At Cannes Lions 2026, Overwolf CMO Shahar Sorek took the stage to discuss one of the most pressing questions in marketing right now: where has audience attention actually gone, and how do brands follow it there?
During the session, Shahar explored how gaming environments, creator platforms, community spaces, and gifting moments are creating entirely new ways for brands to show up with relevance - and why these channels still don't have a seat at most media planning tables.
This session focused on:
- Why brands are re-evaluating non-traditional inventory
- What makes gaming and creator environments uniquely valuable to marketers
- How to measure attention and prove outcomes in formats that don't look like a banner ad
- How brands can better understand, measure, and invest as attention shifts across culture, content, and community
Speakers:
- Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf
- Jackie Lyons, Chief Planning Officer, Havas
- David Dufield, GM, EMEA, Livewire
- Beau Avril, SVP, Global Media & Partnerships, MrBeast
Moderated by Rema Vasan, Former Head of North America Business Marketing, TikTok | Global Marketing Executive & Keynote Speaker TikTok
Watch the full conversation below:
What the Session Covered
The data tells the story: 63% of people say their attention span is just okay or not great. Brand advertising ranks as the most important influence on a purchase decision for only 31% of consumers - compared to 71% for word of mouth and 43% for influencers. Attention is scarce, and the places where brands have historically shown up aren't where consumers are spending their time.
The conversation moved through how to evaluate non-traditional inventory, what measurement actually looks like in these environments, and how to build internal buy-in for sustained investment.
A recurring theme was targeting precision: knowing not just where your audience is, but who they are in that moment and what mindset they're in. Shahar drew a clear line between gaming and traditional media: this is not passive consumption. A player sitting in front of a game is actively engaged - making decisions, reacting, investing attention in a way that a viewer on a couch isn't. That changes the value of the impression entirely, and it's what makes targeting precision in gaming so defensible: brands can reach specific player cohorts by genre, by title, by behavior, at a moment when they're already leaning in. The right message in the wrong context doesn't land - and the right context without the right message wastes the opportunity.
His argument on the investment side was equally direct: a one-time experiment is almost beside the point, whether it succeeds or fails. What brands are really buying into is an ongoing relationship with what he called the atomic unit of an IP. Creators move fast and build relevance fast - and the KPIs, the relationships, and the relevance all compound over time.
About Overwolf Ads
Overwolf is a world-leading gaming platform empowering brands and advertisers to reach over 113 million monthly users across hundreds of the world's biggest titles and premium gaming websites.
Ranked by Comscore as the #2 Biggest US Gaming Property, winner of ADWEEK's Top Ad Tech Company, Digiday's Best Gaming Ad Tech and The Drum's Best Platform/Tech Partner of the Year, Overwolf is trusted by global brands and agencies such as Universal Pictures, P&G, Lancôme, AMD, Monster Energy, Nissan, KFC, WPP, Dentsu, Havas, The Trade Desk and more.
For more information on Overwolf, visit www.overwolf.com/ads.