Five ways the brand found smooth sailing on the Croisette
When Yahoo dropped anchor at Cannes Lions 2026, it was equipped with its most ambitious festival activation strategy to date, and one very large purple submarine installation. Enter: the Yahoo Explorers Society.
The brand transformed beachside restaurant La Plage du Martinez into an oceanic-themed environment that was inspired by the “pioneering spirit” of Jacques Cousteau, and built for moments of discovery. The idea? To demonstrate how Yahoo, one of the internet’s OG search guides, is meeting the modern era with its new AI search engine, Yahoo Scout.
Upscale meeting spots, cultural events, programming and that purple sub were all integrated into the experience, as was an exclusive concert on June 24 headlined by the world-renowned DJ Tiësto.
Read on for five insights on why the Yahoo Explorers Society was all smooth sailing. Agency: Amplify.
More Cannes Lions Coverage:
- Cannes Lions 2026, Part 1: Microsoft’s Gardens, Reddit’s Deli, Amazon’s Port and More
- Cannes Lions 2026, Part 2: Netflix’s Fan Club, Uber’s Ice Cream Boat, Pinterest’s Manifestival
Cannes attracts an irresistible audience.
Yahoo has activated at Cannes Lions for many years, and given the audience the event attracts, the brand plans to return to the Croisette for the foreseeable future.
“Cannes is the biggest opportunity to get in front of the most advertisers and brands for our sales team, as well as our partnerships team,” says Allie Galloway, senior director-global events and experiential marketing at Yahoo. “It’s such a focused core group of clients and partners that we’re going after that I think we’ll be there forever until someone can compete with it. Right now, Cannes is No. 1 for us as a tech brand.”
Product tie-ins replaced hard demos.
Pitches and hard sells were nowhere to be found. Instead, the brand incorporated playful product tie-ins that were related to Scout, and other offerings.
Take the Engine Room, which featured free beverages, including iced coffee and juice shots, concocted using three ingredients, a nod to the three core elements (data, content and search) that make Yahoo a competitive DSP and ads company.
“That’s a very direct product tie-in, and you saw Scout everywhere, but more in that spirit of discovery, not direct demos,” says Galloway. “The ‘demo’ was scanning a QR code, and it took you to Scout, and some of the queries that informed the design or created the experience, but that’s really it.”
Attendees were rewarded for curiosity.
Given that the activation, and Yahoo Scout, was designed to inspire discovery, the brand rewarded festivalgoers who were curious enough to dig deep in their exploration of its footprint and programming. And the giveaways they scored, from VIP tickets to the Tiësto show to autographed jerseys that nodded to the FIFA World Cup, were relevant right then and there.
“There were lots of fun ways that we were pulling Scout through, but making it more of a surprise-and-delight moment,” says Galloway. “It was showing them our product, but in a way that applied to them in the moment where it was something that they could use.”
Yahoo’s 20-foot-long submarine installation was also a vessel for piquing, and rewarding, curiosity. It first appeared at the brand’s waterfront footprint, then made its way to the Parvis next to the Palais des Festivals.
In addition to operating as a smoothie bar in the mornings and as a rosé window during afternoon happy hours, the sub offered ample content capture ops, and provided festivalgoers with playful opportunities ways to win swag and giveaways, with each item featuring a connection to Scout.
The space catered to multiple audiences.
Sales meetings are critical to Yahoo’s strategy at Cannes every year, and for 2026, the brand dedicated both levels of La Plage du Martinez to breakfast and lunch meetings with clients and partners. There were also seven luxury meeting pods sitting directly on the beach, where more private client discussions were held.
For other Cannes delegates, the company offered programming spanning guided meditation and journaling with Yahoo Mail, rapid-fire pitch coaching with Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and a soccer-themed evening celebrating culture and community with Yahoo Sports.
Plus, all of Yahoo’s audiences were invited to fuel up, recharge and make connections between meetings and sessions at its internet-themed destinations, like The Loading Bar and The Nav Bar.
In a sea of competition, soft metrics matter.
Driving revenue is Yahoo’s No. 1 KPI in terms of hard metrics, but beyond sales, the brand leans on softer metrics to understand its impact on-site at Cannes.
“We have so much going on because it’s so competitive. Every single beach has programming,” Galloway says. “So how well we’ve done is measured by: How many people are in the space at all times? Is our party packed? Are people lined up at the party for that submarine?… You walk the Croisette and everyone has amazing things going on, so if we can just keep that constant buzz at our beach, we win. That’s success for us.”
Inside Yahoo Explorers Society:
Photo credit: Lawrence Howe Photo
