DEPT® Is Bringing a Streetwear Drop-Inspired ‘Souvenir Shop’ to Cannes Lions

DEPT® is returning to Cannes Lions this June with the latest edition of its Secret Garden activation, this time adding a new element that moves away from the traditional agency playbook on the Croisette.

Alongside the Secret Garden, the agency is launching a Souvenir Shop designed to operate more like a streetwear drop than a standard festival merchandise stand. Guests reserve a collection slot in advance, quantities are limited, and there is no browsing. Visitors only discover what they’re taking home once they arrive.

The agency says the Souvenir Shop builds on the same philosophy behind the Secret Garden itself, which it feels is more intentional and considered amid the noise and attention-grabbing that often defines Cannes Lions. “The Souvenir Shop came from that same thinking,” says Marjan Straathof, global SVP of marketing at DEPT®.

The limited edition collection includes raffia tote bags, leather travel tags, ping pong paddles, pétanque sets, and postcards. Everything is created, designed and produced by DEPT® Apparel, the agency's internal brand that started during the pandemic as a way of holding culture together when its 4,000-person workforce couldn't be in the same room.

Rather than functioning like traditional Cannes merchandise – of which there is no shortage on the Croisette – the Souvenir Shop has been deliberately structured around the mechanics and mindset of streetwear culture. There are no racks to browse or oversized inventory designed for mass giveaway. Instead, guests reserve timed collection slots and receive limited-edition pieces selected for them on arrival.

“Merch has a bad reputation because most of it deserves one,” believes Marjan. “It's just stuff, made quickly, branded heavily, forgotten immediately. We're not interested in that.”

As a B-Corp, DEPT® has to think carefully about what it puts into the world, a duty that applies to physical objects as much as anything else. “If we're going to make something, it needs to be produced with care and made to be used and loved for a long time,” says Marjan. “The drop mechanic reinforces that: scarcity and anticipation make the object matter before anyone's even picked it up.”

Last year’s Cannes Lions offered an early glimpse of that dynamic in action, with a limited run of DEPT® silk scarves becoming a familiar sight for Marjan along the Croisette. “A year on, people still mention them. That's the bar we're working towards,” she adds.

Since launching during the pandemic, DEPT® Apparel has grown into a consistent line with monthly drops and client collaborations with Meta, Red Bull, and Lufthansa. “It was never supposed to be a ‘venture’,” says Marjan. “It was just something our people loved making, and I think that's exactly why it works. It grew because people were genuinely into it, and that kind of energy is hard to fake.

“Our people wear it because they want to,” she adds. “Clients ask about it unprompted. Those things matter more to us than any metric.”

And in an industry – and world – increasingly shaped by disposable digital content, Marjan believes in the value of physical objects that feel thoughtful and well-made. “We spend our lives looking at screens and generating endless content,” she says. “So a really well-made hoodie suddenly can feel very refreshing.”

Somewhere along the way, all of this stopped feeling like ‘merch’ and became part of the agency’s culture – a key facet in how people experience DEPT®. Clients didn’t stop asking about pieces, teams wanted collaborations, people kept wanting to know what the next drop was.

“We didn't plan that,” says Marjan. “It happened because the people behind it cared. Turns out that's still the best creative strategy there is.”

- - -
DEPT®’s Secret Garden returns to Cannes as it was in 2025: invite-only, intentionally small, off the Croisette. The 2026 programme is built around B2A, Business-to-Agent marketing, the idea that as AI agents become active participants in purchase decisions, the entire logic of how brands reach and influence buyers needs to change.

Each day takes a different cut: scaling AI-powered businesses, creativity in a community-driven culture, and what leadership looks like when production is no longer the constraint. Senior leaders from Mastercard, Snap, eBay, and PepsiCo will be in the room, alongside partners including OpenAI, Microsoft, TikTok, and Adobe.