 11:00 through a main stage fireside chat and panel from 11:40, closing with a music and connection segment from 12:30.
This is one of the festival's most anticipated Monday morning events and has sold out in both previous editions. Register early.
Register your interest at blackjoybrunch.splashthat.com.
Hosted by Brands&Culture
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 12:30 – 17:30 CEST
Location: Brands&Culture Villa, Cannes (address shared upon registration)
Now in its third year at Cannes Lions, the Brands&Culture Villa returns with a full afternoon of sessions built around one of the festival's most contested questions: how much permission do brands actually have to engage with culture, and are most of them doing it well? Tuesday's program opens with a live debate on whether marketers are genuinely moving culture forward or simply borrowing its energy without earning it. Confirmed speakers include Alex Weller, Global VP of Creative at Patagonia, Catherine Ferdon, CMO of Coinbase, and Viviana Ochoa, VP Marketing at Essity.
The afternoon covers how AI is reshaping cultural marketing strategy, what it means to build a brand that is disruptive by design rather than by campaign, and how to develop standout in a market increasingly saturated with generated content. Sessions alternate between panel discussions and interactive culture lab formats, keeping the programming practical rather than purely theoretical.
Register and view the full Tuesday agenda at brandsnculture.com.
Adform Match Night at Cannes 2026
Hosted by Adform
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 21:00 CEST
Location: Ma Nolan's Irish Pub, Cannes
After a full day on the Croisette, Adform is offering a straightforward and very welcome alternative to another rooftop cocktail hour: an Irish pub, drinks, snacks, and England vs Ghana in the FIFA World Cup 2026. The format does most of the work for you: a live match gives the evening a natural rhythm, takes the edge off any awkward silences, and creates the kind of shared moments that tend to make for better conversations than a standard networking event ever does.
Ma Nolan's is a Cannes Lions regular and reliably one of the more unpretentious venues in the city during festival week. If Tuesday has been long, this is the right place to end it.
Modern Heritage: The Three Step Path to Timeless Brands
Hosted by Transform Magazine & Tavern
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 15:30 – 16:30 CEST
Location: 70 Avenue de Grasse, Cannes
Mike Perry, founder of brand design studio Tavern, makes the case that the branding industry has trapped itself in a loop: constant rebrands chasing the latest design trend, producing a sea of sameness and short-lived relevance. His answer is what he calls Modern Heritage, a framework for building brand systems that do not live in the past but build deliberately on it. The talk walks through three stages: Unearth, Redefine, and Redesign, illustrated through Tavern's work on Sizzler, Burt's Bees, and American whiskey brand Old Overholt.
The argument is that timelessness is not nostalgia but reinvention, and that the brands with the longest equity runways are the ones that know exactly which parts of their history are worth carrying forward. If you are tired of trend cycle conversations and want something with a longer time horizon, this one is worth the walk from the Palais.
Creativity is Business: Europe's Most Effective Advertising
Hosted by Kantar & European Creative Agencies
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 09:30 – 11:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
For the first time, Kantar is partnering with European Creative Agencies to put ten campaigns nominated for Cannes Lions under the performance microscope. Brand managers and creative directors will walk through what the data actually shows about how these campaigns worked, and why.
It is a rare format: creative work assessed not just for craft but for commercial impact, in a room where both sides of that conversation are present.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Creative ReCode: How to Sell to Humans and Algorithms
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 12:00 – 13:30 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Creative campaigns now have two audiences: the people watching them and the large language models processing them. This session explores how machines and humans interpret creative work differently, what that gap means for brand building, and how to close it. Kantar introduces The Creative ReCode, a new playbook built around the reality that discoverability and conversion increasingly depend on winning over both.
If your campaigns are optimised for human attention but invisible to the algorithms deciding what gets surfaced, this is the session to attend.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
The Creative Power of Sports
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 14:30 – 16:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Live sport remains one of the few genuinely shared cultural stages left, and brands that know how to operate within it have a real creative advantage. This panel covers how to use the energy of fandom and athlete-creators to sharpen activation, improve creative choices, and connect brand actions to measurable growth.
