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What Cannes Lions agreed on this year

The 73rd festival of creativity took place in June with a quarter fewer entries and, paradoxically, a clearer message. After last year's scandals over falsified case studies the festival tightened its rules, the AI debate matured, and juries applauded systems rather than fireworks.

Daniel Votruba · 6 July 2026 · 3 min read

Smaller, stricter, more credible

The numbers first. Entries fell by 25.5%, from just under 27,000 to 20,050. Creativity is not declining, it is being cleaned up: after last year's affairs involving embellished case studies the festival introduced stricter integrity rules and the bar rose for every entry. For anyone reading the results that is good news. This year's lions are less likely to celebrate a campaign that in reality only ever ran in an agency showreel.

Who took the Grands Prix

  • Film: Anthropic and Mother London for darkly comic Super Bowl films for Claude. The punchline was a commitment not to run ads inside the AI assistant, a direct answer to a competitor's opposite move.
  • Design: the Apple TV rebrand by TBWA\Media Arts Lab. The jury praised its gloriously handmade visual language, craft by hand as a stance in the year of generated visuals.
  • Dan Wieden Titanium: the insurer Suncorp with Haven (Leo Australia). A pivot from settling claims to preventing them, since nine in ten insurance events in Australia involve avoidable damage.
  • Creative Effectiveness: AXA France, Three Words (Publicis Conseil). Three words in the policy terms that help victims of domestic violence.
  • Entertainment for Music: adidas Original Forever with Oasis (Johannes Leonardo), two Grands Prix at a single festival.
  • Also among them KitKat Tracker (Burson, PR), Uber Eats Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial (Special, Media) and Heineken with a WhatsApp bot trading voice notes for beers (LePub, Social & Creator).

AI: the end of hype, the beginning of craft

Last year AI was talked about as a revelation, this year as a tool. According to festival reports the conversation was noticeably less polarised. Winning work reached for AI where it serves: utility, personalisation, production. It also became clear where the limits of sentiment lie. Google DeepMind's investment in the A24 studio provoked loud resistance among creatives. And the most eloquent comment came from no panel at all; it came from the Design jury, which in the year of automated visuals crowned a handmade rebrand. Distinctiveness is becoming a scarce commodity, because what anyone can generate differentiates nobody.

The common denominator: systems, participation, evidence

Four traits recurred across categories. Creative systems: brands with repeatable creative infrastructure (see the Creative Brand Lions for AB InBev) beat one-off executions. Participation: audiences scanned, built and sent voice notes rather than consuming passively. Cultural timing: the strongest work rode real cultural moments, from the return of Oasis to the debate about ads in AI. And effectiveness: juries wanted to see numbers, not just craft.

What to take from it locally

None of this requires a Super Bowl budget. Build a creative platform that can carry three years of executions instead of restarting every year. Attach yourself to cultural moments that are genuinely happening; any national internet generates several a week. Use AI for speed and scale, but keep the brand's signature human and your own. And attach evidence to every campaign: what it was meant to change and what it changed. Sounds like work? It does, because it is. Here is how we approach it, or write to us directly.

Key takeaways (TL;DR)

  • Entries fell by a quarter (20,050): no crisis of creativity, more a clean-up after the falsified case study scandals and the tightening of integrity rules.
  • Grands Prix went to, among others, Anthropic (Film), the handmade Apple TV rebrand (Design), Suncorp Haven (Titanium) and AXA France Three Words (Creative Effectiveness).
  • The AI debate matured: a tool for utility, personalisation and production. But the Design jury crowned craft by hand, because what anyone can generate differentiates nobody.
  • The winners shared four traits: creative systems instead of one-offs, audience participation, cultural timing and documented effectiveness. None of it requires a Super Bowl budget.

FAQ

Who won the main awards at Cannes Lions 2026?

Among the Grand Prix winners: Film for Anthropic (the Claude campaign by Mother London), Design for the Apple TV rebrand (TBWA\Media Arts Lab), Titanium for Suncorp Haven (Leo Australia), Creative Effectiveness for AXA France Three Words (Publicis Conseil), and two Grands Prix for adidas Original Forever with Oasis.

What were the main themes of the 2026 edition?

Creative systems instead of one-off campaigns, audience participation, cultural timing, measurable effectiveness and a more mature AI debate. Symbolically: the Design Grand Prix went to a handmade rebrand in the year of generated visuals.

Sources: Cannes Lions, official results of the 73rd edition (canneslions.com, June 2026) · Creative Review, Cannes Lions 2026: All the Grand Prix Winners · LBBOnline & Contagious, Titanium and Film Lions 2026 round-ups · DesignRush News, 10 Cannes Lions 2026 Grand Prix Winners.