Per Canva’s own data, its platform is used by 95% of Fortune 500 brands and its Canva Enterprise tool has been adopted by companies including Reddit and Zoom.

Anecdotally, through the industry events he attends, Knowles is seeing the needle move on awareness, but said there’s still work to do.

“Knowledge of Canva generally is wide, but it’s shallow,” he said, noting Cannes would be a place to gather feedback on how customers perceive and are using the platform.

More Than a Design Challenge

Adobe, has long invested in its presence on the Cannes Croisette. In 2025, it will be back with a space adjacent to the Palais des Festivals’ iconic red steps.

This year, it’s teaming up with Coca-Cola’ to show how its tools powered the global ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. It’s also targeting creators with an Adobe Express experience at LinkedIn’s Studio.

Canva, with 220 million users, posted $2.5 billion in revenue last year versus Adobe’s $21.5 billion. It still has a way to go to catch up to its rivals’ full product suite and enterprise dominance.

However, for Adobe, Canva isn’t just encroaching on its turf on the French Riviera. The latter’s viral growth engine, simple UX, and investment business features could help it slip into clients’ toolkits through the side door.

While experiential offers softer metrics than traditional marketing, at Cannes, Canva will be monitoring foot traffic, engagement, and sales leads. It will also look at how the activation resonated and inspired creativity.

“That’s where the magic starts to come in, and where [we] can start to see a shift,” said Knowles.