Cannes Lions 2026 Dispatch: Agentic Media Buying, Retail Media Shakeups, and the Future of Creator Commerce

I’m coming to you once again from Cannes, this time from the PayPal Ads Café on the Croisette. It’s been a whirlwind few days here, not just in terms of meetings and panels, but also the unexpected number of conversations I’m having about my upcoming move from the U.S. back to Australia. Let’s just say the global retail media community has opinions.

In today’s dispatch, I’m sharing early signals from Cannes around agentic media buying, retail data infrastructure, and the evolving intersection of creators and retail media. From Walmart’s latest moves with Sam’s Club Connect, to how CPGs are thinking about data lakes and in-store stock accuracy, to the rise of hyper-local creative and 3D digital out-of-home, there’s a lot shaping what comes next for retail media.

Timeline

[00:00] Kicking off from Cannes: reflections from the PayPal Ads Café and the unexpected reactions to my move back to Australia.

[00:45] A preview of tomorrow’s conversation with Harvey Ma from Sam’s Club Connect and Walmart’s broader retail media rebrand and strategy shift.

[01:27] Early CPG thinking on agentic media buying, including using data lakes for in-store stock tracking before even applying it to advertising use cases.

[03:15] The rise of creator-led retail media strategies: how major retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Kroger are building creator networks and evolving affiliate models.

[06:15] Nestlé, Dollar General, and Big Happy showcase how hyper-local creative, dynamic optimization, and 3D digital out-of-home are reshaping retail media execution.

[09:00] Final reflections from Cannes and what I’ll be digging into next, including upcoming interviews and behind-the-scenes conversations.

Links & Resources