The session draws on Kantar's signal-driven research to show which approaches actually move the needle and which ones simply borrow cultural heat without converting it.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Creative Intelligence in Motion
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 17:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
This session makes the case for pairing AI-driven diagnostics with in-market human measurement rather than choosing between them. Drawing on 250,000 creative tests and more than 100 billion human interactions, Kantar walks through how their combined approach decodes what makes creative work perform across formats and markets.
The argument is practical rather than theoretical: AI predicts, people validate, and the gap between the two is where most creative decisions currently go wrong.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
The Darkroom® CPG Garden at Cannes Lions 2026
Hosted by Darkroom, Oren John, Triple Whale & Motion App
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 11:00 – 17:00 CEST
Location: 123-129 Avenue Maréchal Juin
Spend the day in the French Riviera with the people shaping the future of marketing. Hosted by Darkroom and Oren John with Ashwinn Krishnaswamy, Blaze Smith, Clayton Chambers, Dara Denney, JT Barnett, Sammi Cohen, Tatum Brandt, Var Aunevik, Triple Whale and Motion.
We are opening the Darkroom Villa and Garden for a full day away from La Croisette: pool, cold plunge, sauna, walking lunch buffet, and a sculpture garden built from iconic CPG products. Inside the villa, live panels with Triple Whale and Motion on how paid, organic and creator are becoming one, and how AI is reshaping the org chart of commerce. Founders, brand operators, DTC builders and creators above the Mediterranean at Cannes Lions 2026. Space is curated and limited. Request to join here.
Blueprint for Brand Growth Awards 2026 at Cannes Lions
Hosted by Kantar & Microsoft
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2026; 18:00 – 20:00 CEST
Location: Microsoft Gardens, 64 Boulevard de la Croisette
Kantar takes over the Microsoft Gardens for an evening built around one straightforward premise: recognizing the brands that are winning, and making the thinking behind them visible to the people in the room. The night opens with a conversation between Kantar Chief Client Officer Alvin Bowles and Mark D'Arcy, who leads global creative for Copilot at Microsoft AI, offering a candid look inside one of the most closely watched brand-building exercises happening anywhere in the industry right now.
The Blueprint for Brand Growth Awards follow, recognizing standout performers across Most Meaningfully Different Brand, Most Effective Campaign, and Excellence in Creator Content, all grounded in Kantar data rather than jury opinion. Drinks, food, and a DJ fill the rest of the evening. Microsoft Gardens on a Tuesday night is a strong place to be.
Register for the Blueprint for Brand Growth Awards evening here.
Intimate Dinner: "Spent" - The Wind Down
Hosted by Fluent
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 18:00 – 23:00 CEST
Location: EMORA, Cannes
Fluent closes out their Cannes Lions week with a dinner that asks the question underneath everything else: how do you authentically reach a consumer who has already made their decision? Fluent processes over a billion consumer transactions a year, and their partnership with Bilt puts them at the exact moment right after purchase, rewarding consumers at the point of sale based on what they actually buy rather than what they say they will. One guest will offer a perspective that the data alone cannot provide. Off the record, no formal programme, deliberately capped in size.
If the first two days of the week have been full rooms and busy schedules, this is the counterbalance: excellent company, a genuinely interesting question, and a proper dinner to end on.
The Street is the Strategy: Why Context Beats Platforms
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 09:30 – 11:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Brands do not live on platforms. They live in moments. This session uses South African creativity as a case study for a context-first approach to winning attention in fragmented media environments, arguing that street-level thinking consistently outperforms platform-first planning. The lessons apply well beyond one market.
It is an unconventional framing for a Cannes Lions audience, which is precisely what makes it worth the time.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Modern Heritage: How Do You Build Equity That Outlives Trends?
