Cannes Lions 2026: Day 3 Wrap-Up – Creativity to the Rescue

Miles for the Missing by Strava turned the running community into a nation-wide search party for missing children. As a long-distance runner this hit home – it is so simple, so smart. 

Yes, the world is messy right now, but creativity is a 10-letter word for hope.

Karen Howe, President, The Township Group, Creative Director, and Canadian Cannes Lions Advisory Board member 

A Thread of Observations from Day Three

Staying Big Means Staying Nimble

The day began at a villa in the hills north of the Palais, with a breakfast brand discussion hosted by The Gathering and Common Interest. This interactive conversation centered on the Brand Hall of Fame, chosen annually by a Gathering committee, which identifies North American companies that have not only endured but thrived, making a significant mark on their industries. We talked about the need to hang on to what makes a long-standing brand memorable with the nimble actions required to keep up with the times, or as one participant put it, “to flex into the spaces you need to play in.”

Transparency Earns Trust

Alex Weller, VP of creative for Patagonia, spoke to a standing-room-only crowd on maintaining brand values as you grow. The company is known, of course, for living at the intersection of outdoor sports, responsibly-made clothes, and activism. It’s now faced with an increased need for efficiency while staying authentic. 

Its impact is growing, but its mistakes are more amplified. To support the release of its work-in-progress white paper, it started Patagonia Fan Mail on its social-media channels. The short-form videos tackle public criticism head-on by having employees – right up to the CEO – respond to real questions from real customers.

The Future of Creators, Influencers, and AI

The session series, Future Gazers: The Trends Defining the Next 18 Months featured three more industry professionals, who predicted the upcoming trends related to today’s hottest topics: artificial intelligence and the creator/influencer economy. 

Matt Buchanan, Global Chief Social and Influence Officer at Burson, is pleased that earned attention is back, noting that brands should avoid the “conversations everyone else is in” and focus on building a strong reputation across platforms with always-on programming. Shilpa Maniar, Principal of Full Funnel AI Experiences at Amazon Ads, noted that AI is giving humans more down time, which provides space for improved creative judgment at scale. Corey Martin, Professor and Managing Director of Media and Influence at Allison Worldwide, said creators won’t replace influencers because they’re two different things. Creators focus on content, and influencers are curators of community.

Take AI from Novelty to Necessity 

Next up, Novelty to Necessity: Generative Media at Enterprise Scale at Journal House. Othman Bennis, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer for L’Oreal Europe, said companies need to hire critical thinkers who can adapt and learn to work with AI, and that those employees must learn to challenge the tech’s outcomes to avoid mistakes. 

JPMorgan Chase CMO Carla Hassan suggests that firms must be honest and open about jobs, pointing out that middle managers are particularly nervous about job losses. Her suggestion is for everyone to lean in – “it’s a big opportunity” – but that businesses need to support their teams by getting the right tools in employee hands. Oliver Parker, VP of global generative AI GTM at Google Cloud, urged department leaders to communicate their AI requirements to engineers and developers to drive the process, not follow it.

Virality Starts with One Person

Do you know Mel Robbins? The author and host of The Mel Robbins Podcast has very clear ideas on production and distribution. She was full of great tips, perhaps none more sage than her opening salvo: Virality culture starts with one person. How can you, as a creator, be relevant to one other person? What problem are you trying to solve for that one person? If you do that effectively, they’ll recommend you to others, and that’s what leads to “the many.”

Reporting Sean Stanleigh, Director of Globe Content Studio, The Globe and Mail

Making Things That Make Things

“The future isn’t about making more content. It’s about creating systems that continuously learn, adapt and create value.” That was the central message from R/GA’s Cannes session, Making Things That Make Things: A Playbook for the Intelligence Age. 

They challenged leaders to think beyond AI as an efficiency tool and instead view intelligence as a new creative medium. As content creation becomes increasingly automated, the competitive advantage shifts to uniquely human capabilities: imagination, judgment, taste, and the ability to design systems that create value at scale.

Several themes stood out:

• From campaigns to capabilities: The most valuable brands will go beyond marketing campaigns, building AI-powered products, services, and experiences.
• Creativity moves upstream: The role of creatives is evolving from making individual assets to designing the systems, rules, and experiences that AI can bring to life.
• Human judgment becomes the premium: When everyone has access to the same technology, differentiation comes from strategic thinking, curiosity and creative vision.
• Build for learning: Success will come from creating adaptive systems that continuously improve rather than striving for perfect, one-time outputs.
• The industry is entering the Age of AI Building, a moment where ideas are no longer limited by technical barriers. That was the message I kept hearing on day three at Cannes: the future won’t be built by AI alone. It will be shaped by the leaders and brands with the imagination to see what comes next and the ambition to build it.

Reporting Shannon Lewis, President, CMDC, Cannes Lions Advisory Board member

The Belief Gap

The most effective campaigns understand the emotional promises that matter to business buyers, then make the brand easier to trust, recommend and choose. For marketers, the lesson was refreshingly concrete: buyability is built through signals – customer proof, peer validation, category leadership, long-term partnership and a clear sense that “this is built for people like us.”

Reporting Marcin Zerek, Head of Trade Marketing, The Globe and Mail