CANNES, FRANCE—The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity returned to the French Riviera from June 16-20, once again drawing the world’s top marketers, agency leaders, creators, and celebrities to Le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. But for experiential pros, the most buzzed-about moments happened outside the convention center, where brands transformed beaches, yachts, cabanas, and private apartments into immersive playgrounds for networking, content creation, and creative expression.
From LinkedIn’s largest-ever presence to Canva’s much-anticipated festival debut—not to mention the eye-popping spaces from Spotify, Pinterest, Meta, and many more—this year’s activations were as bold and buzzworthy as ever. Scroll down for a look at some of our favorites.












Other highlights included a beauty bar; artisan-led hat customization workshops; and a DIY tin wallet station where attendees could create custom, one-of-a-kind wallets using Altoids tins adorned with charms and mini objects.







Various areas throughout the space encouraged creativity and fun, like this ballpitt photo op.


As a nod to the behind-the-scenes work that powers Cannes each year, Canva also hosted a special Experiential Brunch at the cabana, bringing together brand experience makers for a moment of recognition, connection, and celebration.











Key activations included the Mood Studio, where guests engaged in a mood-based quiz, making choices via touchscreen that influenced the room’s lighting, sound, and ambiance, culminating in a personalized photo moment. The activation showcased how Netflix tailors ads based on users' viewing habits and emotional states. Other spots included La Boulangerie, an Emily in Paris-inspired grab-and-go pastry and coffee bar.








The brand used Cannes to unveil two early-stage products powered by Reddit Community Intelligence: Reddit Insights, a scalable, AI-powered social listening tool designed to unlock strategic value from Reddit’s 20 years of conversations; and Conversation Summary Add-ons, a new ad feature that dynamically integrates positive content from Reddit users directly below an advertiser’s creative, putting community conversations front-and-center in the user experience and blending AI-driven efficiency with real human perspectives.





















In partnership with Cannes Lions, Uber Advertising also took over the Vesuvio pizza window again this year during the late night time slot, offering free pizzas to Cannes partygoers.














Just prior to UNLISTED, Super Great Fantastic also hosted The Gathering, a private, invite-only dinner designed for top-tier executives and decision-makers across industries.













