Creativity Captured Live: A Brainwave Revolution at Cannes Lions

At this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, experiential marketing reached new heights and deeper insight with Lighthouse Studio’s Live Brainwave Experience, offering a real-time glimpse into the creative mind.

Lighthouse Studio hosted Live Brainwave Reading: An Exploration of Creative Minds; a session blending neuro-feedback, generative visuals and guided Ayurvedic rituals, all performed live on the Terrace Stage.

Founder & Creative Director Jonny Randall led the experience, joined by Akash Mehta (Co-Founder & CEO) and Maya Raichoora (Visualisation Expert) who guided participants through live brain state shifts, from calm and focused to flowing and expansive.

Find out more about the Brainwave Experience 

Seeing the mind in motion

For the first time at Cannes Lions, brainwave activity was visualised in real time, live on stage.

Using EEG headsets, we captured participants’ brainwaves; Alpha (relaxed), Beta (focused) and Theta (intuitive), transforming that data into a swirling, galaxy-inspired visual system. Colours, shapes and motion shifted with each mental state, turning thought into art.

Each shift was mapped to our Creative Moment Types; a Lighthouse-developed system that identifies key mental states for creativity, including:

✨ The Flow Architect 

⚡ The Spark 

🌫️ The Synthesiser

💭 The Dreamer 

🧠 The Analyst

This visualisation also made a vital observation crystal clear, creativity doesn’t look the same for everyone. Different brains, especially neurodivergent ones, bring wonderfully varied ways of thinking, ideating, and problem-solving.

“We’re not all wired the same and that’s exactly where out-of-this-world creative ideas can emerge.” 

— Jonny Randall, Founder & Creative Director.

View from Lighthouse | Ella’s perspective

“We built a brainwave visualisation system and ran it live at Cannes Lions. A bit surreal and very exciting. 

My role was running the galaxy-inspired visualisation system live on stage. The visuals were loosely based on space imagery: a spinning “nebula” of data points, reflecting real-time EEG brainwave feedback, with colours representing shifting brain states — a satisfying blend of art and data, just how I like it.

‘The cosmos is within us. We are made of star‑stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.’ – Carl Sagan.

We tried to imagine what that might look like.”

— Ella Kivinen, Creative Lead Lighthouse Studio 

From stage to studio: live demos at Cannes

Following the session, attendees were invited to step into our studio and try the system themselves, discovering their own Creative Moment Types and experiencing their brainwaves visualised live; no two were the same.

Why does this matter to brands?

This isn’t just show-stopping tech, it’s a powerful insight tool. By combining neuroscience with interactive design, the Brainwave Experience helps brands:

• Map attention, emotion, and creative states in real time.

• Create more personalised, resonant experiences.

• Engage with audiences at a level that goes beyond surface metrics.

When brands can tap into how people really think and feel, they’re able to craft experiences that are meaningful, memorable and mind-blowing.

🚀 Curious to know your Creative Moment Type or how brainwaves could power your next activation?

We’re building tools to help people and brands unlock deeper insight, creativity, and connection.

Find out more at Lighthouse Studio

How did Experiential show up at Cannes Lions?

Experiential had it's biggest platform to date at the 2025 festival, with brands like Adobe, Meta, Pinterest and Yahoo all embracing immersive spaces and XR, as well as multiple talks on the value of experiences and creative technology throughout the week. 

Adobe and The Coca-Cola Company collaborated on an immersive stand in the forecourt of the Palais. An engaging creative journey where guests could use Adobe’s AI program, Firefly, and Adobe Express to design their own advert for the Share A Cola campaign. The winning adverts were then displayed on the festival big screens, a great use of incentivisation! There were also quizzes and custom sticker printing to elevate and personalise the user experience. 

Pinterest were back this year with Manifestival, their miniature festival within a festival of brand collabs and immersive stands, all tied in to Pinterest’s MO of aspirational content; like walking into a life-size Pinterest board. With personalised style readings, a tattoo parlour, Pinterest Patisserie and more… it celebrated self expression, creativity and Pinterest Predicted trends. 

Meta used their AI focused space on La Croisette (with its own boat jetty!) to debut a series of new Generative AI ad tools (Google, Amazon and Microsoft all debuted new AI capabilities at this year’s Festival). Also on show were their newest smart glasses created with Ray-Ban, as well as a skateboarding themed AI photo space and free ice cream from WhatsApp (very popular in the heat!). The stand was exciting and entertaining, showing why Meta remains at the crossroads of AI development and online social spaces.

There were also a host of inspiring talks throughout the week, we would have gone to them all if we could!

Andrey Tyukavkin’s powerful talk Chronic Creative Disorder: Imagination as a Neurological Condition explored the power of neurodivergence in the creative industry. He looked at imagination and creativity as a neurological condition, and how neurodiversity in creative businesses can unlock more and better ideas. Andrey’s parting words - ‘Creativity is a clinical case of obsessive voluntary avoidance of thinking straight… aka neurons taking a scenic tour’ summed it up perfectly. 

Amelia Dimoldenberg’s talk in discussion with Jasmine Dawson (BBC SVP), Chicken Shops and Red Carpets, had a queue around the block. A deep dive into the success of her personal brand as a creator and now CEO of Dinz Inc., the key message was Build it, and they will come, and it hit home. Backing an idea with conviction, authenticity and executing it with craft takes serious nerve… but that’s how you carve out a category of your own. It’s no surprise that the talk was at capacity.

Havas’ inspiring session on the main stage with Donna Murphy, Yannick Bolloré, Lola Young, Renee Connolly and Michael Barbaro discussed the value of neurodivergent minds in creative industries; 40% of neurodivergent people are unemployed… it’s a mind blowing statistic. The talk ran alongside the launch of their campaign Beyond the Brief with teaser ads all along the Cannes' Croisette that positioned neurodivergent minds as the future of the creative industry.

Lighthouse Studio’s Director Jonny Randall touched upon the importance of neurodivergent inclusion during Live Brainwave Reading: An Exploration of Creative Minds and what we can learn about neurodivergent-specific patterns by observing brainwave signatures.

There were also excellent talks such as INNOCEAN & Hyundai’s Cut the Ad, Roll the Show with Sungwon Jee, Jung A Kim and Kristi Lind about entertainment-led storytelling around their Grand Prix winning Night Fishing film, breaking away from traditional advertising - “When creative people are trusted, they go much, much further”; Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu, Global Chief Brand Officer of LVMH sharing the art of ‘crafting dreams’; Rebecca Coleman’s passionate framing of motherhood as a test in management training and many more.

From standout activations to motivational talks, it was an inspiring week at La Croisette, the Palais and beyond. Getting to introduce our Brainwave Technology to an entirely new audience was an incredible experience! 

🧠 Want to bring this experience to your next event, brand activation, or team session? Find out more about our Brainwave Experience here and reach out – we’d love to show you what your mind can do.