Join DEPT® at Cannes Lions 2026 – Secret Garden
Just off the Croisette, away from the noise, a space designed to slow things down.
A return to the trees, where the focus shifts back to the craft and the conversations behind it.
The Secret Garden is back this year.
Last year, in the middle of everything Cannes tends to be, the Garden became one of those places people kept finding their way back to.
Just off the Croisette, under the trees, it had a different kind of energy. There was shade, a bit of a breeze, friendly faces, and the sense that you could sit down for a moment without immediately checking the time. People dropped in between meetings and, more often than not, stayed longer than planned.
Across the day, it was filled with senior leaders from brands, tech, and the creator world. Conversations moved easily between AI, innovation, and what’s actually changing in the work. Smart, open, and refreshingly unforced.
It filled up quickly too. And yes, we had to say no more than we would have liked.
So this year, we’re keeping it much the same, just a little more considered. Still invite-only. Still intentionally limited. The same setting, with a bit more space to settle in and the same kind of people you’d hope to run into. A place to step out of the noise, find some shade, and get into conversations that are actually worth your time.
If you make it in, you’ll see what we mean.
THE Program
Time and Location
08:30 – 10:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Lauren Walker, VP Digital Transformation at Mars | Claudia Calori, VP Head of Global Marketing Personal Health at Philips | Meredith Herman, Global Head of Acceleration at Kenvue
Moderator: Robert Dreblow, WFA
Session
Breakfast panel by WFA – Beyond Artificial: The Real Work of Scaling AI
Everyone’s experimenting with AI but far fewer are scaling it. And the gap is less about the technology and more about what sits underneath it – how the organisation is structured, who owns the decisions, how teams are incentivised, and whether your ways of working are fit to move at AI speed. You’re invited to start your Tuesday with us at the DEPT Secret Garden in an intimate morning of conversation, candour, and connection, exclusively for brand-side leaders. You’ll hear directly from three global brands on how they’re taking AI from experimentation to scale, the lessons they wish they’d learnt earlier and the steps that you might take to drive meaningful impact post Cannes.
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Elke Karskens, Head of International Marketing, OpenAI | Grace Kao, CMO, Snap | Antonia Wade, CMO, PwC | Bridget Evans, Global Head of Business Marketing at Spotify
Moderator: Kamal Ahmed, Executive Editorial Director, Fortune
Session
Lessons from the most innovative CMOs: rethinking growth in a B2A world
The customer journey is being filtered, shaped, and decided by AI before a human gets involved. Business-to-Agent isn’t a tactic; it’s the new reality. Together with Fortune, the CMOs who saw this coming first share where the shift is already showing up in revenue, retention, and CAC, and what growth looks like when agents are in the room.
Time and Location
12:00 – 13:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Moderators: WFA, Revolt, Kantar, Oxford Said Business School
Lunch
Roundtable lunch – WFA’s value of sustainable marketing (invite only)
A Chatham House-rule lunch where the most valuable thing in the room is the lived experience of the people in it. Senior marketers from WFA, DEPT® and Oxford’s Said Business School in candid conversation about what sustainable marketing is actually worth.
Time and Location
14:00 – 14:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Sona Iliffe-Moon, CCO, Yahoo | Jessica Qaasim, Head of Industry, Google | Emily O’Hara, VP Global Brand & Media, eBay | Ashley Penn, Senior Director, Marketing, Adobe
Session
The new rules of scaling brands with AI
Scaling used to mean consistency. Now it means consistency at speed. AI makes output easier, but it also exposes everything that doesn’t hold up. The brands getting this right aren’t just adding AI to the mix, they’re rethinking how communication flows across teams, markets, and channels. Find out how they’re keeping quality high while everything accelerates.
Time and Location
15:00 – 15:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Sara Holt, CMO, Centre Parks | Kate Bird, Senior Director EMEA, APAC and Global Brand Marketing, Snap Inc | Amanda Jobbins, CMO, Vodafone |
Sarah Leinberger, CMO, Yoobi | Anuj Chhabra, Portfolio Lead, Pernod Ricard
Moderator: Emma Harris, CEO Glow London
Session
#slowthefuckdown: Leading Through the Madness
The world has never moved faster. AI, economic pressure, endless change, relentless expectations. Everyone is being asked to do more, move quicker and somehow keep it all together.
