Join DEPT® at Cannes Lions 2025
**The Secret Garden didn’t stay secret for long…we’re overjoyed and overwhelmed at the interest in wristbands, but that sadly means we are now at capacity. We welcome you to register for the waiting list and we’ll be in touch if we can squeeze you in.**
The DEPT® Secret Garden: where real conversations grow
Find us: Google Maps
1300 sqm of space to breathe, meet, work, or just take five. Daily panels, a live podcast studio, AI-powered art, and some of the best coffee (and cocktails) in town. Download program.
To keep the zen vibes, we’re keeping numbers small so you can connect and relax away from the hustle. Whether you’re into bold ideas or quiet moments, it’s all here—under the trees, on the terrace, in the thick of it and away from it all at the same time…
Bold ideas & unexpected moments
Download the full DEPT® Secret Garden program to help you plan your time in Cannes.
See you beneath the trees…
What to expect in the Secret Garden
Cannes is where the industry comes to talk about the future. The Secret Garden is where we make it real.
Tucked just off the Croisette, a few steps from the Marriot (and a million miles from the chaos), we’re creating a calm, curated, and unexpected space.
Think morning coffees that turn into partnerships, panels that say something, and conversations that don’t feel like work.
AI, minus the buzzwords
We’re done waiting for the AI “future.” The brands winning now are already doing it—transforming how they create, communicate, and connect. We’ll show you how. No pilots. No fluff. Just people actually making it work.
NVIDIA on AI for Public Good
Wednesday, June 18 | 10:00–13:30 | The Secret Garden
Hosted by DEPT® and NVIDIA, this invite-only session brings together top policymakers, global tech leaders, and industry innovators to shape how AI can drive measurable public impact.
Through a panel, real-world case study, and private roundtable lunch, we’ll align on what it takes to govern, scale, and deploy AI that truly serves society.
Creators are coming
With Cannes doubling down on creator-led work (hello, rebranded Social & Creator Lion), we’re welcoming the people who don’t just influence culture—they are the culture. Join them in our sessions, or grab a drink and start a new collab.
AI installations you’ll remember
We’re not just showing off AI. We’re letting you mess with it. In the Garden, try Signs: the world’s first AI-powered sign language platform by NVIDIA—designed to make communication more inclusive and fully live for you to explore.
You’ll also meet Talking Portraits, where you can chat with AI versions of historical and fictional figures. Think Harry Potter’s moving paintings, but smarter (and a bit cheekier). These are real AI experiences you can talk to, learn from, and play with. Go on, ask them something unexpected.
Join the waiting list
The Secret Garden didn’t stay secret for long…we’re overjoyed and overwhelmed at the interest in wristbands, but that sadly means we are now at capacity.
We welcome you to register for the waiting list and we’ll be in touch if we can squeeze you in.
THE Program
Time and Location
14:00 – 14:30
Microsoft Beach House
Speakers
Paul Woolmington, Canvas Worldwide
Amy Thorne, Dentsu Creative
Sven Seger, Microsoft
Jeff Bowerman, DEPT®
Host: Sunita Richardson, Microsoft
Session
EQ of AI: Unblocking creativity
Join us for an insightful panel discussion on the empowering potential of AI in creativity and how it’s redefining our comfort zones. This session will delve into how AI can play a crucial role of personalization in the context of the creation process. AI is revolutionizing storytelling, delivering tailored and relevant content, and optimizing communication channels, and it can support us individually as an advocate and catalyst to help us tame our everyday creative blocks so we can find a new sense of flow. We will explore the evolution of creative potential and the cultural shifts brought by AI.
Time and Location
10:00 – 10:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Welcome with The Marketing Society
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:30
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Najoh Tita-Reid, Mars Petcare
Claudia Calori, Philips
James Prentice, Arla Foods
Moderator: Rob Dreblow, WFA
Session
The Marketer of the Future: Staying future-fit in a world that never stands still
What separates the marketers who thrive from those who just keep up? In this panel, we’ll dive into what it really takes to build future-fit marketing teams; ones that can move at the speed of culture and deliver real business impact.
Grounded in global research from the WFA and Oxford, the discussion will explore how leading brands are rethinking everything from org design and C-suite alignment to the integration of AI, emerging tech, and must-have skills for tomorrow’s marketing leaders. Actionable, forward-looking, and built for CMOs who aren’t here to play catch-up.
