Creative Brand Lions

For 70 years, Cannes Lions has celebrated the breakthrough campaigns that capture hearts, inspire action and drive demand for brands worldwide. In 2026, the Creative Brand Lion recognises what makes those ideas possible.

The best brands know that success doesn't come by accident – it’s built by design. Those winning market share and customer loyalty aren’t just getting lucky with great campaigns, they’re building the conditions that make success inevitable. They invest in the infrastructure that turns creative potential into lasting value. The systems. The culture. The leadership. The foundations that allow a spark of inspiration to transform into sustained competitive advantage.

The Creative Brand Lion recognises this shift. It celebrates the creative engine, not the creative output. By measuring capability over campaigns, infrastructure over executions, the Creative Brand Lion redefines what success looks like in our industry.

This award expands beyond individual projects or one-off campaigns to recognise the fundamentals that make continuous creative excellence not just possible, but inevitable.

This Lion recognises brands that demonstrate exceptional internal creative capability building through organizational transformation and strategic investment in creative infrastructure. Instead of judging individual campaigns, this award celebrates the creative capabilities and strategic approaches that deliver measurable business growth and long-term brand value.

The work should demonstrate how brands strategically use creativity across their organisation to achieve measurable business growth, clear ROI, meaningful audience engagement and long-term brand value.

All relevant strategic or implementation partners (e.g. agency, consultancy, technology partner) should be credited, but the focus must remain on the brand’s internal capability development.

A number of criteria will be considered during judging and weighted as follows: 25% creative innovation & originality; 25% strategic alignment; 25% scalability & sustainability; 25% commercial effectiveness.

This Lion is for brands to demonstrate their internal creative capability building. Entries must showcase the brand’s organisational transformation and strategic approach to creative infrastructure.

All relevant strategic or implementation partners should be credited with specific role descriptions (e.g. agency, consultancy, technology partner), but the focus must remain on the brand’s internal capability development.

Timeline requirements Projects must demonstrate at least 12 months of implementation to show systematic impact, with evidence of ongoing activity within the current eligibility period. (06 Feb 2025 - 09 April 2026)

Brands may submit the same project across multiple categories, provided that each entry is specifically tailored to demonstrate the relevance to that particular category.

However, work submitted to the Creative Brand Lion is not eligible for submission to any other Lions.

To enter, you’ll need to complete an online entry form, which can be found on the Cannes Lions entry site. In the ‘Written Explanation’ section, you’ll be asked to provide the Jury with everything they need to know about your work.

You'll be required provide proof of impact, supported by verifiable evidence, this information will not be shared with the Jury, but will be used to verify claims made in your entry materials. You'll also be required to provide details of a senior executive from both the brand and the entrant company (CEO, CMO or equivalent) who can formally approve the submission.

Optional supporting materials to provide additional context with your entry can also be uploaded.

Subtitles are highly recommended on all case films, films, demo films and original content.

Detailed information outlining the entry process can be found on our Guide to the Cannes Lions Awards.

More information on the rules for entry can be found on the Summary of Key Rules for Entering and the handbook for our new Integrity Standards can be found on the Integrity Standards.

The Creative Brand Lion is the first award to recognise companies that build internal creative capabilities – focusing on how something was built rather than what was made.

The Jury will be looking for the strategic use of creativity to improve an organisation’s systems, culture and capabilities.

• A strong insight, impressive execution and real results that link back to the objective
• Considered strategy, thoughtfully designed at every touchpoint

• Determine the most impressive part of your campaign and find a category that showcases it
• Provide tangible results that demonstrate impact
• Remember the Jury are from all over the world, so provide context throughout your entry to ensure they understand the significance of your results and the relevance of your insight
• The Jury look at hundreds of pieces of work, use storytelling in the strategic paper to help your work stand out