Cannes: By the third morning of Cannes Lions 2026, the central question facing the global marketing industry has become clearer: in a world shaped by AI, creators, algorithms and fandoms, how do brands still earn attention?
The 73rd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, taking place from 22 to 26 June in Cannes, has already moved beyond the familiar language of campaigns and awards. Across the Palais, the beaches, the hotel rooftops and private conversations along the Croisette, the larger debate is about how marketing itself is being rebuilt.
If Day 1 was about the systems behind creative excellence, and Day 2 was about the meeting point of entertainment, craft and culture, Day 3 is about attention. More specifically, it is about who controls discovery, who shapes influence and who gets remembered in an increasingly crowded media environment.
The mood was set by Tuesday night’s winners. Cannes Lions announced awards across the Entertainment Lions, Entertainment Lions for Gaming, Entertainment Lions for Music, Entertainment Lions for Sport, Design, Digital Craft, Film Craft and Industry Craft Lions. The big signal was clear: entertainment, fandom, gaming, music and craft are no longer side conversations in brand building. They are now central to how brands create relevance.
Adidas’ “Original Forever”, by Johannes Leonardo, New York and adidas, London, won two Grands Prix, including in Entertainment Lions and Entertainment Lions for Music. In Gaming, “Copycats Welcome” for Clash Royale by David, New York, won the Grand Prix. In Sport, “The Thousand Sponsors of Muni” for Club Deportivo Municipal by McCann, Lima, was awarded the Grand Prix.
For marketers, these wins point to a larger shift. Brands are no longer only trying to interrupt culture. They are trying to participate in it. The most powerful work is increasingly built around communities, fans, shared rituals and emotional ownership. Whether through music, gaming or sport, the winners suggest that the brands gaining attention are those that understand the behaviour of communities, not just the mechanics of media buying.
That theme carries directly into Wednesday’s programme.
One of the most important conversations of the day is around AI-led discovery. The session “Winning the AI Discovery Era: Marketing To Minds and Machines”, scheduled for 11:30 am at the LinkedIn Rooftop at The Carlton Hotel, frames a major challenge for marketers: audiences are no longer moving through a simple funnel from awareness to traffic to conversion. In an AI-mediated world, discovery is becoming a compressed decision moment shaped by what systems can find, summarise and recommend.
This is especially relevant for marketers, publishers and platforms. For decades, brands competed for visibility in search results, feeds, marketplaces and media placements. Now, they must also consider whether AI systems understand them, represent them accurately and include them in moments that influence consumer choice. Visibility alone may not be enough. Brands will need stronger data foundations, clearer positioning, sharper content architecture and more trusted signals across the digital ecosystem.
AI will remain a major theme through the day. Google DeepMind Co-Founder and CEO Demis Hassabis is scheduled to speak at 2:30 pm in a session titled “The Future of Creativity with Demis Hassabis”. The official programme says the session will explore the fusion of technology and art, including Google DeepMind’s collaborations with artists across film, games and music, and how AI can support authentic storytelling and expand human creative expression.
For Cannes, this is a significant moment. AI is not being discussed only as a production tool or a cost-saving mechanism. It is being positioned as a force that could reshape creative expression, audience discovery and brand experience. The pressure on marketers is to avoid treating AI as a shortcut and instead understand how it changes the full operating model of marketing.
The creator economy is another major force shaping Day 3. LIONS Creators, running from 22 to 26 June at Palais Beach, has placed creators closer to the centre of the festival’s agenda. The shift reflects a wider industry reality: creators are no longer just content amplifiers. They are community owners, cultural translators and commercial partners.
That change is forcing brands to rethink control. Traditional advertising allowed brands to tightly manage message, placement and timing. Creator-led marketing works differently. It depends on trust, tone, relevance and the creator’s relationship with their community. The brands that succeed here are not those that simply rent reach. They are the ones that understand how to collaborate without diluting authenticity.
Wednesday also brings the CMO conversation back into focus. The official programme lists “CMOs in the Spotlight: Heineken, Hinge, Sephora” at 10:30 am, with the session set to examine marketing investment priorities, how CMOs communicate marketing value inside their businesses and how the role itself is changing.
This is one of the defining business questions at Cannes 2026. CMOs are being asked to deliver growth, protect brand trust, adopt AI, manage fragmented media ecosystems, build creator partnerships and prove effectiveness. The role is no longer only about communication. It is increasingly about connecting technology, culture, data and commercial outcomes.
Fandom is also expected to be a key theme. NBCUniversal’s session “From Franchise to Frenzy: The Global Fandom Engine”, scheduled for 3:30 pm at the Debussy Theatre, will examine how franchises are no longer just watched, but worn, shared, memed, debated and lived. The programme frames fandom as a form of global cultural currency that moves across screens, feeds, languages and time zones.
That idea connects strongly with Tuesday’s Entertainment and Sport winners. The most effective brands are not just producing content. They are building worlds people want to enter, share and defend. In an attention economy, fandom may be one of the most durable forms of brand advantage.
The day will end with another major awards ceremony. The Wednesday Awards Show, scheduled from 7 pm to 9 pm at the Lumière Theatre, will honour work across the Creative Data Lions, Social & Creator Lions, Direct Lions, Media Lions, PR Lions and select Special Awards.
That combination of categories is telling. Data, media, PR, direct and creators now sit inside the same story. Each discipline is concerned with how brands reach people, how messages travel, how trust is built and how action is triggered.
As Cannes Lions enters Day 3, the message from the Croisette is clear. The future of marketing will not be shaped by AI alone, or creators alone, or media innovation alone. It will be shaped by the brands that can connect all of these forces into a coherent system.
For MartechAI, that is the real story of Cannes Lions 2026 so far. Creativity is still the industry’s most valuable currency. But in the next era, creativity will need to be discoverable by machines, trusted by people, amplified by communities and strong enough to become culture.