At A Glance
Cannes Lions 2026 showed that marketers are moving from AI discussion to AI decisioning. This article explains four themes shaping marketing in the second half of 2026: agentic AI, interoperable identity, curated activation, and outcome-based measurement across a more connected ecosystem.If Cannes Lions 2026 had a bingo card, AI would have filled every square. But the week pointed to a bigger story: marketers are rethinking how identity, interoperability, activation quality, and measurement work together as the ecosystem becomes more connected and AI-driven.
As marketing changes, independence matters more. Brands, agencies, publishers, platforms, commerce media networks, and data providers need the flexibility to adapt without being forced into a single workflow, partner path, or technology stack. That requires trusted identity, interoperable data, strong governance, and infrastructure that supports choice across the ecosystem.
Here are the themes that defined Cannes Lions 2026.
1. Agentic AI shifted the conversation from content creation to how marketing decisions get made
Agentic AI shifted the Cannes conversation from content creation to the way marketing decisions get made. Marketers are now asking how AI systems recommend actions, build plans, optimize spend, and shape which brands appear in AI-influenced environments. That shift puts understanding and managing AI-driven decisions at the center of the AI conversation. Marketers need to know what data an AI system is using, which signals it may prioritize, how those signals are governed, and whether the decision path can be explained, tested, and measured.
Agentic AI will raise the stakes for the data collaboration layer because connected data can influence training, decisioning, optimization, activation, and measurement. That makes governance, transparency, and control more important across every environment where data is used.
- Brands need confidence that AI-informed decisions reflect accurate and unbiased customer understanding.
- Agencies need transparent inputs they can defend across clients.
- Platforms and media owners need high-quality signals that improve performance without creating more fragmentation.
- Publishers need clear ways to protect the value of their content and audiences as discovery becomes more automated.
“Everyone wants to talk about agentic AI, but the differentiator is the quality, governance, and connectivity of the data behind it. The organizations that will get the most value from agentic AI are the ones that have invested in trusted identity, strong governance, and interoperable data foundations that allow them to activate, measure, and maintain control at scale.”
ExperianSVP, Product
Agentic AI needs trusted, permissioned, and well-connected data. It needs identity that can support a consistent view of people and households across environments, and governance that gives marketers confidence in how data is connected, activated, and measured.
2. Interoperability is the foundation for flexibility and trust
Interoperability gives marketers the flexibility to work across partners, platforms, and channels without being locked into one commercial environment. At Cannes, it became clear that trusted infrastructure is now central to how teams collaborate, activate audiences, and measure performance.
Cannes also made clear that flexibility has become a business requirement. Marketers are working across more partners, channels, and collaboration environments. Marketers also need to trust the infrastructure underneath it. That means clear governance, aligned incentives, transparent data use, and the ability to measure performance without being locked into one commercial environment.
As the market becomes more connected, teams need identity and data infrastructure that can move across the ecosystem without limiting choice. Interoperability isn’t enough on its own.
- For brands, this starts with making first-party data more usable and scalable across the marketing ecosystem. Customer data becomes more valuable when it can be resolved, enriched, expanded, activated, and measured in privacy-conscious ways. That flexibility helps brands turn owned signals into scalable audience strategies without losing control over how data is used.
- For agencies, it creates more efficient ways to plan, execute, and measure across clients. For commerce media networks, publishers, platforms, and media owners, it helps valuable signals move into market in more usable, governed, and scalable ways.
“The marketers making the most progress today are the ones building flexibility into their data and identity strategies. Interoperability gives them the freedom to work across partners, adapt to change, and trust how audiences are understood and activated.”
ExperianChief Revenue Officer
An independent identity foundation can help connect these environments without forcing every partner into one workflow. Teams need the ability to work across agencies, platforms, publishers, commerce media networks, clean rooms, and media channels while maintaining a consistent view of their audiences, understanding how data is being used, and measuring performance across partners.
3. Curation is a path to better decisions
Curation gives buyers and sellers a more intentional way to bring data and media together. At Cannes, the strongest conversations focused on how better signals, supply, and decisioning can improve performance at the point of activation.
