From inspiration to intent: Takeaways from Cannes

Cannes Lions always offers a glimpse of where marketing is headed next. This year, one theme stood out clearly: The journey to purchase is becoming more fragmented. People are discovering, researching, and making purchase decisions across social media, entertainment, creators, AI conversations, and countless other touchpoints. 

For brands, success is no longer just about showing up at the point of purchase. It’s about building relevance earlier, across more channels, and in the moments that shape what people choose to buy next. The brands that understand intent as it forms, and engage before a decision is made, will be best positioned to drive growth. 

Few moments create as many opportunities as travel. A trip influences not just where someone goes, but a whole ecosystem of decisions around what they wear, watch, pay with, pack, and buy. That makes travel intent one of the strongest indicators of future discretionary spending and a powerful signal for advertisers looking to connect with consumers across the full purchase journey.  

Against that backdrop, three themes from Cannes stood out as particularly important for brands looking to turn inspiration into action.

One of the strongest messages from Cannes was that culture has become a powerful driver of travel demand. Films, TV series, and digital storytelling are no longer just generating awareness — they’re influencing where people choose to travel next, a trend we call set-jetting. 

That idea felt especially tangible on the ground with the next season of a globally successful luxury-resort drama filming nearby — a reminder of how on-screen moments can shape destination desire. Expedia Group’s recent Unpack ‘26 Summer research shows that 81% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers plan getaways based on TV shows and films.³

But destination choice is only part of the story. Once travelers decide to take a trip, they begin making a host of related purchases. Other recent Expedia Group research shows that 62% of travelers make at least one non-travel purchase for a trip, rising to 75% among Gen Z.⁴

Travel intent quickly becomes a much broader shopping intent, creating opportunities for brands across retail, fashion, financial services, media, and entertainment to become part of the journey. 

The implication is simple: Cultural relevance doesn’t just drive travel demand; it creates measurable opportunities for brands and advertisers across categories.

Cannes also reinforced that creators are now firmly embedded in the path to purchase. More than half (61%) of consumers find trip inspiration on social platforms, up from 35% in 2022, while 73% say they’ve been motivated by influencer recommendations.⁵

The shift matters because creators are no longer just driving awareness at the top of the funnel; they are influencing decisions much closer to conversion than they once did. They don’t just inspire destinations — they shape the wider ecosystem of purchases that surround every trip. 

For advertisers, that creates a new opportunity. Creator partnerships can help brands become part of the planning process, whether they’re influencing what travelers pack, how they pay, what they stream, or what they buy before departure. By reaching audiences while intent is still forming, brands can build relevance earlier and move more naturally from inspiration to action. 

For destination marketers, the opportunity is equally significant. 60% of travelers don’t have a specific destination in mind when they decide to take a trip, leaving a wide-open window to influence consideration through compelling creative and the right audience strategy.⁶

Generative AI and agentic AI were impossible to ignore at Cannes, highlighting how quickly discovery is evolving. Consumers — and that includes travelers — now move fluidly between social feeds, AI platforms, trusted content environments, and commerce experiences as they research and plan. 

That means traditional demand capture alone is no longer enough. Visibility increasingly depends on showing up throughout the discovery journey, not just at the point of conversion. Brands need content and media strategies designed for exploration as well as transaction, meeting consumers wherever intent begins to take shape. 

Taken together, these trends point to a fundamental shift: Inspiration is happening earlier, discovery is becoming more distributed, and travel intent has become a valuable signal of future spending. 

That opportunity extends well beyond tourism. Travel shapes decisions before departure, during the journey, and long after travelers return home. Just as important, these aren’t one-time moments. Expedia Group reaches high-discretionary-spend audiences who travel multiple times a year and are continually planning, purchasing, and exploring, creating ongoing opportunities for brands to engage. 

Expedia Group Advertising helps advertisers turn those moments into measurable business outcomes. Supporting brands across retail, financial services, fashion, beauty, media, and entertainment as well as travel, it connects marketers with audiences around one of life’s most meaningful purchase journeys. 

By combining first-party travel intent, audience intelligence, media solutions, and measurement capabilities, Expedia Group Advertising enables brands to engage consumers from the first spark of inspiration through planning, booking, and beyond. Rather than relying solely on demographic assumptions, advertisers can understand when intent is emerging and deliver relevant messaging when audiences are actively making decisions. 

As a world-class travel media network, Expedia Group Advertising reaches travelers across onsite, off-platform, social, and video environments. The most effective campaigns combine those touchpoints into full-funnel strategies that move consumers from inspiration to action, using predictive traveler signals to deliver smarter targeting and measurable growth. 

Together, these capabilities help advertisers move beyond awareness alone — connecting culture, creators, and discovery with measurable business outcomes by engaging consumers when travel intent is at its strongest.