Join us as we look back at the conversations, connections and celebrations from Cannes Lions 2026. The festival was once again a thrilling showcase of creativity and technology. DV was proud to be at the forefront with two panel discussions, two happy hours and a disco party for the books. From the questions reshaping advertising to a disco live set on the deck, our presence at Cannes reflects our continued commitment to advancing the future of digital advertising.
Raising a glass on day one
Advertisers and marketers from around the world raised a glass with DV to kick off an unforgettable week. Monday's opening happy hour brought the industry together on the DV Yacht for an evening of sea breeze, peer connections and conversations as the sun set on the French Riviera. It was the perfect way to deepen industry relationships and toast to bold ideas and the future of our industry before the week's panels got underway.
The AI advertising era changes the game — are you ready?
On Tuesday, DV's CEO Mark Zagorski moderated a discussion with industry leaders working through the most pressing questions in advertising today. The panel explored how AI is reshaping digital advertising at unprecedented speed — automating decisions, generating content and intermediating consumer-brand interactions through agents.
What the panel dug into:
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What actually moves CMOs from the sidelines to AI-powered advertising at scale, and the use cases that make the value click.
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Quality signals in an era of automation, where the same AI powering efficiency is also powering low-quality content at scale.
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Verifying conversational AI advertising, a genuinely new ad format with no traditional brand suitability, viewability or attention signals.
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Closing the gap between media metrics and real business outcomes, and whether AI is optimizing toward the right things.
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The 18-month outlook: what does the AI advertising landscape look like that we're not fully prepared for today?
A night to remember at Disco Daze
To top off Tuesday, the DV Yacht traded panels for a party. Co-hosted with Affinity Solutions, Disco Daze brought cocktails, dancing and a live set from Me & Mrs. Jones — Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Richard Jones. With "Murder on the Dancefloor," "Groovejet" and the disco magic that's made the world dance, the deck became a Mediterranean dancefloor under the stars. The crowd brought the energy and the dance floor stayed packed from start to finish. Guests came dressed in their grooviest best, and days later, we're still in a disco daze.
The performance premium — raising the bar in social and video
Wednesday brought our second panel to the deck. Moderated by DV Rockerbox's Kelsey Kearns, the panel discussion took on a question shaping every modern media plan: how brands can hold their social and video investments to a higher standard.
What the panel dug into:
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Building consistency across a fragmented landscape of platforms with different measurement frameworks, data standards and definitions of success.
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Brand integrity in fast-moving environments like short-form video, social feeds and creator content, where adjacency risk evolves as quickly as the formats.
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Attention beyond viewability: its usefulness for evaluating social and video placements, and where attention measurement still needs to mature.
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Closing the gap between platform signals like engagement, clicks and completions and real outcomes like sales lift and customer acquisition.
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The road ahead: shoppable video, AI-generated social content and the blurring lines between content and commerce.
Closing the week on the Riviera
To wrap up the week, DV welcomed industry leaders back to the yacht for one more sunset happy hour on Wednesday evening. The DV team raised a glass to new ideas and bright days ahead as another Cannes Lions festival came to a close.
From all of us at DV, thank you to everyone who joined us on deck this year. We hope you walked away with new perspectives on the questions reshaping our industry and a few new connections to carry into the months ahead.
Next Steps
The conversations don't end at Cannes. If any of these themes resonated, contact a DV representative to dig in further.
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