1954

1984

The French city of Cannes in the South of France became its permanent home.

1987

The Frenchman Roger Hatchuel, a former member of SAWA, started managing the Festival.

1990

Up until the first Gulf War in 1990, the worldwide advertising industry was prosperous. This is probably why the Festival maintained its original format of a film-only competition. In response to the advertising crisis at the time of the first Gulf War, the Festival added value to the event by complementing the showcase of all Film entries with a developing programme of high-profile seminars organised by some of the biggest names in the industry making Cannes Lions a unique learning experience.

1992

The International Advertising Film Festival became known as the International Advertising Festival. This change came about as the organisers broadened the event to reflect the multi-media approach of advertising campaigns, which incorporated both audio-visual and printed media. The Press & Outdoor Lions competition was therefore added. In the same year, the Young Creative Registration Package was introduced.

1998

Online communications (websites, interactive campaigns and online advertising) were added to the event and the Cyber Lions were born.

2002

The Direct Lions competition was added to honour creative direct marketing solutions.

2003

The Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy was introduced, aimed at providing one-week training and education to the best students who already study advertising, marketing, communications and design - an investment by Cannes Lions in the future of the industry.

2004

2005

Two new competitions were added: Radio Lions, aiming to raise the profile of radio creativity and Titanium Lions, honouring campaigns which achieve creative excellence across a range of communications and media channels, celebrating communication with risk and innovation. An idea so unique, new and pure that it cannot be labelled in a conventional way.

In the same year two new awards were introduced: Direct Agency of the Year and Interactive Agency of the Year. These new awards honour the top scoring agencies in the Direct and Cyber Lions competitions.

2006

2007

As the Festival continues to evolve to reflect what is happening in the advertising industry, further changes and additions have been introduced in 2007: The Content Showcase a dedicated exhibition area where content creators and providers across all media platforms can display their products and capabilities. A series of content-related Content Showcase Workshops complement the stands providing further information and education.

Titanium Lions has further evolved into Titanium and Integrated Lions, allowing the jury to award Integrated Lions to the best integrated campaigns using three or more different media, as well as awarding the most sought after Titanium Lion honouring breakthrough ideas.

Network of the Year will honour the most awarded network worldwide by assessing their agencies' success across all categories.

To complement the existing Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy, a Student Delegate Registration Package has been introduced enabling business colleges and universities to send their marketing, communications and advertising students to take advantage of the many opportunities the Festival has to offer.

2008

The biggest Festival to date counted more than 10,000 delegates from 85 countries and offered a record number of exhibitions, seminars, workshops and newly introduced master classes - an initiative that saw leading industry figures address Young Lions and Student delegates in intimate one-hour sessions at the Young Lions Zone.

A new competition for Design Lions was set up to celebrate the creative use of design to influence consumers and aid the communication of brand and product messages. The brand-new entry section was such a success that Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions were awarded.

Changes to Film Lions were introduced to include categories for films created for transmission on screens other than TV and cinema, such as the internet or mobile phones. Also, as a result of the success of the Promo Lions competition, Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies were awarded from this year.

Added to the existing Print, Cyber and Film Young Lions competitions was the Young Lions Media Competition to develop an innovative media strategy within a set budget.

2009

The PR Lions category was launched to honour the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust between individuals, business or organisations and their publics. Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions were awarded in the Integrated category instead of a single Integrated Lion.

Changes were introduced to the Media Lions section, including a category revision and a restructuring of judging and credits. Amendments were made to the entry submissions and voting criteria of the Direct and Promo categories to place more emphasis on the results of the entry. New, digitally focused categories were introduced into the Outdoor, Design, Direct, Media and Promo Lions.

Seminars and workshops saw top international keynote speakers including Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter; Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft; Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN; writer, director, actor and producer Spike Lee; and Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google.

2010