But what is all this madness doing to us?
In this raw and honest conversation, some of the industry’s most respected leaders share what it’s really like behind the job titles. The pressure, the mistakes, the wake-up calls and the lessons they’ve learnt about leading themselves and others through increasingly complex times. Less leadership theory. More real talk. Because whilst everyone else is focused on speeding up, perhaps the real challenge is learning how to slow the fuck down.
Time and Location
16:00 – 16:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
George Howes, Head of Grow at Canva | Indy Khabra, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Livewire | Isabel Perry, Global EVP of Strategy at DEPT®
Session
The Closed Shop Just Got a Front Door
Gaming has long been media’s closed shop: bespoke deals, manual buying, and no unified workflow connecting creative, activation, and measurement.
At DEPT®’s Secret Garden, Livewire Co-Founder and Co-CEO Indy Khabra, George Howes, Head of Growth at Canva, and Isabel Perry, Chief Strategy Officer at DEPT®, unveil the first gaming integration in Canva Marketplace. They’ll show how Canva’s 265 million creators can now reach more than 3 billion gamers worldwide, and explain why the AI orchestration layer for gaming was always going to be built by a team deeply embedded in gaming culture.
Time and Location
19:00 – 22:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Hope Hydration
Dinner
Future Club Dinner (invite only)
An evening for the people building what’s next. Dinner, drinks, and the kind of conversations you don’t have on stage.
Time and Location
09:00 – 10:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Breakfast
Cannes press breakfast (invite only)
Off the record, over coffee, before the day takes over. A small group of journalists in conversation with DEPT® leadership
Time and Location
09:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
The Webby Awards
Session
Running Club
The best conversations at Cannes happen when you’re not sitting down. An early morning run with some of the most interesting people on the Croisette.
Time and Location
10:15 – 10:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Session
Creator Coffee & Connect (invite only)
Strawberry matcha or an iced latte. Catch your breath, meet the room, and ease into the morning before the sessions begin.
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Matt Watson, CCO PepsiCo | Nic Brandenberger, CMO, Mammut | Kira Karlstrom, Co-Founder, Triple Threat, Formerly, Head of Global Entertainment Marketing, Twitch | Tiff Baira, Creator, Host of NYC Street Hearts
Moderator: Jesse Feister, Executive Director, Webby Media Group
Session
What broke the Internet?
AI made content cheap. That didn’t make attention more valuable, it made distinctiveness more valuable. A practical teardown of viral hits and public misses with creators and founders. What actually travels. What sticks. And when a million views is growth versus an expensive distraction.
Time and Location
11:30 – 13:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Mark Ritson
Lunch
The Marketing Academy – Alumni Lunch (invite only)
An intimate session with one of the sharpest minds in marketing, followed by lunch. The kind of afternoon that changes how you think for a while.
Time and Location
14:00 – 14:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Erin Chin, CMO, Logitech G | @romeosshow, creator | @marcsebastianf, creator | Dawn Yang, Global Head of Entertainment Partnerships, TikTok
Session
You can’t brief your way into culture
On TikTok, brands aren’t the main character. They’re a guest; fun to have around, or easy to ignore. Creators set the pace, communities decide what sticks. Together with TikTok, we move past the brand-first mindset: how partnerships evolve from one-off campaigns into ongoing roles in culture, and why some collaborations take off while others barely leave the For You page.
Time and Location
15:00 – 15:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Laura Ness Owens, VP of Marketing, Doosan Bobcat | LaToya Shambo, Founder & CEO, Black Girl Digital | Dr. Joel Bervel, Medical Mythbuster & Creator | Derrick Downey Jr., Content Creator & Media Personality | Bonang Matheba, TV presenter & Media personality
Moderator: Ama Hill, Founder, keynote speaker & creator
Keynote
The algorithm doesn’t know your culture: building trust in the age of AI hosted by Indvstry Clvb
A deep dive into the tension between algorithmic efficiency and human authenticity. We’ll explore how global brands and creators build community trust and brand equity that data alone can’t replicate.