- For brands and agencies, that means media strategies that are easier to explain, optimize, and measure.
- For publishers, platforms, and media owners, it creates new ways to package differentiated inventory with high-quality data.
- For commerce media networks and data providers, it can extend valuable audiences into more scalable activation environments.
“The future of marketing belongs to organizations that prioritize data and audience activation at the centerpiece of every conversation.”
ExperianHead of Audience Activation
This is where curation becomes more than a media tactic. It becomes a way to improve decision quality at the point of activation. When trusted data, identity, and supply come together, marketers can reduce waste, improve relevance, and bring more confidence to each activation decision.
4. Measurement has to account for an AI-shaped customer journey
Measurement remained a consistent theme throughout the week, but the conversation was broader than campaign reporting. Measurement now has to account for more decision points, partners, and AI-shaped interactions. Marketers need to understand how investments influence growth, sales, visits, and other meaningful actions across a journey that may not begin with a search, site visit or traditional ad exposure.
- Brands need to understand which investments are driving customer growth, sales, visits, or other meaningful actions.
- Agencies need proof they can defend across clients and channels.
- Publishers, platforms, commerce media networks, media owners, and data providers need clearer ways to show the value they create as attention, discovery, and activation become more fragmented.
“Marketers are under pressure to prove outcomes, not just report performance. As measurement becomes more fragmented, organizations need a stronger foundation built on identity, interoperable data, and outcome-based measurement.”
ExperianVP, AdTech Sales
The measurement challenge now is about building a trusted view of performance across more decision points, partners, and AI-shaped interactions. It also requires confidence that measurement is grounded in consistent identity, governed data, and infrastructure that supports transparency across the ecosystem. That level of proof depends on stronger connection across planning, activation, and measurement. When teams use a consistent identity foundation and responsible data practices across the journey, they can move beyond delivery metrics and start understanding what worked, where it worked, and how to apply those insights to the next decision.
Continue the conversation beyond Cannes Lions 2026
Cannes Lions 2026 may be over, but the conversations that mattered most are just getting started. The week reinforced a clear market need: marketers want flexibility, transparency, and the ability to collaborate across platforms, partners and channels without sacrificing control. That requires an interoperable approach to identity and data that supports choice, enables collaboration, and helps teams activate and measure.
At Experian, we’re continuing those conversations with brands, agencies, publishers, platforms, commerce media networks, and data providers looking to build stronger connections across the marketing ecosystem. Whether your goal is improving audience activation, expanding addressability, strengthening measurement, or creating more seamless collaboration across partners, we’re focused on helping marketers put these Cannes themes into action.
If we connected in Cannes, (or if you’d like to explore how these trends may impact your business), we’d love to continue the conversation. Reach out to learn how we can help you build a more connected, interoperable, and measurable marketing strategy for what’s next.
FAQs
The main marketing themes from Cannes Lions 2026 were agentic AI, interoperability, curation, and outcome-based measurement. Together, these themes point to a marketing ecosystem where identity, governed data, and partner flexibility are becoming central to how teams plan, activate, and measure.
Marketers are talking about agentic AI now because AI is starting to influence more than creative and workflow efficiency. It’s beginning to shape recommendations, planning, spend decisions, consumer actions, and brand visibility in AI-shaped environments.
Identity matters more as AI becomes part of marketing decisioning because AI systems need accurate, permissioned and connected data to guide useful decisions. A consistent identity foundation helps marketers understand people and households across environments, test decision paths, and measure outcomes with more confidence.
Experian helps marketers act on these Cannes Lions 2026 themes through our identity foundation, data capabilities, and measurement approach that help marketers connect planning, activation and measurement across partners. Experian helps brands, agencies, publishers, platforms, commerce media networks and data providers build interoperable strategies that support flexibility, transparency, and control.
After Cannes Lions 2026, marketers should assess how their identity, data, activation, and measurement strategies work together across the partners they use today. The next step is to identify where fragmentation limits decision quality, audience activation, or proof of performance, then build a more connected approach across the ecosystem.
