Creativity has become the defining competitive advantage for brands navigating rapid technological disruption, with the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity concluding that original ideas remain central to business growth even as artificial intelligence reshapes the marketing landscape.
The official Cannes Lions Wrap-Up, produced by the editorial teams of WARC, The Work and Contagious, distilled more than 150 hours of Festival content and found broad optimism that human creativity will continue to distinguish successful brands in the AI era.
“Creativity is not a nice to have. It is the whole point,” Sir John Hegarty said during a session at the Festival’s Debussy Theatre, encapsulating a theme that resonated throughout the event.
The Festival drew around 400 brands, including Unilever, AB InBev, Heineken, P&G and eBay, alongside more than 500 speakers, including Oprah Winfrey, Professor Byron Sharp and Demis Hassabis. It also recognised 640 Lion winners from 47 countries.
According to the wrap-up, marketers are operating in an environment of increasing complexity and scrutiny, making creativity more important than ever for building resilient brands.
“Our industry is constantly shifting, adapting and innovating, and 2026 feels like it will be remembered as a transformative year for many reasons,” said LIONS CEO Simon Cook.
AI meets imagination
Artificial intelligence remained one of the Festival’s dominant topics, but the discussion shifted from last year’s debate over AI versus humanity to a more nuanced conversation about collaboration between technology and human creativity.
Tessa Lyons, Instagram’s Vice President of Product, argued that AI should be viewed as an enabler rather than a replacement for creative thinking. “AI isn’t the end of human creativity – it’s a new chapter. It’s amplifying creativity,” she said.
While many speakers acknowledged AI’s strengths in automation, speed and scale, they also emphasised that it lacks lived experience and emotional depth. As a result, several urged brands to reinforce their human qualities by fostering communities, encouraging participation rather than passive consumption, and embracing imperfection, craftsmanship and authenticity.
Creativity in boardrooms
The Festival also highlighted growing boardroom recognition of creativity as a business driver.
“When you’re trying to pursue creativity as an economic multiplier, partner with a client who believes in that. Then you’ll get there a lot faster,” said Susan Credle, this year’s Lion of St Mark honouree.
Reflecting that shift, Cannes Lions expanded its leadership programmes by launching the inaugural LIONS Global CMO Forum alongside the returning LIONS Global CEO Forum, providing senior executives with dedicated spaces to discuss the relationship between creative marketing and business growth.
The Festival also introduced the Creative Brand Lion, a new award recognising organisations that build systems and cultures enabling consistently high-quality creative marketing.
Global brewer AB InBev won the inaugural Grand Prix in the category and was also named Creative Marketer of the Year for a record third time, reflecting what the Festival described as the company’s sustained commitment to embedding creativity as a business capability.
AB InBev Global Chief Marketing Officer Marcel Marcondes attributed the company’s success to “having a clear, gigantic dream, being very humble to understand the starting point and then getting organised.”
Embracing disruption ahead
The wrap-up concludes that brands must learn to embrace disruption rather than resist it, arguing that new technologies present opportunities alongside challenges.
As Chaka Sobhani, Global Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\Worldwide, put it: “The moment we decide excellence only looks one way, we stop recognising it when it arrives in a different form. Disruption of old orders is key to taste evolving and growing. Every breakthrough feels wrong at first. Every new creative language feels unfamiliar.”