Hosted by Transform Magazine
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 15:30 – 16:30 CEST
Location: 70 Avenue de Grasse, Cannes
The follow-up to Tuesday's talk shifts from presentation to roundtable, opening up the Modern Heritage framework to a room-wide discussion. The questions on the table are ones the industry does not have clean answers to yet: how brands create meaning that compounds rather than resets with every trend cycle, what actually makes a brand timeless in a fast-moving culture, and how to maintain a coherent identity while flexing across platforms and audiences.
The roundtable format makes this a different kind of session from the keynote the day before, and the two work well together if you can make both. Just a few minutes from the Palais, it is a low-friction commitment for what promises to be a high-quality conversation.
Fandoms, Communities & Niches
Hosted by Brands&Culture
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 12:30 – 17:15 CEST
Location: Brands&Culture Villa, Cannes (address shared upon registration)
Wednesday's program at the Brands&Culture Villa shifts focus to the communities where brand relevance is actually earned: sports fandoms, gaming ecosystems, creator networks, and niche cultural spaces that mainstream marketing still struggles to reach authentically. Sessions cover how brands can convert peak fan moments into lasting cultural impact, why influencer marketing cannot be fully automated without losing the trust that makes it work, and how gaming has become a cultural operating system where participation beats activation every time. Confirmed speakers include representatives from Sportradar, Edelman, and PepsiCo, alongside Gigi Russo, Chief Transformation Officer at HUNTER.
The day closes with a session on how marketers are integrating AI into the full cultural marketing workflow, from signal identification through to creator collaboration and impact measurement, with an emphasis on where human judgment still matters and where it does not.
Register and view the full Wednesday agenda at brandsnculture.com.
Creator-Led Marketing: From Chaos to Catalyst
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 12:00 – 13:30 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Creator budgets are growing fast and the accountability question is growing with them. This session cuts through the noise with Kantar's latest research on what makes creator-led marketing actually effective, featuring brands that have built repeatable success in the space by making intelligence-driven decisions rather than instinct-driven ones.
The focus is on how to move creator investment from a line item that is hard to defend into one that connects directly to campaign performance.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Open House for Good 2026 at Cannes Lions
Hosted by ACT Responsible, IAA Global & LIONS
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 14:00 – 16:00 CEST
Location: LIONS Impact Hub, Palais des Festivals (meeting point: steps of the Cannes Tourist Office)
No badge required. The Open House for Good is one of the few Cannes Lions events that is genuinely open to anyone, designed specifically to make the festival more accessible and its most purpose-driven work more visible. Organised by ACT Responsible and IAA Global in partnership with LIONS, the afternoon gives visitors access to the ACT Responsible exhibition inside the Palais, spotlighting campaigns across solidarity, human rights, education, and the environment. Attendees can browse the work, connect with the people behind it, and vote for their favourite campaigns.
It is a rare opportunity to walk the Palais floor without a festival pass and engage directly with creative work that exists to move things forward rather than sell things. If your Cannes Lions week is focused on purpose-driven marketing, this is the natural anchor for Wednesday afternoon.
Register on Eventbrite and find meeting point details here.
Made in Germany 3.0: AI Meets Creative Reality
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 14:30 – 16:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
AI is changing advertising production faster than most markets are ready for, and Germany is a telling case study in the gap between capability and effectiveness. This session examines why German marketers remain cautious about AI-generated creative, what the data shows about where it underperforms, and how creative excellence continues to drive brand growth in a market that takes craft seriously.
The findings are specific to Germany but the tension they describe is universal.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Creativity is Business: France's Most Effective Advertising
Hosted by Kantar, AACC & Media Figaro
Date & Time: Wednesday, June 24, 2026; 17:00 – 19:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Now in its fifth year, this initiative puts ten French campaigns nominated for Cannes Lions through a performance lens, with brand managers and creative directors presenting the data behind their work. The format has built a strong following among French-market professionals and those tracking European creative effectiveness trends.
