Cannes Lions 2026

Less About AI, More About What We Do With It

Every June, the marketing world packs its linen shirts, expensive sunglasses and LinkedIn buzzwords before descending on the French Riviera for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

For one week, the beaches of Cannes become the centre of the marketing universe.

There are award ceremonies, celebrity speakers, yacht parties that most marketers will only ever see on Instagram, and enough rosé to convince everyone that this is definitely the year they’ll finally sort out their attribution model.

But beneath the glamour, Cannes has always served another purpose.

It tells us where marketing is heading.

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This year, the AI conversation grew up

For the past two years, every conference seemed obsessed with asking whether AI would change marketing.

By Cannes 2026, that question had largely disappeared.

Instead, marketers were asking how to implement AI responsibly, where it genuinely creates value, and how to combine automation with human creativity. AI has rapidly shifted from being the shiny new toy to becoming another tool in the marketing toolkit.

Creators aren’t influencers anymore

Perhaps the biggest shift wasn’t AI at all.

It was the creator economy.

Creators were no longer treated as people brands occasionally pay to hold products awkwardly in front of a camera. Instead, they were recognised as genuine strategic partners, capable of shaping products, building communities and driving commerce. More than 250 creators attended Cannes this year, reflecting just how central creator-led marketing has become.

Effectiveness is fashionable again

Another encouraging trend emerged.

After years of celebrating clever stunts that generated headlines but questionable business results, Cannes appeared to swing back towards rewarding work that could demonstrate measurable effectiveness.

Creativity still matters.

But increasingly, marketers are asking the question every finance director has always asked:

“Did it actually work?”

The MMC view

Strip away the yachts, celebrities and award shows, and Cannes Lions 2026 delivered a surprisingly simple message.

Technology matters.

Creators matter.

But neither replaces good marketing.

The brands that will win over the next decade won’t simply have the best AI tools or the biggest creator budgets. They’ll be the ones that understand people, tell better stories, build genuine communities and prove that creativity can deliver commercial results.

Funny really.

For all the talk of the future, Cannes spent much of this year reminding us of marketing’s oldest lesson:

People still buy from brands they trust.