Time and Location
11:15 – 12:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Connections & Conversations with Lunch by The Marketing Society
Time and Location
12:00 – 13:30
Speakers
Fiona Vanderbroeck, Bol
Dave Frauenfelder, KPN
Marjan Straathof, DEPT®
Session
Marketing Report Whitepaper Sessions
What makes a brand relevant, distinctive, and future-proof in a world that’s changing at lightning speed?
During the Whitepaper Sessions, Dutch marketing and brand leaders will share their perspectives on today’s biggest challenges and opportunities: from the role of AI in brand building and creative processes to sustainable positioning, commerce innovation, brand activism, and how to stay locally relevant in a global world. What will we take home from Cannes? And what should we leave behind?
Each speaker will have 10 minutes to present a bold opinion or inspiring insight, followed by 5 minutes of audience interaction. No long presentations — just sharp thinking, meaningful content, and room for real conversation.
Time
12:30 – 14:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Lunch
Lunch with the DEPT® Strategic Navigators
Join our global think tank for smart conversation, sharp ideas, and practical takeaways for navigating uncertainty.
Time and Location
15:00 – 15:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Michael Lacorazza, US Bank
Emily O’Hara, eBay
Sona Iliffe-Moon, Yahoo
Moderator: Sam Huston, DEPT®
Session
Building a durable brand in the AI era
The performance-marketing era is ending. As AI reduces barriers to entry, competitive advantages rooted solely in performance advertising are disappearing. The only lasting advantage is a durable brand built on authenticity, trust, and meaningful consumer relationships. Durable brands weather disruptions and maintain loyalty. They show up time and again, with consistency, clarity, and focus. This session will share how to build a durable brand and why brands need to optimize around tech, creativity, and media to drive outsized impact.
Time and Location
15:45 – 16:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Alice Anson, Sainsbury’s
Isabel Perry, DEPT®
Host: Sara Jerde, Digiday
Session
AI Agents in Action: How Sainsbury’s is Reimagining Retail Media
In this behind-the-scenes fireside chat hosted by Digiday, Sainsbury’s and DEPT® unpack how they’ve embedded AI agents into the core of Nectar360, Sainsbury’s retail media business. With over 100 campaigns and thousands of assets to manage each year, the team needed a faster, smarter way to handle asset compliance without compromising on quality. Their solution? A custom-built, multi-agent AI system that reviews logos, fonts, colors, objects, positioning, and T&Cs across static and video assets in under 20 seconds, with more than 90% accuracy. Unveiled by Sainsbury’s at Cannes, the platform is already reducing errors, cutting costs, and freeing up time for teams to focus on strategy and creativity. Join us to explore how AI agents are powering real change in retail media and why starting with practical, scalable solutions like this is the smartest way to move forward
Time
19:00 – 22:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Dinner
DEPT® & Friends VIP Dinner
Invite only event, sponsored by Microsoft, Hope Hydration, and the World Federation of Advertisers
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Bea Longworth, NVIDIA
Keegan McBride, Tony Blair Institute
Meindert Kamphuis, Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure (RDI)
Constantijn van Oranje, Techleap
Moderator: Isabel Perry, DEPT®
NVIDIA Session
AI That Serves: Policies for Public-First Innovation
AI is changing how we protect, heal, and serve—but policy is still catching up.
From disaster relief and digital twins to education, accessibility, and sustainability, AI has the potential to transform how governments operate and how communities thrive. But to unlock that potential, we need frameworks that balance innovation with public trust.
This session brings together tech leaders, policy makers, and creatives to explore the future of AI governance: How do we build systems that are secure, fair, and inclusive? How can we ensure AI works for people—not just with them in mind? A conversation rooted in action—because when policy lags, progress does too.
Time and Location
11:15 – 11:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Michael Boone, NVIDIA
Christina Mallon, Microsoft
Anders Sønderby Jessen, DEPT®
Moderator: Isabel Perry, DEPT®
Session
Signs of Change: Building Tech That Connects Us
Not every breakthrough comes from a boardroom. Some start at the kitchen table. Signs is a browser-based ASL learning tool, co-created by DEPT®, NVIDIA, and the American Society for Deaf Children. Built with generative AI, it empowers parents to connect with their deaf children through language—turning advanced technology into something profoundly human. In this session, we’ll go behind the scenes of the project—from the dataset challenges to the creative breakthroughs—and explore how responsible AI, driven by empathy and purpose, can bridge communication gaps and unlock real-world impact.
