GWI · Cannes Lions

Less artificial.
More intelligence

Four days on the water at Cannes. Panels, podcasts, and waterside chats: all built around the human insights that make AI trustworthy and your commercial decisions smarter.

Monday 22

My AI is better than yours

Tuesday 23

The inner circle

Wednesday 24

Does Gen Z really exist?

Thursday 25

Less artificial.
More intelligence.

What's on

Each day has a distinct theme and speaker programme. Browse the full schedule below, then register your interest.

Monday - June 22

Why the gap

16:00 - Panel: My AI is better than yours

Every vendor claims their AI is smarter. We ask the harder question: smarter on what data? This panel discusses why the quality, recency and humanity of the underlying data is what separates AI that performs from AI that assumes.

Host
Birthe Emmerich, CMO at GWI

Speakers
Tom Richard, SVP of Global Product at MiQ
Natasha Wallace, Chief Solutions Officer
Stijn Gimbrere, Founder & CEO at MFM

18:30 - Data & Drinks Reception

Join fellow industry leaders aboard the GWI Yacht for an exclusive welcome reception.

Host
Proudly sponsored by WeTransfer

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Tuesday - June 23

The inner circle

10:30 - Panel: Why sports fans really care

Sport has more data on its audiences than almost any other category. But behavioral data has never answered the question that matters most to the brands spending against it: why does someone become a fan, what keeps them there, and what moment converts a casual viewer into a high-value customer?

Host
Ramzi Aweida, Strategic Account Director at GWI

Speakers
Peter Gallagher, VP Partnership Development at Williams Racing
Steve Adams, VP, Global Partnership Sales at Liverpool FC
James Trueman, Sports Technology & Transformation Director, Deloitte Digital

15:00 - Roundtable: AI is changing everything. Just not evenly.

An invite-only lunch exploring where AI is actually delivering inside their organizations, where the resistance is legitimate, and what it took to change their minds.

Host
Birthe Emmerich, CMO at GWI

20:00 - England World Cup watch party

90 minutes of human behaviour.

Wednesday - June 24

Does Gen Z really exist?

12:30 - Roundtable: Beyond the label

An intimate, invite-only lunch. Generations are a shortcut. A convenient label that flattens everything underneath it. What does it actually mean to understand an audience?

Host
Jason Mander, CIO at GWI

15:00 - Panel: Does Gen Z really exist?

The generational marketing industry is worth billions. GWI's data asks the harder question: does the label hold up? Emotional state, life stage and context predict behaviour better than birth year.

Host
Phill Agnew, Host of Nudge, the UK's #1 Marketing Podcast

Speakers
Jason Mander, CIO at GWI
Aarti Bhaskaran, Global Head, Research & Insights, Snap Inc.
Jon Gibs, Group Director of Media Insights & Measurement at Walmart Connect
Jonathan Stringfield, VP, Global Business Strategy, Analytics, & Trust at Microsoft

Thursday - June 25

Feed your agents better

10:00 - Panel: Less artificial. More intelligence

Every AI system trained on web data inherits the same assumptions, the same gaps, the same blind spots. This panel unpacks where that fails and what changes when human-sourced data takes its place.

Host
Phill Agnew, Host of Nudge, the UK's #1 Marketing Podcast

Speakers
Tom Smith, CEO & Founder at GWI
Aniz Ruda, VP Data, Insights & Performance Marketing, Medtronic
Chris Wilhelmi, EVP, Global Data & Media, Monks
Katie English, Global head of Ad Product, Spotify

13:00 - CEO Lunch: Insights belongs at the top table

Using agentic infrastructure to put Human Insights at the core of how companies operate.

Host
Tom Smith, CEO & Founder at GWI

17:00 - Less artificial. More Aperol

Four days of insights. One conclusion. Aperol.

Reserve a slot on the GWI yacht

Interested in meeting our team? Drop your details below and we'll be in touch within 24 hours.

Location

The GWI yacht

While the rest of Cannes is inside, we're on the water. A 26m private yacht, with a sun deck for open conversations and intimate areas for the ones that need privacy.

Four days away from the noise, with enough space to say what you mean, and enough of the right people around you to make it count.

Yacht Row
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Cannes Marina, located directly behind the Palais des Festivals.

Who you'll meet on board

Tom Smith

Tom Smith

CEO & founder

James Franks

James Franks

Chief Financial Officer

Jacqueline de Gernier

Jacqueline de Gernier

Chief Revenue Officer

Birthe Emmerich

Birthe Emmerich

Chief Marketing Officer

Nick Dearden

Nick Dearden

Chief Technology Officer

Jason Mander

Jason Mander

Chief Insight Officer

Graeme Barron

Graeme Barron

General Counsel

Live & Recording on board

Be on our shows

On the DotCast

GWI's podcast is recording live on board across all four days and we want you on it. A relaxed conversation about data, AI, and the future of marketing. No script needed, just turn up with a point of view.

Talk Data to Me

GWI sits down with leaders from brands and agencies for an honest, on-camera conversation about where you think marketing is heading. No script or prepared answers needed. Just a good conversation we want to have with you.