Cannes Lions 2026 News
At Cannes Lions 2026, AI was no longer the headline act. The focus shifted to how technology can solve real problems, elevate craft and deliver meaningful creative outcomes
As India reflects on a quieter Cannes Lions 2026, e4m explores what it means for the industry’s future
From business-first ideas to creator equity and a growing appetite for AI-era humanity, has Cannes Lions 2026 charted advertising's next chapter?
As Cannes Lions 2026 closes with India's tally at a modest five Lions, the industry is asking a harder question: Has the race for constant content quietly replaced the pursuit of the big idea?
France was adjudged Creative Country of the Year at Cannes Lions 2026
In 2025, India was among the standout performers, securing 32 Lions, including one Grand Prix and nine Golds. This year, the tally shrank dramatically
India closed the 73rd Cannes Lions festival with 2 Silver and 3 Bronze Lions from 24 shortlists, a sobering step back from 2025's 32-Lion haul
Can bigger really mean better? George Manas of Omnicom on the Omnicom-IPG integration, his hopes for India and why Cannes Lions 2026 became one of his favourites
Liz Taylor, Global Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy, and Kainaz Karmakar, CCO, Ogilvy India, reflect on Ogilvy’s Cannes year and how innovation, craft and culture shape winning ideas globally
Among the final day winners at Cannes Lions were Rethink (Independent Network of the Year), LePub, Milan, Italy (Agency of the Year) and Heineken (Creative Brand of the Year)
For decades, Indian agencies have operated under a default setting: If it doesn’t impact millions, it isn’t Cannes worthy. Can we try commercial brand solutions and not bank on social macro-problems?
Guest Column: Adman Prabhakar Mundkur examines India’s Cannes Lions 2026 performance and asks whether fewer entries or weaker work led to the subdued showing
With 24 shortlisted entries yielding five Lions so far, India looks forward to adding to its medal tally through Film and Sustainable Development Goals as the final awards are announced tonight
Binda Dey, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Knight Riders Sports, shares her experience of judging the Entertainment Lions for Sports
Jarrod Martin, Chief Transformation Officer, Omnicom Media Group and CEO of Acxiom, on why identity is becoming more valuable than data and how agencies can stay relevant in the media ecosystem
Jane Lin Baden, Publicis Groupe APAC CEO, speaks on Cannes Lions’ tougher scrutiny of entries, why AI should drive growth, not layoffs & how Asia will soon be leading in innovation, commerce & trends
At Cannes Lions 2026, Sir Martin Sorrell discusses AI, media concentration, Brand India, agency transformation and why human creativity still matters
Anisha Iyer, CEO of OMD India and a Media Lions juror at Cannes Lions 2026, discusses India's limited presence in the category and why self-doubt may be holding Indian creativity back
Greece wins first-ever Grand Prix, in the Creative Business Transformation Lions, and Canada takes home second Grand Prix of the week in Innovation
At the Debussy Theatre, the actor and producer argued that stories built on singular conviction are the ones that cross borders without losing their essential meaning
Prerna Mehrotra, Chief Client Officer & CEO, Media, Asia Pacific, dentsu, speaks to e4m from the Cannes Lions festival on how dentsu is adapting to serve its clients drive growth and client-centricity
Cannes Lions 2026 Day 3 saw winners announced across Direct, Media, PR, Social and Creator, and Creative Data Lions, with no Indian campaign securing a win
Ellen Griffin, Global Brand President, OMD, and Charlotte Lee, President, OMD APAC, discuss why innovation is flowing from APAC to the world, and what the Omnicom-IPG integration means for future
Anupriya Acharya, CEO, Publicis Groupe South Asia, shares her experience as the Jury President for Creative Data Lions, her take on the use of AI and data, and much more
Peru wins Creative Data Lions Grand Prix and Puerto Rico takes home second Grand Prix of the week in the Direct Lions
‘Mothers of Courage – Shifting Societal Norms, One Conversation at a Time’ secures India’s only shortlist in the SDG category
Direct and Media account for India’s entire Day 3 shortlist haul, while PR, Social & Creator and Creative Data draw a blank
John Mescall, Global Chief Creative Partner, Dentsu Creative, shares why he believes that now is the time to double down on human creativity
Christian Flouch, Global Brand President of PHD, and Eileen Ooi, President APAC of PHD, discuss human intelligence, AI and uniting diverse markets under a common vision
TBWA\Lintas Mumbai’s ‘Don’t Look Up’ for Steadfast, which won a Bronze Lion in Film Craft (Script), is built on a familiar behaviour seen across India’s cash-driven economy
Rob Reilly, Global Chief Creative Officer at WPP, weighs in on WPP's recent business performance, Cannes Lions' changing priorities & the challenge of building creative momentum beyond Ogilvy in India
