What do a retro-modern trade show booth in Miami and a French Riviera-style creative studio in Cannes have in common? For Sequence Events client GumGum, they were two sides of the same brand story—brought to life in collaboration with our team. As the contextual intelligence company upleveled its presence at major industry gatherings in recent months, they tapped Team SEQ to make magic on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Client: GumGum
GumGum is a leader in contextual intelligence, using advanced AI to analyze text, imagery, and video to deliver more relevant, brand-safe advertising—without relying on personal data. As a pioneer in this space, the company empowers brands to connect with consumers through creative, privacy-friendly campaigns that scale across today’s evolving digital landscape.
With innovation and storytelling at the heart of its marketing strategy, GumGum tapped Team SEQ for not one but two major tentpole activations: POSSIBLE in Miami and Cannes Lions in Cannes, France. We packed our sunscreen and got to work!
The Challenges
While the goals of both activations were aligned—build awareness, spark connection, and showcase the creative power of GumGum’s tech—each experience required a carefully tailored approach.
POSSIBLE Conference | Miami Beach | April 28-30, 2025
The Event: One of the ad tech industry’s fastest-growing conferences, known for thought leadership, networking, and bold activations
The Setting: Fontainebleau Miami Beach
The Attendees: 5,400+ senior marketers, media executives, and tech leaders
The Activation Format: A high-impact 20×40 outdoor booth and VIP dinner
As a Platinum Partner, GumGum had a prime booth location in one of the most high-traffic areas of the conference. The challenge? To make a meaningful splash with their largest trade show investment to date—one that connected the dots between their tech offering and the human values people care about: creativity, connection, and fun.
Cannes Lions | Cannes, France | June 17-21, 2025
The Event: The premier global event for an estimated 13,000 marketing, advertising, and media professionals—essentially, a week-long celebration of the world’s most creative work
The Setting: A private, branded apartment on La Croisette
The Attendees: A curated list of the ad world’s crème de la crème
The Activation Format: Invite-only meetings, private sessions, speaking gigs, and a VIP dinner
Fresh off the buzz of POSSIBLE, the prestigious Cannes Lions festival called for something more intimate. The focus shifted from mass exposure to meaningful, high-level engagement. GumGum’s private apartment—located on La Croisette, the festival’s main beachside street jam-packed with eye-catching brand activations—was transformed into an immersive brand space. The goal? To create a sophisticated hub for storytelling, relationship-building, and creative inspiration, all while showcasing the brand’s global reach and thought leadership.
Our Process
Across both activations, Sequence kicked off with deep discovery sessions to align on GumGum’s business goals, audience segments, creative themes, and event KPIs. Despite the different formats, two common themes emerged from our early discussions: the desire to bring in some local flavor, and a core brand narrative centered around nostalgia—a nod to the creativity of the past, reimagined through a retro-modern lens.
In Miami, nostalgia showed up in playful, tactile ways, with vintage props and interactive moments that tapped into creative joy. In Cannes, that same concept was elevated through a French Riviera-inspired lens, reimagined as Lé Retro Studio, a stylish artist’s loft that blended vintage charm with contemporary polish.
The Solutions
The result? Two distinctive environments: both deeply on-brand, but carefully tailored to their respective audiences and settings.
POSSIBLE: Big, Bold, and Buzzed-About
At POSSIBLE, SEQ designed a fully customized outdoor booth that drew inspiration from retro-modern aesthetics and infused it with moments of surprise and delight. Vintage props like Polaroid cameras, Etch A Sketches, and View-Masters became both conversation-starters and memory-makers, encouraging guests to stay, play, and share. Lounge areas with bold furniture choices and nostalgic decor provided places to linger and network, while branded Bevi stations added a sustainable hydration moment.
The booth wasn’t just a visual draw; it was a functional hub. Built-in content capture zones allowed for podcast recordings, real-time interviews, and social storytelling throughout the event. And to top it all off, GumGum hosted a private VIP dinner for 27 stakeholders, hosted by DJ Khaled—who shared the moment with his 39 million followers, delivering major social media reach and buzz.
Cannes Lions: Intimate, Elevated, and Très Chic
At Cannes Lions, we traded crowd volume for intentional impact. GumGum’s branded apartment along La Croisette was transformed into Lé Retro Studio, a stylish, soulful, and Riviera-inspired homage to an artist’s studio from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Every inch of the space was designed to foster conversation and spark inspiration, from vintage record players and 3D pushpin-style mood boards to Pantone books, editorial archives, and casual styling details that made the space feel lived-in and real.
The layout promoted both collaboration and calm, with communal tables, lounge seating, and styling elements that made the space feel collaborative and relaxed. Inside, GumGum hosted a steady cadence of high-value, invite-only meetings and intimate gatherings, alongside festival programming that included speaking engagements for GumGum CTO Ken Weiner and CMO Kerel Cooper. An exclusive VIP dinner offered another opportunity to connect meaningfully with key partners.
The Results
POSSIBLE:
GumGum’s activation quickly became one of the most buzzed-about spaces at POSSIBLE. Over the course of three days, the booth saw more than 1,000 unique engagements, with nonstop traffic from curious passersby and returning fans alike. Thoughtful design touches—like a vintage phone booth and retro lounge furniture—organically transformed into high-performing photo ops, generating social buzz and brand recall across platforms.
On the programming front, former CEO Phil Schraeder’s panel, Mindset Era in Action, drew an impressive crowd of 293 attendees, reinforcing GumGum’s position as a forward-thinking thought leader in the industry. And to top it all off, the exclusive VIP dinner didn’t just strengthen key relationships—it made a splash far beyond the venue when host DJ Khaled shared the moment with his millions of followers.
Cannes Lions:
At Cannes Lions, the experience was more intimate but still impactful. Custom signage and a branded balcony gave GumGum daily visibility among thousands of festival goers strolling La Croisette, while the apartment’s thoughtfully designed interior offered a quiet, elevated space for pre-scheduled sales meetings and curated conversations.
Dozens of high-value meetings were held in the space, strengthening existing client relationships while also unlocking new connections with agencies and brands. The activation helped elevate the perception of GumGum as a thoughtful, design-savvy brand capable of resonating across markets and cultures. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks!
The Kind Words
"What an amazing job! I am so proud to be a part of this Sequence plus GumGum team. The pictures, the videos, seeing people engaging with all the elements you put together. We are all amazed by it, and still buzzing. Thank you very much for all the hard work. What an amazing event!" - Vice President of Marketing Strategy & Operations
From a high-energy booth in Miami to a quiet creative space in Cannes, GumGum and SEQ proved that a consistent brand story can adapt across formats and cultures—without losing impact. Want to learn more about how GumGum is leaning into live events? Check out our recent chat with Shannon Scanlin, GumGum’s Senior Manager, Global Marketing.