Cannes Lions 2026: KitKat's Heist, AI Craft, WPP's Beach Exit

Cannes Lions 2026 has officially kicked off, and the shortlists published ahead of the festival already point to which campaigns will dominate the week.

This year spans 30 categories, with Lions awarded across film, outdoor, social, design, entertainment, and a growing roster of craft and tech subcategories.

Two storylines are pulling focus this year, and together they hint at where the whole industry is headed.

AI is finally proving its worth in creative work, while holding groups pull back from the beach presence that defined them for years.

Three questions are also running through the conversations on the Croisette.

• How is the industry actually using AI in creative work, and does it show in the shortlists?
• Which brands are building the most durable creative systems?
• What does WPP leaving the beach say about where the big holding groups are heading?

All of these questions come down to who adapts to change fastest, and Cannes Lions 2026 is where the sharpest brands and agencies start to pull ahead.

The Campaigns Appearing Everywhere

The shortlists reward campaigns that travel across categories, and this year, three are doing it more than any others.

KitKat's "The Heist" is the most shortlisted campaign of the festival, appearing in Direct, Social, PR, Media, Outdoor, and Design Lions, among others.

Lay's "The Most Epic Watch Party Group" has shortlisted appearances across Direct, Social and Creator, Entertainment, and Media Lions.

Uber Eats' "Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial" appears in Direct, Media, and Entertainment Lions, and ranks among the top contenders for the big prize.

Multi-category appearances have predicted the major wins at past festivals, so these three are worth watching closely.

Meanwhile, LEGO's "Everyone Wants a Piece," the World Cup push with Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, and Vinícius Jr., made the Social and Creator shortlist in Co-Creation.

Columbia Sportswear's "Expedition Impossible," Dove Hair's "R/eal Reviews," and "Could Have Been a Heineken" appear across multiple shortlists, too.

Anthropic's Claude landed on the Film Craft shortlist, one of the few AI companies recognized in a craft category usually dominated by ad agencies.

That Claude made a craft shortlist at all signals that juries are ready to judge AI work on the same terms as everything else, the exact debate driving the week.

This Year's Big AI Question

AI has dominated the Cannes Lions conversation for years, but the question keeps changing.

In 2025, juries asked whether AI had been used at all. In 2026, they're asking whether it changed the outcome.

The new AI Craft subcategory in Film Craft Lions puts this question to the test, asking entries to show how AI made a real difference to the work.

"We're witnessing the industry evolve with data and technology playing a pivotal role in how creativity is used to solve business problems," said Marian Brannelly, LIONS' global director of awards.

"These changes reflect how technology isn’t just supporting creativity, it’s allowing us to conquer new creative frontiers."

A new Creative Brand Lion rewards the systems and platforms behind strong work, and the frontrunners are campaigns with years of creative consistency. 

Across these two new categories, juries are expected to hold AI entries to a higher bar, looking for proof that the technology improved the final work.

The change pushes agencies to stop treating technology as a line in the case-study video and start showing the work that AI made possible.

The Agency Story Off the Beach

The loudest off-festival story this year is WPP pulling back from its traditional Cannes Lions presence.

The beach had been a fixture for years, and WPP walking away generated more talk than anything else the holding group did this week.

PMG, an independent performance marketing agency, took the beach space and filled it with its AI and Tech Sandbox.

Independent agencies have built a stronger Cannes Lions presence for years, and they're more visible than ever in 2026.

The holding groups still hold the Palais and the yacht circuit, and their AI and data products are expected to dominate the panel sessions.

They also still run the rooms where winners get picked, with WPP Media's Sindhuja Rai presiding over Media Lions and BBDO's Chris Beresford-Hill over Entertainment Lions.

Star Power and Big TV Deals

Sports stars, creators, and celebrities are out in force this year, inside the Palais and across the independent events, showing where advertiser budgets are going.

Confirmed athletes include Lando Norris, Naomi Osaka, Draymond Green, and Shaquille O'Neal.

The entertainment side brings Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Eva Longoria, alongside creators like Alex Cooper, David Dobrik, and Keith Lee.

The Social and Creator Lions shortlist spans 159 entries across 21 subcategories, with the U.S. leading at 46, followed by the U.K., Brazil, and France.

The Entertainment Lions shortlist confirms talent partnerships have become a primary creative engine.

Lay's "The Most Epic Watch Party," Apple's Bad Bunny halftime campaign, and Adidas' "Original Forever" are all shortlisted in Partnerships with Talent.

TV consolidation will drive a lot of conversation, too.

With the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery deal still pending, agency executives are working through what a combined ad offering looks like.

Fox's agreement to acquire Roku raises a louder question about whether a broadcaster owning a major CTV system changes how ad inventory gets sold.

For brands and agencies following the week's events, a few things are worth keeping in mind as the Lions are awarded:

• Watch if KitKat wins a Grand Prix: The result tells agencies whether spreading one idea across categories is still worth the budget.
• Track how juries handle the AI Craft subcategory: Their decisions will set how brands and agencies brief AI work for the next year.
• The Creative Brand Lion is the new category to understand: The winner becomes the example agencies cite when pitching long-term work to clients.

The Grand Prix announcements come Friday and Saturday, and the three races above are where the real answers show up.

Our Take: What Will Define Cannes Lions 2026?

The story everyone will tell about Cannes 2026 is the AI one, but that's not the most important result.

We think the festival will be defined by KitKat's "The Heist" and whether it converts six shortlists into a Grand Prix.

A win confirms that one sharp idea stretched across every category still beats a clever piece of tech, and agencies will keep briefing for reach.

A loss signals that flooding every channel no longer impresses juries, and chasing shortlists across the board stops being worth the spend.

The AI Craft category is the headline, but it's still just a testing tool, while "The Heist" is challenging the creative thinking that the industry actually sells.

The winners this week will be the brands and agencies that still know the difference between a campaign people remember and a demo that people applaud.

The teams coming out of Cannes need partners who can build work that holds up across categories, channels, and campaign cycles.

Explore these top creative agencies in our directory.