‘Original Forever’, for adidas, by Johannes Leonardo, New York / adidas, London, wins two Grands Prix in Entertainment Lions and Entertainment Lions for Music
TBWA\Lintas secured Bronze for ‘Don’t Look Up’ campaign, bringing India's metal tally to 5; Gold and Grand Prix winners for the day are yet to be announced
Campaigns from Leo India, Ogilvy Bangalore, Enormous and Fundamental help India add five more shortlists
Pooja Manek, Creative and Founding Member, Talented Agency India, shares her experience of being part of the Outdoor Lions jury this year
Design leads India’s charge with two shortlisted campaigns, while Film Craft contributes three entries ahead of tonight’s awards
Dhruv Warrior, Executive Creative Director, VML, India, recounts his experience of being part of the Print & Publishing jury, and the trend to say something without explicitly showing the product
Here are some glimpses from the French Riviera, as Cannes turns into a hub for creativity, marketing, media, technology and industry networking
The opening day also brought attention to the role of creative leadership in shaping the industry
Leo India, Ogilvy, The Refinery, Brand David Communications, and Humour Me delivered India's first metals of the 73rd edition, while Josy Paul and Sonal Chhajerh took the stage at The Terrace
Music Composer Subhajit Mukherjee, Jury Member for Entertainment Lions for Music, on global creativity, cultural perspectives and India's missed opportunity at Cannes Lions
Andrés Ordóñez, Global Chief Creative Officer at McCann Worldgroup, reflects on life after consolidation, addresses the controversy surrounding Lucky Yatra, and more
The most encouraging signal for India lies not in the medals already won, but in the shortlists that remain in contention
AB InBev, the Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year 2026, is awarded the inaugural Creative Brand Lion Grand Prix
India has made a mark on Day 1 of the festival with four wins so far, out of eight shortlists across the seven categories announced today
VML’s KitKat campaign keeps India in contention as the country takes its overall shortlist tally to 18 across 24 categories announced so far
While Ogilvy Mumbai leads the agency table with four shortlists, VML India follows with three
The Film Craft category leads the tally with three shortlists as India makes the cut in only 4 out of 12 categories. Till now, India has secured 17 shortlists at Cannes Lions 2026
Health & Wellness leads the tally with four shortlists as India makes the cut in five of the seven categories announced today
The man who won the inaugural Glass Lion from a Delhi living room at 2 AM, and built BBDO India from the backseat of a car, returns to the Croisette as a speaker
Guest Column: Ganapathy Viswanathan, Communication Consultant & Author, on how a Cannes Lion evolved from a rare exception to an industry expectation
As VML India's Executive Creative Director joins Print & Publishing jury at Cannes Lions, Warrior makes a case for a medium he believes the industry has been too quick to eulogise & too slow to push
With India chasing global creative glory, creativity, culture, craft and impact take centre stage at Cannes Lions 2026. Here are India's Cannes contenders this year
The shortlists have been released for Dan Wieden Titanium Lions, Glass: The Lion for Change, and the Innovation Lions
As Leo South Asia's CEO takes his seat on the Entertainment Lions for Gaming jury, he has a pointed message for brands that confuse gaming culture with gaming aesthetics
As AI becomes a fixture of the creative process, Cannes Lions 2026 is shaping up to be a test of something far harder to engineer: human truth, say industry heads
As CEO of OMD India and a Cannes Lions 2026 Media juror, Anisha Iyer believes the strongest media ideas are deceptively simple, and that complexity is often mistaken for craft
One agency, 19 years, a PR Grand Prix, and now a seat on the Cannes jury. Rakesh Menon of Ulka says the category has never been more rigorous, or more necessary
As Gurbaksh Singh joins the Digital Craft jury at Cannes Lions 2026, the Dentsu Creative CCO & CIO calls out a category in danger of confusing polish with purpose
As a member of this year's Creative Strategy jury, Dheeraj Sinha makes the case for strategic courage and warns the industry against mistaking cultural aesthetics for genuine human insight
The 73rd edition of the Festival takes place from 22 to 26 June in Cannes, France
AB InBev is the first company in Cannes Lions’ history to be honoured with the award for a third time
The newly introduced Creative Brand Lion will recognise the visionary brands that are building the systems, cultures and capabilities
The Dominican Republic and Venezuela have joined the line-up for the first time
Susan Credle will be honoured at the festival in June for her remarkable career in advertising
From 2026, Cannes Lions said it will recognise systems, cultures and capabilities of brands
