Nothing quite prepares you for Cannes Lions as a first-timer.

To say that the festival overwhelms is an understatement. The yachts, the glamour, and rosé are all there, of course.

But nobody tells you that Cannes Lions is less about the former and more about survival - of your feet, phone battery, and willpower!

With more than 150 hours of creative wisdom being doled out by around 500 speakers over a span of five days (as per official figures), spread across a venue spanning nearly two kilometres, the sheer scale of the fest hits you like an avalanche as you scramble to take in the best of what it has to offer.

But let me start at the beginning.

The pristine blue waters of the French Riviera, dotted with white, bobbing yachts, are the first sight to greet one as the plane approaches the Mediterranean coast before landing. The moment we touched down in the French city of Nice, we were escorted out of the aircraft and whisked through security, immigration, and all the other formalities in a flash before we knew what was happening - all thanks to a team member requiring wheelchair assistance at the airport.

While we thanked our stars then, little did we know that the airport sprint would quite literally set the tone for the rest of the trip!

While the main Lions event takes place at the Palais des Festivals, the unofficial activations run all along the Croisette, which's a beachfront promenade lined by pines and palm trees overlooking the Bay of Cannes. Even as it's humanly impossible to cover them all, the sheer distance between some of the sessions taking place (sometimes simultaneously) means you have to choose the ‘unmissable’ over those that will, sadly, have to be skipped simply because of the logistics involved in getting there.

My pedometer probably thought my phone had been hacked, with my daily step count averaging a good 16,000 - this, in the midst of a searing heat wave that's sweeping across Europe, mind you. And at the end of the day, you're still left with the feeling that you've barely scratched the surface.

Logistics were further complicated because our Airbnb was over seven kilometres from the Palais, making the daily commute unviable on foot. So, every morning we would try booking a cab via a ride-hailing app, only to be cancelled or turned down more times than we can remember. Till, we eventually figured out that the best way to ensure we made it in time for the day’s agenda was to take the Palm Beach bus.

While the bus took its own sweet time meandering through multiple boulevards and stopping at countless arretes (stops) along its route, it was reliable and dropped us off at a stone’s throw from the Palais.

On a side note, the resort town of Cannes, with its high-end hotels and luxury brand outlets, seems to be in an always-on mode. The paved promenades lined with quaint cafes are teeming with people well into the wee hours of the night. It helps that during summer, when the week-long fest is on, the sun sets well after 9 pm on most days. And with the 2026 FIFA World Cup underway, the vibe is all the more palpable on match days as the eateries with live streaming of the matches are packed with football fans.

Amid all the chaos and learning, however, there was one conversation that kept surfacing - in corridors, cafes, and queues in and around the Palais: India's performance wasn't living up to the expectations set just a year ago, which was a dampener.

In retrospect, it’s been its most underwhelming one at the festival in several years. After a record haul of 32 lions in 2025 (with nine Golds and a Grand Prix to boot), 2026 raises introspective questions that the industry needs to reflect on. Why did we fail to build on the momentum? Was it the organisers' increased stringent scrutiny or the inadvertent fallout of cost-cutting? Or was the work simply not good enough to make the cut?

In the end, what stays with you isn't the yachts, the parties, the heat, or even the walkathons. It's the reminder that creativity is a brutally competitive game. Every Lion is earned, never assumed. 

As first visits go, this one was unforgettable - equal parts exhausting, exhilarating, and enlightening.

While the Riviera gave us postcard moments, the festival gave us something more valuable: perspective. 

The author is features editor, Manifest.