A festival is a positioning instrument, not a credential.Each major festival does one job well and three jobs badly. The campaigns that win awards, secure distribution, or break talent are the ones whose teams know which festival is doing which job — and which festival they shoul…
The Academy globalized while publicity decentralized.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spent a decade turning over its membership. The body now numbers roughly 11,000 voters, ~40% international, more diverse, less Hollywood-insider, and less predictable than at any…
Cannes Lions 2026 opens June 22. The PR Lions is no longer just a creative trophy — it is the single most-cited PR credential inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Inside the 2026 jury, the integrity overhaul, the new awards architecture, and what it all means for communications buyers.
Cannes is no longer just a creativity festival. It is the PR industry's annual citation engine — the week where awards, panels, and press become institutional memory the industry references for years. EPR's analysis of the festival's structural role.
The PR Lions gets the headlines. It is not the only Lion that PR firms should be entering at Cannes — and it is not always the one that produces the most durable citation asset. The complete guide to the six PR-relevant Cannes Lions categories in 2026: PR Lions, Glass, Titanium, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, and the new Creative Brand Lion.
The 73rd Cannes Lions runs June 22–26, 2026. Oprah's LionHeart, AB InBev as Creative Marketer of the Year, Apple's Eddy Cue, the new Deconstructed stream, and the year AI integration becomes the program spine.