Creators steal Cannes Lions limelight as deals rush

creators take – Cannes Lions opens in France on Monday with an estimated 13,000-plus attendees, including more than 250 creators expected to draw brand deals, speaking fees, and content opportunities—signaling a shift in advertising power as influencer marketing spending rise

For the third day in a row, Cannes Lions feels less like a temple to agency culture and more like a runway for creators—people who know how to hook viewers in minutes, not pitches in weeks.

The festival kicks off in France on Monday with an estimated 13. 000-plus attendees. and a legion of influencers is set to be among them. More than 250 creators are expected to attend, according to a list compiled by a coalition of marketing firms. They’re coming for brand deals. paid speaking gigs. VIP party invites. and the chance to shoot content along the glittering Côte d’Azur.

A lineup of known faces illustrates how quickly the creator world has moved into the mainstream of ad land. “Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper is expected to be there. Emily Sundberg, founder of “Feed Me,” is also on the list. Makeup artist and creator Cindy Chen will attend, as will TikTok stars Josh Richards, Golloria, and Keith Lee. YouTubers Eleanor Neale, Colin & Samir, and David Dobrik are expected to mingle with marketers throughout the week.

Even the way industry executives talk about Cannes is changing. Margot Hauer-King of UTA—referring to the former WPP CEO and current S4 Capital executive chairman—said that when she was first going to Cannes. “if you saw Martin Sorrell walking down the street. that was the big-name celebrity.” Now her focus is elsewhere. “Alix Earle,” Hauer-King said, referencing the “get ready with me” influencer’s attention when she hit Cannes in 2025.

That shift—creators moving from the margins to the center stage—has a clear business engine behind it. As broadcast advertising becomes less effective at reaching fragmented audiences, marketers increasingly view creators as a critical channel for attention and influence.

EMARKETER, a Business Insider sister company, expects 88.7% of established companies in the US will invest in influencer marketing this year, up from less than 40% a decade ago. Brand spending on influencer marketing is forecast to reach $12.42 billion this year.

If the numbers explain the pull, the language shows the new mindset. SharkNinja’s chief brand and experience officer, Michelle Crossan-Matos, said that “influencer marketing,” as a term, even feels outdated. She prefers “creator commerce. ” which emphasizes the extent to which creators have become involved in shaping both the products that brands release and how they market them.

Shweta Bhardwaj, a partner at Bain & Company, said creator strategy has become a core part of the marketing playbook. Bhardwaj described how CMOs are thinking differently: “Many of the CMOs I talk to say the marketing of yesterday was us talking about our brands. ” Bhardwaj said. “The marketing of today is consumers talking about our brands. and our role as CMOs is to enable that conversation as authentically as possible.”.

Dhar Mann, a YouTube creator returning to Cannes Lions for the second time this year, will be busy. His calendar includes speaking sessions. including an interactive workshop in the Palais where marketing executives will compete for a $200. 000 brand integration on his main channel. Mann said he senses the power dynamic between creators and brands is shifting this time around.

“Creators aren’t just showing up to network and learn from brands — now more brands want to know how creators work,” Mann said. “Creators get feedback every day from millions of viewers. We know what makes them care and what makes them share.”

Mann also pointed to the friction that still comes with doing business the old way. “There’s still some work to be done to reduce bottlenecks,” he added. “The traditional process of working with traditional advertisers takes months — endless decks, meetings back and forth,” Mann said. “Brands are learning that in order to survive this new climate, you have to move at the speed of culture. Who can do that?. Creators.”.

The creator crowd isn’t only chasing deals—it’s building relationships that can turn into them. Sundas Khalid. who posts content about AI and data science to her 1 million-plus followers. is heading to Cannes Lions for the first time this year. She’s planning to catch up with brands she’s already worked with. including OpenAI and Teachable. make new connections with marketers. and pitch content at LinkedIn’s space on the Hotel Carlton rooftop to create content and meet other creators. LinkedIn says there’s just one rule: No swimming in the pool.

Khalid framed the trip as more than networking. “If there’s one thing about the content creation space, it can be very lonely — I sit in my basement and record most of my videos there,” Khalid said. “I proactively put in time to be in places where other creators are going to be.”

The creator-first atmosphere is also running alongside the festival’s other big preoccupations—especially agentic AI. Influencer marketing isn’t the sole topic on the agenda at Cannes this year. The ad industry is trying to shake off anxiety about artificial intelligence and its potential to wipe out jobs and further concentrate power in the hands of the tech giants.

“Agentic” is expected to dominate the festival buzzwords as companies tout AI agents that can automate media buys. conduct research. and shop on consumers’ behalf. Brian Kotlyar, CMO of the marketing platform Hightouch, offered two tips for marketers fielding those pitches. First: ask to see the thing in action in a live environment, not a staged one. Second: “When someone says they have an agent. ask them: What can your agent do that Claude. ChatGPT. or Gemini cannot?”.

Then there’s the entertainment schedule—because in Cannes, audience behavior still matters. This year’s festival falls during the final round of World Cup group-stage matches. ensuring that live sports—one of the last remaining mass-reach media vehicles—will feature heavily in Croisette conversations. The World Advertising Research Centre forecasts the tournament will drive a $10.5 billion surge in worldwide ad spend this year as brands look to capitalize on the event’s feel-good factor and global. cross-generational appeal. Plenty of companies at Cannes are hosting watch parties for big games. with the European time zone ensuring the festivities will run late into the evening.

Corporate deal talk is also likely to be constant. Speculation is rife about whether Publicis’ acquisition of LiveRamp and Accenture Song’s buying of Whalar could spark copycat deals in the data and creator spaces. Marketers will also be quizzing Omnicom execs about how the integration of its $9 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group will affect its clients. for better or worse.

Amid the noise of AI. sports. and M&A. at least one jury member is pushing for a cleaner standard of success. PepsiCo CMO Jane Wakely hopes “creative effectiveness” will be the breakthrough trend once Cannes draws to a close this year—campaigns that can demonstrate their business impact. Wakely is on the jury panel for the Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Award.

Cannes Lions has tightened its awards rules for 2026 after scrutiny about whether several of last year’s winners’ case studies could be verified. Wakely welcomed those changes. “Two or three years ago. a lot of the work that was celebrated was not effective; it was stunts. ” Wakely said. “I think as an industry we were beginning to lose our way.”.

The through-line at Cannes Lions this year is that the industry is trying to prove it can move fast without losing credibility—whether the engine is creator commerce, AI agents, or campaigns that can actually be measured.

Cannes Lions creators influencer marketing creator commerce UTA S4 Capital Alex Cooper Emily Sundberg Cindy Chen Josh Richards Golloria Keith Lee David Dobrik Dhar Mann Sundas Khalid AI agents agentic AI Hightouch World Cup advertising spend Publicis LiveRamp Accenture Song Whalar Omnicom Interpublic Group PepsiCo Jane Wakely creative effectiveness