From 2026 onwards, all entry submissions into the International Festival of Creativity will be subject to new accountability measures and integrity standards
This follows the discovery that AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the case film to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes
Guest Column: Niraj Ruparel, Creative Tech Lead, WPP India & WPP Media, writes on why it is the era of co-creation and how collaboration is the new creative stack
This year’s Creative Impact track explored how the very best brands balance consistency with agility amid a fragmented media world
In an exclusive interview, Nelson breaks down the Omnicom–IPG merger, detailing how a combined 136,000-strong workforce, deeper data capabilities and unified platforms will drive value
SS: Guest Column: Shrenik Gandhi, Co-founder & CEO, White Rivers Media, shares his experience from the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2025
Guest Column: Ananya Shrikanth Rao, Brand Director – Strategy at Saatchi & Saatchi India, captures the chaos, creativity, and chronicles of Day 3 at Cannes
The campaign was recently called out by Cannes juror and ad critic Polina Zabrodskaya for being an example of 'performative greenwashing'
In an industry-first initiative, FCB Kinnect brings the Cannes Lions jury experience in-house, driving sharper thinking and benchmark-worthy creativity
Shubhranshu Singh, board member Effies LIKNS foundation, Forbes Global’s most influential CMO, writes a review on his takeaways from Cannes Lions 2025
At Cannes Lions 2025, the Global Creative Director talks about scaling bold ideas, embracing AI, and transformation with the launch of SWA Group
WPP’s Mindshare received the joint highest points tally in Media Network of the Year
Guest Column: Tarun Khanna, President & Head – Digital, Marketing & Strategy at Reliance General Insurance, shares observations from Cannes Lions, highlighting India’s rising global influence, & more
With just one shortlist in Sustainable Development Goals category, has the creative voice in sustainability taken a backseat in this year’s Cannes Lions?
Decrement in global growth, a UGC tipping point, and high single-digit gains in India — Kate Scott-Dawkins unpacks the numbers at Cannes 2025
India’s Cannes Lions 2025 run continues with three new shortlists on Day 5 in Film, Titanium, and Sustainable Development Goals categories
India’s winning run moved steadily forward on Day 4 at Cannes Lions 2025, with FCB India adding 3 Golds for Lucky Yatra and Ogilvy, Leo India bagging Bronze for purpose-led work
India picked up two Bronze Lions in the Brand Experience & Activation category, keeping the country’s creative momentum alive with campaigns rooted in purpose and innovation
Leo Burnett Mumbai won the top honour at Cannes Lions 2025 for ACKO Health Insurance
From cardboard beds at the Kumbh Mela to heart check-up nudges at tailoring shops, Indian agencies are making their mark at Cannes Lions 2025, not just with metals, but with meaning
Guest Column: From the Cannes Lions festival of creativity, writes Mithila Saraf, CEO, Famous Innovations, on the “ideas that get under your skin”
Susan Kingston-Brown, Global Brand President of UM Worldwide, on Omnicom-IPG merger, judging the Media Lions, and navigating the future with AI and data-driven creativity
The categories to look out for today are - Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce, Creative Effectiveness, and Creative Strategy
With India already winning six gold lions this year, here’s a look back at some of the country’s most iconic Gold-winning campaigns
David Droga on Accenture Song's India expansion, the type of Creative Leader he’s looking for in India, and why the traditional methods of planning media won't last
India stormed back into the Cannes Lions spotlight with 1 Grand Prix, 4 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 7 Bronze Lions
Indian agencies delivered a stellar performance with 2 Silver and 7 Bronze Lions
Speaking to e4m, Shubhranshu Singh, Global CMO at Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, reflects on joining the Board of Effie LIONS Foundation
Philippe Krakowsky, CEO, IPG, Yannick Bolloré, CEO and Chairman, Havas, and Mark Read, CEO, WPP, were snapped in a unique photo-op at the festival
The shortlist has been bagged for Ariel’s #ShareTheLoad in Sustainable Development Goals category
While there are no shortlists in the Creative B2B category, the country continues to shine in Creative Data, Direct, Media, PR, and Social & Influencer
From long-awaited wins to debut victories, Indian agencies are resetting the stage with fresh momentum and global recognition at Cannes Lions 2025
Abbey Klaassen unpacks Dentsu Creative’s structural shifts, the evolving role of AI, the hype around virality, and what’s ahead at Cannes 2025
VML India and Talented bring home a Silver each, Ogilvy India grabs a Bronze
The campaign now shares the stage with other top global contenders in the Film Lions sub-category
