Is Cannes Lions worth attending? A study of marketing's most polarizing conference

Few events command the industry’s attention quite like Cannes Lions. Every year, marketers from across the industry gather on the Croisette to celebrate creativity, strengthen relationships, explore new partnerships, and make the case that their week in Cannes was time well spent.

So is Cannes Lions worth attending? The answer depends entirely on who’s asking.
That is one of the clearest findings from StatSocial’s latest Digital Twins study, The Marketing Conference Power Index 2026.

Using 2,000 AI-simulated senior marketers, grounded in real behavioral and professional data, StatSocial analyzed how VP-level and above marketers evaluate major industry events, why they attend, which formats they value, and where they believe momentum is building. Built on StatSocial’s PeopleGraph and KnowledgeGraph, Digital Twins uses behavioral and social signals to model how specific audiences are likely to respond.

The result is a detailed look at how senior marketers evaluate the same conference calendar, and why the rankings change depending on who’s asked.

Cannes is the sharpest split

Cannes Lions emerged as the most polarizing major conference in the study.

Agencies placed Cannes near the top of the flagship event ranking at No. 2. Brands placed it in the middle at No. 6. Vendors ranked it near the bottom at No. 11.

For a conference often treated as a universal hub for the industry, that gap says a lot. Cannes still carries real weight, especially for agencies. But the study shows that whether Cannes Lions is worth attending depends heavily on the audience and the job that audience needs the event to do.

• Agencies tend to value Cannes for relationships, client proximity, and creative credibility.
• Brands are more likely to weigh events through peer access, senior-level discussion, and long-term relationship-building.
• Vendors are more focused on business outcomes and efficient buyer access.

That is why the same event can feel essential to one group and less useful to another.

Different audiences elevate different events

The Cannes split is the clearest example of a larger finding. There is no universal conference hierarchy, and whether Cannes Lions is worth attending depends on who is attending and what they’re trying to achieve.

Brands ranked ANA Masters of Marketing as their No. 1 flagship event. That points to the value brand-side marketers place on peer access, strategic discussion, and long-term relationships with other senior marketers.

Agencies gave Advertising Week New York their top spot and placed Cannes close behind. For agencies, the value of an event often comes from relationship-building, client access, and a creative reputation that supports business development.

Vendors also ranked Advertising Week New York No. 1, with CES close behind. That reflects a more outcomes-driven view of the event calendar. Vendors are more likely to prioritize buyer access, technology adoption, and meetings that can connect back to pipeline or partnerships.

That distinction matters for anyone planning an event strategy. A conference can be highly visible and still serve different audiences in very different ways.

Business value beats visibility

Across the full sample, substance outweighed visibility.

76% of senior marketers cited relationships, business outcomes, or learning as the primary reason they attend conferences. One-third pointed to personal brand, FOMO, or lifestyle.

That finding helps explain why the rankings split by cohort. Senior marketers are looking closely at which events help them build the right relationships, learn something useful, meet the right people, or justify the time and budget required to attend.

Format preferences tell the same story. Pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings and closed-door peer sessions were the most valued conference formats overall. Vendors were the most likely group to prefer pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings, reinforcing their focus on efficiency and buyer access.

The stronger the connection to relationships, learning, and measurable business outcomes, the stronger the event value.

The study suggests that senior marketers are becoming more selective with conference time and budget. Rather than evaluating events based on visibility alone, respondents increasingly judge conferences through a practical lens: the relationships they can build, the insights they can gain, and the business outcomes they can generate.

Seniority changes the ranking

The study also found that seniority changes how events are evaluated.

Across all senior marketers, Advertising Week New York and ANA Masters of Marketing ranked as the top flagship events overall. But when the data was limited to CMOs, ANA Masters of Marketing moved into the top position.

That matters because many industry rankings blend different levels of seniority into a single view. A VP, an SVP, and a CMO may all attend major industry events, but they may not be judging value through the same lens.

For CMOs, the calendar is often more selective. The event needs to justify the time away from the business, the people in the room, and the conversations that happen outside the stage programming.

What marketers should take away

The best conference isn’t the one with the biggest reputation. It’s the one that delivers the right outcome for the audience you’re trying to reach.

The answer to whether Cannes Lions is worth attending shows how sharply value can split across cohorts, but the same logic applies across the full calendar. Brands, agencies, and vendors are looking for different outcomes, and the events that perform best are the ones that deliver the right relationships, access, learning, and business value for the specific audience in the room.

Explore the full StatSocial Marketing Conference Power Index 2026.