Cannes Lions 2026 was a full week for the Overwolf Ads team - panels, happy hours, and conversations about where attention is actually going. Here is a look back.
The Attention Shift: Where Brands Are Winning in Non-Traditional Inventory
Shahar Sorek (CMO of Overwolf), Jackie Lyons (Chief Planning Officer, Havas), David Dufield (GM, EMEA, Livewire), Beau Avril (SVP, Global Media & Partnerships, MrBeast), and moderator Rema Vasan (Former Head of North America Business Marketing, TikTok | Global Marketing Executive & Keynote Speaker) discussed how marketers are evaluating non-tradutional inventory and why gaming is at the center of that shift.
The New Living Room: Where Premium Attention Actually Lives
In this panel, they explored how marketers are evaluating non-traditional inventory, what makes these environments valuable, and how brands can better understand, measure, and invest in attention as it shifts across culture, content, and community.
Speakers:
- Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf
- Sally Barton, Director, Marketing Growth Strategy, Mondelēz International
- Ashley Wheeler, SVP, DV+ Platform at Magnite
- Heather Carver, Chief Customer Officer at tvScientific|Pinterest
- Joanna O'Connell, Chief Intelligence Officer, Omnicom
Yes We Cannes!
Welcome Party sponsored by Infillion, Overwolf, Yieldmo, and Rise - some of the best conversations happened off stage.
Cannes We Have Your Attention?
The Unplugged Collective's Happy Hour sponsored by Overwolf, Magnite, tvScientific|Pinterest was a blast!
And some unexpected conversations
On the sidelines, Shahar Sorek (CMO of Overwolf) sat down with Amy Bornong, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Equativ, for a conversation on the state of programmatic gaming. They covered why mainstream advertisers are still underestimating the gaming audience, how brands should shift from demographic to behavioral targeting, gaming's role alongside CTV, and what it will take to make buying a high-impact gaming asset as seamless as a programmatic CTV campaign.
Thanks to all our partners and everyone who joined us on the Croisette. See you next year.
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.