The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is many things: inspiring, overwhelming, sun-soaked, and at times surreal. It’s where the media, marketing, and tech worlds converge, and this year, I was proud to be in the middle of it.

Our clients are increasingly seeking insight partners who understand the nuance, scale, and culture behind international audiences. When we saw that several of our client partners were participating in the event, and presenting research we’d done together, we knew we had to be there.

Cannes Lions isn’t just a celebration of creativity, it’s also a serious hub of global business, where media companies, platforms, and brand leaders come together to exchange ideas and, yes, cut deals. It’s a place where creators are heroes, AI is the wild card, and researchers have a seat at the table, if we claim it.

We had the opportunity to host a day of curated conversations aboard a yacht in the old harbour as part of a partnership with OpinionRoute and Women in Research (WIRe). I’m grateful to my colleague Heather O’Shea, chief research officer at Alter Agents, and Danielle Chinitz, our partner at OpinionRoute, who helped distill the many threads of insight and inspiration into three clear takeaways that will shape how we move forward.

1. Humans still matter.
In the rush to integrate AI across research, media, and creative workflows, it’s easy to lose sight of this simple truth. But the most valuable conversations I had in Cannes were deeply human, one-on-one meetings with clients, shared reflections on brand challenges, and spontaneous chats that sparked new ideas. Whether on the yacht, at a beach activation, or in the middle of the chaos, the human layer of our industry is still where the real connections happen. We dove into this topic during our event with speakers from 8:28 Insights and OpinionRoute.

2. Emotional attention is the new premium.
In a panel with Snap and Screenvision, we explored how emotion, not just attention, is the new frontier of advertising effectiveness. During this session, our speakers discussed how emotional engagement boosts memory, resonance, and outcomes. In a media landscape defined by distraction, tapping into feeling, not just viewability, is where the power lies.

3. Creators are rewriting the playbook.
Whether it was on stage or across the activations during the action-packed week, creators were front and centre. In our session with Whalar and TikTok, we heard firsthand how authenticity, agility and cross-platform storytelling are driving ROI. These aren’t just influencers, they’re brand builders, and the smartest brands are giving them space to lead.

4. Strategy starts with truth.
During our dockside conversations, speakers from iHeartMedia, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft and Uber tackled some big questions: how to close the gap between brands and real people, how gaming fandom creates lasting loyalty and how bold strategy (grounded in human insight) can drive growth. Each perspective reinforced a powerful theme: in a landscape filled with hype and headlines, meaningful strategy begins with clear-eyed truth.

Of course, AI was the ghost in every room. Conversations ranged from the pragmatic to the existential: Will AI enhance or erode creativity? Can it unlock insights at scale without compromising nuance? What does it mean for agencies, media valuations, and the future of our craft? No one had a clear answer but almost everyone agreed we’re at an inflection point.

As for the yacht, rosé, and Riviera breeze, they were memorable, but not the point. What I’ll remember most are the honest conversations, the open questions, and the sense that research has a powerful role to play in this industry’s future, if we continue to ask the right questions, listen deeply and bring our full humanity to the work.

Thank you again to our partners at WIRe and OpinionRoute, and the many brilliant minds who joined us on board and throughout the week. Here’s to the next chapter.

Devora Rogers is chief strategy officer at Alter Agents