The International Advertising Festival (Cannes Lions) has taken time to evolve into what it is today. And its origins are attributed to ad filmmakers. In 1954, inspired by the International Film Festival, which has been staged in Cannes since the late 1940s, a group of worldwide cinema screen advertising contractors (SAWA) felt that the makers of advertising films should receive similar recognition as their colleagues in the feature film industry. In order to promote the Cinema medium, SAWA established the International Advertising Film Festival. The first Festival took place in Venice in September 1954 -- the lion of Piazza San Marcos in Venice being the inspiration for the lion trophy. The second Festival was held in Monte Carlo and then in Cannes in 1956. After that, the Festival took place alternatively between Venice and Cannes. The French city became its permanent home only in 1984.

From 1954 to 1980, the Films in competition were split into two categories: TV and Cinema. They were judged according to technical craft. There were, for example, categories for commercials of different lengths, live action and animation, etc. Since 1967, however, it seemed more appropriate to split films into product or service categories. This structure has been constantly updated to accommodate new products, services and marketing trends. From 1983, the split between Cinema ads and TV ads was abandoned to become 'Film'.

When did the other categories get into the frame? We were curious too. In response to the advertising crisis at the time of the first Gulf War, the Festival added value to the event by complementing the showcase of all Film entries with a developing programme of high profile seminars organized by some of the biggest names in the industry - positioning Cannes as a unique learning experience too. It was in 1992 that the International Film Festival became known as The International Advertising Festival, as organizers broadened the event to reflect the multi-media approach of advertising campaigns, which incorporated both audio-visual and printed media. The Press and Outdoor competition was added.

In 1998, online communications (websites, interactive campaigns and online advertising) were added to the event and the Cyber Lions were born. Media Lions were launched in 1999, allowing media planners to join the Festival with their own competition celebrating creative use of media. The Lions Direct competition was added in 2002, Radio Lions and Titanium Lions came on board in 2005.

In 2004, international B2B publisher and events organizer Emap Communications acquired the Festival.