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.
GWI · Cannes Lions
Less artificial.
More intelligence
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
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.
Who you'll meet on board

Tom Smith
CEO & founder

James Franks
Chief Financial Officer

Jacqueline de Gernier
Chief Revenue Officer

Birthe Emmerich
Chief Marketing Officer

Nick Dearden
Chief Technology Officer

Jason Mander
Chief Insight Officer

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.