Please note this session is conducted in French.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
Cultural OS: New Brand Intelligence for Winning with Creators and Fans
Hosted by Kantar
Date & Time: Thursday, June 25, 2026; 09:30 – 11:00 CEST
Location: The Kantar Content Studio, 13 Rue de Serbes
Creators, fandoms, and earned attention are increasingly driving the media multiplier, but as budgets in this space grow, so does pressure to prove ROMI and brand impact. This session presents new intelligence on what creator and fandom strategies actually deliver, spotlighting the campaigns and approaches that have translated cultural momentum into measurable brand growth.
It closes out Kantar's week at the Content Studio with some of the most forward-looking research they are bringing to Cannes Lions 2026.
Request your in-person spot at kantar.com.
ACT Responsible Tributes Celebration 2026
Hosted by ACT Responsible & RTL
Date & Time: Thursday, June 25, 2026; 17:00 – 18:30 CEST
Location: RTL Beach, C Beach Cannes
The ACT Responsible Tributes Celebration closes out the purpose-driven strand of the festival week with an evening on the beach honouring the people and campaigns that have used creativity to create real-world impact. Two distinct recognitions are presented: the Champions of Good, awarded to individuals who have made a lasting contribution to social or environmental causes through their work, and Creativity for Good, which celebrates the teams behind the most voted-for campaigns in the ACT Responsible exhibition.
Organised with the support of RTL and held on the beach at C Beach, it is one of the more genuinely low-ego events on the Cannes Lions calendar: the focus is squarely on the work and the people behind it rather than on the hosting brand. Worth attending whether you are embedded in the purpose-driven creative world or simply want to end Thursday evening somewhere that feels meaningful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cannes Lions 2026, officially the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, runs from June 22 to 26, 2026, in Cannes, France. It marks the 73rd edition of the world's most watched gathering for advertising, marketing, media, and creative communications. The week combines award ceremonies across 30-plus categories, keynote talks, masterclasses, and hundreds of satellite events, brand activations, and networking opportunities spread across the city. To explore the official programme, visit the Cannes Lions website.
The festival is anchored at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on Boulevard de la Croisette. The surrounding city fills up around it: beach clubs, private villas, hotel terraces, yachts, and rooftop spaces host the majority of the side events, brand activations, and networking gatherings that define the week for most attendees.
The festival runs from Monday, June 22 to Friday, June 26, 2026. The official programme is published on the Cannes Lions website and app, typically a few months before the event opens. Most of the side events and parties listed in this guide run in parallel throughout the week, with the bulk of programming starting around midday and running into the evening.
This is the most visited guide to Cannes Lions parties, networking events, brand activations, beach takeovers, and invite-only gatherings on the internet, and has been for several years running. We update it continuously as new events are confirmed, adding RSVP links, times, locations, and access details so you can plan your week without having to track down information from a dozen different sources. Whether you are attending Cannes Lions for the first time or have been coming for years, the guide is built to save you time and get you into the right rooms.
Access varies by event. Some require an RSVP through a public registration link, others are invite-only through the hosting organisation, and a few are open to all festival badge holders. We include the most accurate access information available for each listing. The most reliable approach is to follow the registration link provided for each event and contact the host directly if you have questions about availability.
Yes. If you are organising a Cannes Lions 2026 event and want it considered for the guide, send the details to contact@akommo.com with the following: event name, host and organiser, date and time, full address, a short description, ticket or signup link, and any promotional images. We review every submission and include those that meet our editorial criteria.
Yes. Akommo specialises in corporate accommodation, venue sourcing, private transfers, and event logistics in Cannes. We work with companies attending Cannes Lions every year, from securing centrally located apartments near the Palais to managing full event production for brand activations. If you need help planning your presence at the festival, get in touch with our team.
No. Akommo is an independent event services company and is not affiliated with Cannes Lions or any of the events featured in this guide unless explicitly stated. We do not organise these events and cannot guarantee entry. This guide is an editorially curated resource to help attendees find the best networking and social opportunities during the festival week. For access, guest list, and RSVP information, use the individual registration links provided under each event and contact the hosts directly.
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