Time and Location
16:00 – 16:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Laurie Keith SVP, Emerging Media, the Ad Council | Jennifer Kattula General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft Advertising | Carryn Quibell, CEO of the Americas, DEPT®
Host: Adcouncil & Microsoft
Keynote
How AI is helping people keep their loved ones safe from gun violence
Gun injuries have been the leading cause of death among children and teens in the US for four consecutive years. Agree to Agree built an AI chatbot that helps people start those conversations, from common ground, with clarity and care. Join Microsoft, Ad Council, RSM and DEPT® for the launch, and a new standard for what creative effectiveness can actually look like.
Time and Location
16:30 – 17:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Host: Adcouncil & Microsoft
Session
Drinks at the bistro
Time and Location
19:00 – 22:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Hope Hydration
Dinner
Future Club Dinner x WFA (invite only)
Dinner with WFA’s global network and DEPT® leadership.
Time and Location
08:30 – 10:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Session
Future of Marketing Initiative — Oxford University (invite only)
A closed-door roundtable for future marketing leaders, in partnership with the University of Oxford.
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Raji Behal Head of Western and Southern Europe, UK & Ireland at Klarna | Duncan Chater, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Bloomberg Media | Suzana Apelbaum, Global AI Marketing Transformation Lead at Google Media Lab | Sally Barton, Director, Marketing Growth Strategy at Mondelēz
Session
You bought the AI. Where’s the growth?
AI budgets are up. The stack is bigger than ever. And yet growth isn’t moving at the same pace. It’s not a technology problem — it’s a connection problem. Industry leaders share what they’re actually changing: what they’re cutting, where they’re doubling down, and how they’re simplifying their setup to focus on what delivers real results.
Time and Location
12:00 – 13:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Lunch
Lunch with EPICA (invite only)
Time and Location
13:00 – 14:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Session
EPICA x Adforum – Cocktail hour (invite only)
Time and Location
14:00 – 14:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Nili Klenoff, EVP Commerce Media & Innovation, Mastercard | Adrian Fung, CMO, eBay | Tyrona Heath, Global Director, Thought Leadership GTM at LinkedIn | Scott Zalaznik, CEO BLACKROLL®
Session
The human multiplier: why leadership is the real AI advantage
AI has scaled output. That’s no longer the advantage. The industry leaders winning now are being judged on direction — where to focus, what to prioritise, what not to do. Because when everything can be produced, the real risk isn’t falling behind. It’s becoming average at scale. This session is about the leaders building the systems that prevent exactly that.
Time and Location
15:00 – 16:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Dave Frauenfelder, VP Brand, MarCom & Sponsorships at KPN | Rutger Tuit, Head of YouTube (BeneLux) | Ana Henriques, Head of Brand Tui (BeneLux) | Brenda Smith, Director Marketing & Customer Experience, A.S. Watson
Host: Adformatie
Session
Marketing for machines: how B2A is rewriting the CMO playbook
A Dutch-language session for senior marketers. How agent-driven journeys are shifting search, loyalty, and performance, and what it means when you’re no longer just selling to people, but to their digital assistants.
Time and Location
16:15 – 16:35
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Kojo Marfo, Founder My Runway Group | Kofi Turkson, COO My Runway Group | Bernard Kafui Sokpe, Co-founder & CEO, Jambo Spaces | Addy Awofisayo, Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa at Youtube | Chika Uwazie, Media founder & author | Ben Williams, Global Chief Creative Officer at DEPT®
Session
The distinctiveness gap | Fireside chat by afriCANNES (Private)
Marketing is converging. African creative output is breaking through. The bridge between them barely exists.
Time and Location
16:35 – 18:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Party
afriCANNES x DEPT® — Closing cocktail party
Three days of Growth, Invented, ending the way it should. Drinks, the whole garden community, and the conversations you’ll still be having next week.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
MEET THE TEAM