The campaign has been recognised across three major sub-categories - Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Business Transformation, and Creative Commerce
In the Creative Business Transformation sub-category of the Strategy category, Leo Burnett Mumbai landed a third shortlist
This Cannes shortlist adds to several others earned by DDB Mudra for the same campaign across the Gaming category
Ogilvy India has secured shortlists with entries spanning the Brand Experience & Activation and Creative Effectiveness sub-categories under Experience and Strategy Category respectively
The campaign has been shortlisted in Brand Experience & Activation category
The campaign creatively addressed the issue of ticketless travel by transforming train tickets into lottery tickets
Created in partnership with The Times of India and the Election Commission, the campaign turned voter apathy into visual impact by printing entire newspapers in unused electoral ink
While 13 shortlists have come in the Experience category, 2 have been secured in Strategy, and 1 in Classics Film
Once a stronghold for India at Cannes, the Pharma category has seen a creative dip post-COVID, even as Healthcare continues to thrive. Here's a look at what went wrong…
Last year, on the first day of the global festival, India had settled for four metals
The shortlists have come across categories, including Design, Direct, Entertainment for Music, Entertainment for Sport, Entertainment for Gaming, Film Craft, and Industry Craft
Guest Column: Abhik Santara, Founder, Atom Network, provides a glimpse into his experience at the 2025 Cannes Lions
José Miguel Sokoloff, President-Global Creative Council, MullenLowe Group, & President-Team Unilever, IPG, spoke to Neeta Nair on the future of agencies, creativity & staying relevant
While FCB India claimed gold in the Outdoor category for its "Lucky Yatra" campaign for Indian Railways, Havas India got the second gold Lion in the Print & Publishing category for ‘Ink of Democracy’
From turning train tickets into lottery wins to edible fan signs at cricket matches, Indian agencies delivered powerful storytelling rooted in culture and innovation
The award recognises an individual who has made a significant impact on the creative communications industry and who stands as an influential figure within the global media landscape
Two are for Leo Burnett Mumbai’s campaign ‘Acko Tailor Test’ for Acko Health Insurance, and other 2 shortlists for ‘Peaks of Courage’ for Mountain Dew
Campaigns from agencies like Ogilvy, FCB India, Talented, Tribes Communication, and FCB Kinnect have contributed to the impressive 13-shortlist tally, showcasing clever outdoor execution
Among Indian agencies, Ogilvy stands out with the highest number of shortlists across categories; FCB India, Leo India, Lowe Lintas, and Havas have also made strong contributions
The Cannes Lions Festival 2025 opens today with awards set to be announced in Audio & Radio, Health & Wellness, Outdoor, Pharma, and Print & Publishing categories
Russell Barrett, Chief Creative Experience Officer at TBWA India, has long been an advocate of brand thinking that ventures out of the comfort zone of television commercials
Here’s a list of IMPACT and e4m’s playing XI, the bets that can bring home the Lions
The shortlists have been bagged by Ogilvy's Mumbai and Bengaluru units
The shortlists have come in Sport - Brand Storytelling and Sport - Partnerships with Sports Talent sub-categories
Developed in partnership with The Times of India and the Election Commission of India, ‘Ink of Democracy’ tackled chronic voter apathy head-on
While ‘Oreo History in the Baking’ for Oreo has earned two shortlists, the third one has come for ‘Takeoff Takeover’ for Cathay Pacific Airways
In a separate entry, the campaign ‘Devanagari PIN’ for Axis Bank has earned a shortlist in the Direct Engagement - Social Behaviour sub-category
Both shortlists fall under the Entertainment Lions for Music subcategory within the Entertainment category
The ‘Seven Layers of Truth’ by Famous Innovations, Mumbai, was conceived for the municipal corporation
The campaign ‘Garuda Rakshak’ integrates mythology-inspired storytelling with cutting-edge media formats
BBH India has been shortlisted for the Garnier’s ‘Bassi vs Men’s Facewash’ campaign
The agency has secured the shortlist for ‘The Right Signs’ with Josh in Social & Creator Lions
The shortlist has been obtained in the Sustainability-Focused Design category
The 'Dirty Money campaign, created for Steadfast's Money Counting Machine, puts the spotlight on the metaphorical and literal dirt attached to money
The shortlists have been secured in the main categories - Entertainment, Engagement and Craft
DDB Mudra won the Lions for ‘Great In-Game Wedding’ with Battlegrounds Mobile India
Shantanu Narayen, leading Adobe’s AI vision, has featured on Barron’s World’s Best CEOs and Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year lists
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