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Commerce media networks have had a strong start. Growth has been fast, demand has been strong, and brands have made it clear they want closer access to commerce-driven audiences. But as more networks mature and enter the space, many are starting to feel the same pressure point: scale. Most commerce media networks were built as managed service businesses. That model works well early on. High-touch, white-glove partnerships make sense when you’re working with a handful of strategic brands. But there’s a ceiling. There are only so many teams, only so much inventory, and only so many advertisers that model can realistically support. It’s one thing for a large retailer to build custom programs for a P&G. It’s another to do that at scale for hundreds or thousands of brands. At some point, growth slows, not because demand disappears, but because the model can’t stretch any further. The scale problem no one likes to talk about That’s where many commerce media leaders find themselves today. Pausing to assess what comes next. For a long time, growth has been measured almost entirely through media dollars. That mindset is understandable. Media is familiar, it’s easy to quantify. It shows up clearly in negotiations and revenue reports. But viewing commerce media networks purely as media sales engines creates long-term risk. It can strain brand relationships, limit innovation, and distract from what commerce media networks actually do better than almost anyone else: understand consumers deeply. Signals are the real asset Commerce platforms sit close to decision-making. They see what people search for, what they consider, what they buy, and when those behaviors change. Those signals are incredibly powerful. And yet, most networks only activate them inside their own walled environments. That’s a missed opportunity. Curation represents the next area of growth for commerce media networks, and it doesn’t require replacing or diminishing existing media revenue. In fact, it complements it. No single commerce media network has all the data needed to give advertisers the scale and reach they’re looking for. And no advertiser wants to recreate the same audience in dozens of disconnected platforms. That friction creates inefficiency and slows decision-making. Why collaboration supports sustainable growth The opportunity is to look beyond first-party data alone and start thinking about collaboration. Second-party data. Data partnerships. Signal sharing done responsibly and transparently. Imagine an advertiser defining an audience once and being able to understand and reach that audience across multiple commerce environments. Not through a series of disconnected buys, but through a more consistent approach built on shared understanding leading to increased reach and more impactful campaigns. That’s easier for advertisers to manage, and it creates an additional revenue stream for commerce media networks that complements media sales rather than competing with them. Curation strengthens media, it doesn’t replace it Media will always play an important role. There is clear value in custom experiences tied directly to a commerce environment. Think buyouts, sponsored experiences, custom creative integrations. Those are situations where brands want to work closely with the network itself. But the signals commerce media networks hold don’t need to be limited to those moments. Those signals can be monetized independently through data products, co-ops, and partnerships that extend their value into other channels. That’s how curation adds value without undercutting existing revenue. A practical path forward for commerce media leaders For commerce media leaders thinking about their next phase of growth, the focus should be on sustainability. Building a massive media operation takes time and investment. Data-driven revenue streams can be introduced more quickly, require fewer internal resources, and provide steadier margins. It’s a practical approach. Use signal-based revenue to fund growth. Let that revenue support investment in tooling, talent, and media innovation over time. Bootstrapping, in the truest sense. Why transparency matters early There’s also a broader responsibility here. In many advertising channels, transparency followed growth, often after pressure from the market. Commerce media networks have an opportunity to do this differently. To lead with transparency from the start. To be clear with brands and consumers about how data is used, how signals are created, and how value flows through the ecosystem. Because the reality is this: commerce media networks are holding some of the most valuable intent signals in the market today. But those signals don’t retain their value in isolation. If they aren’t enhanced, combined, and made accessible in the right ways, someone else will step in to do it. And when that happens, control shifts away from the source. The bottom line The next chapter of commerce media isn’t just about selling more media alone. It’s about recognizing the value of the signals already in hand, working together to make them more useful, and building additional revenue streams that support long-term growth. That’s how commerce media networks grow without eating their own lunch. About the author Kevin Dunn Chief Revenue Officer, Experian Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships. Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together. Latest posts