In this exclusive op-ed, Aimee Buchanan, WPP Media CEO, ANZ, details the work that stood out to her the most during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026, and her top takeaways. These include why technology is becoming front and centre through creative work, how brands are shifting from reach to active participation, and a look at the brands capitalising on the “inner workings of platform algorithms”.
Last year, I embarked on my maiden voyage to Cannes Lions as a judge.
I completely immersed myself in the judging room and everything that intense experience had to offer.
This year was different. My week was stacked with an agenda that made my eyes water!
I spent my time connecting with global colleagues and clients, attending talks and soaking up the sessions. But through it all, the work remained the main event. I walked away with so many insights and fresh perspectives on where our industry is heading.
Last year, there was an overwhelming feeling that our industry was at an inflection point. It felt like there was a great divide between the giant tech companies, with their massive activations and talent lineups, and the traditional heritage of Cannes Lions, which celebrates the magic of big, creative ideas.
Fast forward twelve months, and there is a real vibe of acceptance now, maybe even an embrace of this shift.
Technology and the big tech giants are no longer on the showy sidelines. They are central to the work. For me, the best ideas this year showed a deep understanding of how data can be an insight, how technology can disrupt the consumer, find the consumer or turn the consumer into the media channel. Cannes will always be the festival of creativity, but this year felt like we finally embraced the role technology plays in unlocking that magic.
My highlight of Cannes will always be the work. While I missed the intensity of the judging room this year, I loved soaking up the work exhibited in the basement of the Palais. It was clear that the themes I saw starting to emerge last year are now well and truly established.
Here are the four key themes that I think are worth noting:
- Cannes is a creative festival, but tech is no longer on the sidelines. It’s front and centre in the work:
The best work brings tech to the forefront, understanding the role it plays in connecting a brand meaningfully with consumers or removing a consumer friction point. A brilliant example of this was True Hockey’s ‘Game on Ball’ campaign. The brand identified that kids are struggling to play street hockey because more people are driving through quiet streets, due to shortcut directions from Waze and Google Maps. To solve this, they integrated into the navigation apps, to temporarily mark active play areas so drivers would avoid them. This campaign showed simple, useful and an incredibly clever use of technology.
- From reach to participation:
There were so many brilliant examples of brands shifting from reach to active participation. One of my favourites was Lay’s ‘The Most Epic Watch Party’. Building on their great work from previous years, Lay’s used WhatsApp to invite anyone holding a bag of Lay’s chips to a super watch party. The chat campaign featured superstars Steve Carell, David Beckham and Lionell Messi. Rather than advertise in the World Cup, they advertised inside the conversation about the World Cup, moving the focus from reach to participation. What I love about this trend is how it adapts an enduring brand platform. We saw this show up beautifully for other major brands this year too, including Dove, Uber and Brazilian e-commerce platform Mercado Livre.
- Mastering the algorithm:
Last year, this theme was starting to show up subtly. This year, it was everywhere. Brands are suddenly capitalising on the inner workings of platform algorithms and making them work in their favour.
A clear example was beauty campaign ‘Lux My Algorithm’ with VML, which enabled users to “cleanse” their algorithm. It was unexpected but beautifully aligned with the brand’s purpose. Similarly, Citroën’s ‘Content Carjacking’ campaign tapped into the trend of content clippers to cleverly insert their own car’s content into popular clipping content. Brands are getting savvy on how to navigate and cleverly manipulate the platform’s technology to engage audiences in unexpected ways.
- Brand truth for brand trust:
We saw this theme come to life last year with the likes of Vaseline Verified and Skoda. This year, Dove mastered it with their ‘r/eal reviews’ campaign with AKQA.
To build trust, Dove tapped into Reddit communities and published their first 50 customer reviews completely unfiltered. These reviews became their actual ad content. By showing the good and the bad, they built trust.
There are a lot of learnings and parallels to other successful Unilever campaigns. The use of the content for ads was what showed up well in the Grand Prix winner for Dove last year, and the deep understanding of community and handing over their brand was the highly successful ingredient in Vaseline Verified. These campaigns really demonstrate that Unilever totally gets the social currency of modern marketing.
As I swap the sweltering heat of the Croisette for the cool winter air of Sydney, I find myself feeling incredibly inspired.
I’m excited about our industry, about the technology that enables our innovation and, most importantly, about the talent who make it all happen. Because behind every impactful, limitless idea is a team of people driven by passion, enabled by technology. A big thank you to everyone who made my Cannes experience such a special one.