Time
12:30 – 14:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Lunch
Lunch with the DEPT® Strategic Navigators
Join our global think tank for smart conversation, sharp ideas, and practical takeaways for navigating uncertainty.
Time and Location
13:30 – 15:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Jeffrey Cohen, Amazon
Vikram Viswanathan, Adobe
Ali McClintock, DEPT®
Moderator: Marjan Straathof, DEPT®
Session
SoDA Presents: Creative at Speed – what happens when AI joins your team
Creative briefs aren’t what they used to be. AI is generating ideas, platforms are auto-building assets, and the once-clear lines between creative, media, and production? Long gone. In this session, hosted with SoDA, we’re bringing together folks from Adobe, Amazon and more to talk about the (very real) shift in how creative work actually gets done. It’s not about chasing trends; it’s about rethinking how agencies operate when the tools move faster than the teams. Expect honest takes, useful lessons, and zero patience for buzzwords.
Time and Location
15:00 – 15:45
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Slavka Jancikova, Foot Locker
Sanja Parulekar, Salesforce
Stephane Carlier, Logitech
Moderator: Nikhil Lai, Forrester
Session
The Death of One-Size-Fits-All: AI’s New Era of Personalization
What if your media strategy could think for itself? In this session, media leads from OpenAI, Foot Locker, and Salesforce unpack how they’re using AI to make campaigns that adapt on the fly — more relevant, less invasive, and surprisingly creative. Forget flashy gimmicks, this is where the real innovation is happening.
Time
16:00 – 18:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Keynote
Cocktails in the Secret Garden with Shopify
19:00 – 22:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Keynote
DEPT® & Friends VIP Dinner
Invite only event for DEPT® clients, partners, collaborators, and friends.
Time and Location
10:30 – 11:15
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Richard Davis, 51 to Carbon Zero
John Osborn, Ad Net Zero
Annalisa Tedeschi, Diageo
Moderator: Pooja Dindigal, DEPT®
Session
The Signal and the Noise: AI, Climate, and the Future of Brand Action
Can marketers still lead on climate and inclusion in a world obsessed with speed, scale, and synthetic content? This panel unpacks new research from 200 brand leaders in the UK and US, revealing how companies are navigating carbon goals, AI disruption, and cultural accountability. With insights from top marketers, climate leaders, and technologists, we explore how brands can act decisively, communicate credibly, and still build at the speed of now.
Time and Location
11:15 – 12:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Victoria Fox, AAR Group
Chris Lock, LockSmith
James Witter, PZ Cussons
Session
No time, no budget, no trust. The triple trap blocking marketers from driving growth
Marketing is expected to do more than ever. More tech-savvy, more commercially fluent, and more agile. Yet, capability building is at a standstill. Why? This session unpacks the triple trap holding teams back: overloaded calendars, underfunded training, and a culture too anxious for honest assessment. If we want marketing to drive growth, we need to fix the system that’s supposed to fuel it. This session explores how leaders can break the cycle and build a marketing function fit for the future.
Time
12:30 – 14:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Lunch
Lunch with the DEPT® Strategic Navigators
Join our global think tank for smart conversation, sharp ideas, and practical takeaways for navigating uncertainty.
Time and Location
15:00 – 16:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Jordan Howlett, Content Creator
Hafu Go, Edutainment Creator
Chris Olsen, Content Creator
Madolyn Grove, Tiktok
Tessa Brooks, Content Creator
Davis Burleson, Content Creator
Moderator: Salomé Rijnders, DEPT®
Session
Beyond Likes and Follows: The New Rules of Influence
The era of polished perfection is over. Influence now lives in the messy middle; where creators speak human, brands take risks, and the algorithm doesn’t always call the shots. In this off-the-record, on-the-pulse session, creators, brands, and agencies sit down together to unpack what’s actually working. From the rise of unfiltered storytelling to the role of AI in content that connects, we’re ditching the clichés and getting into the real shifts redefining influence.
What does relevance look like in a world tired of ads? How do you collaborate without killing the magic? And what happens when creators have more brand equity than the brands themselves?
Time
16:00 – 17:00
DEPT® Secret Garden
Speakers
Kojo Marfo, My Runway Group
Keynote
DEPT® x My Runway Group: AfriCANNES
Join us as we celebrate AfriCANNES – a cultural initiative aimed at showcasing African and diaspora creatives in this fireside chat and drinks reception.
meet the Speakers
meet the Depsters
