Bilt × Publicis — Cannes Lions 2026

Maison
Bilt

An evening that doesn't exist.
June 22 — 25, 2026
Villa Bagatelle, La Californie, Cannes
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Maison Bilt

Bilt takes over Villa Bagatelle — an LVMH property in La Californie — and transforms it into the most exclusive address at Cannes Lions.

Rebranded as Maison Bilt, the villa becomes a fully immersive luxury hotel experience for 30 top executives. Four days of curated programming — wellness, intimate panels, poolside meetings, a content studio — all woven into the fabric of the Bilt universe.

But the 4-day residency exists to serve one anchor moment: the evening of June 23rd. Everything builds toward it. Everything radiates from it. This is the evening that defines Maison Bilt.

The Collaboration

Bilt × Publicis — The Future of Commerce

Bilt and the Publicis Groupe Future of Commerce team share a conviction: the next era of consumer loyalty won't be built on points and promotions — it will be built on experiences that live inside the moments people already care about.

Housing. Travel. Dining. Fitness. Bilt has embedded rewards into the infrastructure of everyday life — rent payments, neighborhood restaurants, global hotel networks. Publicis brings the strategic lens, the brand relationships, and the creative firepower to amplify that vision at the highest level.

Maison Bilt at Cannes is the first major expression of this partnership: a co-produced experience that demonstrates the future of commerce to the executives who will shape it — not through a keynote, but through four days of living inside it.

The Challenge

During Cannes Lions, the Croisette is the gravitational center. Everyone stays at the beach.

Getting 30 of the world's most in-demand executives to leave the beach, drive up the hill to La Californie, and spend their evening at Maison Bilt requires something they cannot get anywhere else that week.

The event cannot merely be good. It must be so compelling — so talked about — that not being there feels like the real loss.

The strategic question: What format makes June 23rd the most talked-about evening of the festival?

Concept A

La Villa

A mystery unfolds across cocktail hour. Dinner is the reveal.

Guests arrive to a cocktail hour scattered across the villa grounds. Each room holds a clue — and every clue is a reward moment from Bilt. Solve the trail, and you earn your seat at the dinner table where the game's answer is revealed.

Act I — The Cocktail Hour
Clue 1 · The Boarding Pass
Your Ticket In
On arrival, each guest receives a vintage-style boarding pass — not to a destination, but to the evening itself. One side: their name, hand-lettered. The other: a cryptic first instruction pointing them deeper into the villa. The pass is a Bilt Travel moment — a physical ticket that says: tonight, you're going somewhere.
Clue 2 · The Napkin Map
Where Dinner Lives
In the salon, guests find a linen cocktail napkin with a hand-drawn map of the villa grounds. One location is circled — that's where dinner will be. But it's not labeled. Guests have to explore the grounds to match the drawing to the real place. A Bilt Housing moment — the thrill of discovering a space you didn't know existed.
Clue 3 · The Telescope
Find the Logo
On the upper terrace, a brass telescope points toward the Cannes skyline. Look through it: the Bilt logo is projected somewhere across the bay — a building, a yacht, a hillside. Spot it, and a bartender hands you the next clue with your cocktail. A Bilt Rewards moment — look closer, and the value is always there.
Clue 4 · The Matchbook
The Hidden Reservation
Tucked inside a library book, a custom matchbook from a Bilt Dining partner — one that doesn't make matchbooks. Inside: a reservation code and coordinates. A Bilt Dining moment — the best tables are the ones you discover by accident.
Act II — The Dinner
The Table
Every Clue Converges
Guests who followed the trail arrive at the circled location on the napkin map — the dinner table, set beneath the stars. Each place setting holds their collected clues, arranged like evidence. The four objects together form a pattern. A word. A code. The game's solve.
The Reveal
The Golden Card
The answer unlocks the final moment. The boarding pass, the map, the telescope coordinates, the matchbook code — assembled together, they reveal a single phrase. Speak it, and the host presents a golden Bilt card. The full ecosystem, in their hands. The rewards were the clues all along.
30Guests
4Clues
1Solve
1Golden Card
Concept B

"The Experiences That Come to You"

A conveyor-belt dinner where the rewards arrive between courses.

Four acts. Four courses. Between each, a physical Bilt partner gift appears on the conveyor — tangible proof of the ecosystem, delivered to every seat.

Act I · The Arrival
Blacklane cars collect guests at dusk. Champagne on the terrace. Then the conveyor begins — a leather Bilt Passport slides to each seat. Inside: the evening's itinerary, printed on heavy stock. No phones needed.
Act II · The Drop
Between the first and second courses, the belt delivers again: partner object drops — a curated item from a Bilt partner brand. Small, covetable, branded. Something guests pocket and keep.
Act III · The Vinyl
After the main course, the conveyor delivers a custom Maison Bilt vinyl — pressed for this evening only. Limited edition. The evening's soundtrack made physical. A collector's piece.
Act IV · The Reveal
Dessert. The final delivery: a sealed points envelope. Each guest opens to find a personal Bilt Rewards balance — real points, real value. The rewards literally came to them.
30Guests
4Acts
4Partner Gifts
1Evening
Concept C

Le Grand Jeu

An amphitheatre game show where the stakes are real.

Four competitive rounds. A real-time leaderboard. A brass buzzer every guest takes home. Dinner becomes a show — and the show becomes the story they tell all week.

Round 1
Where in the World
A geography challenge built around Bilt's Travel portfolio. Projected images of partner destinations — Marriott suites, villa terraces, city skylines. Guests buzz in to name the location. Every correct answer earns points on the leaderboard.
Round 2
The Price Is Flight
Bilt's Housing world, gamified. Real listings from partner properties flash on screen — penthouses, lofts, waterfronts. Guests bid on rent. Closest without going over wins the round. The data is real. The reactions are priceless.
Round 3
Kwame's Kitchen
A live Dining round. Chef Kwame Onwuachi cooks a mystery dish in real time. Guests taste blind and compete to identify ingredients. The kitchen becomes a stage. The meal becomes the game.
Round 4 — Finale
All In
The top scorers face off in the amphitheatre under the stars. One final question. Winner-take-all. The leaderboard goes live on a screen overlooking Cannes. The brass buzzer goes home with every guest — engraved Maison Bilt, Cannes 2026.

Real-time leaderboard projected throughout the villa
Every round ties to a Bilt vertical — Travel · Housing · Dining
The brass buzzer is the takeaway. Engraved. Collectible. Conversation starter.

The Strategy

Why this works

Whichever format is chosen, these principles make it unforgettable.
Scarcity
30 seats only.
The invite itself creates FOMO. When every brand in Cannes is throwing open doors, a closed door becomes the most valuable thing on the Croisette.
Blacklane Solves the Hill
Nobody "decides" to come.
The car removes the friction. A Blacklane arrives at their hotel. They step in. The decision is made for them. La Californie stops being a problem — it becomes an escape.
Hospitality Proves Hospitality
Don't pitch Bilt. Let them live it.
Every touchpoint — the car, the food, the rooms, the concierge — is a living demonstration of what Bilt enables. The evening is the pitch, delivered through experience instead of slides.
Next-Day Buzz
"Where were you last night?"
The guests become your marketing. The morning after, on the beach, at breakfast, in every meeting — the evening travels by word of mouth. The best media buy money can't buy.

Maison Bilt.
June 23, 2026.

Get in Touch
cannes@biltrewards.com