Cannes Lions 2026 Day 3 4 Report!
Hello! This is Kanai from SUNNY SIDE UP’s 8th Division.
Every day, SUNNY SIDE UP’s official blog and official Instagram have been reporting on the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of the world’s largest creativity festivals held in Cannes, southern France. Today, we continue to bring you updates from the event!
Feeling Human Passion Through AI: Introducing Corporate Booths!
Cannes Lions has been buzzing with daily award announcements across various categories and passionate sessions led by top-tier creators. Throughout the festival, various global companies set up special booths on the beach and around the venue to promote their brands on a grand scale. This time, we introduce Amazon’s booth, which drew particularly large crowds on-site.
As “a hub to experience the future of storytelling across the entire Amazon brand,” it was a multifaceted space where visitors could enjoy various Amazon-related services, filled with exciting features everywhere you looked.
From Twitch live-streaming ice cream distribution to Prime Video offering original aroma candles as gifts, there were plenty of delightful souvenirs that thrilled our team members (this is all part of our learning, of course!).
Particularly unique within Amazon’s booth was the AWS (Amazon Web Services) AI experience content called “Rue Visionnaire.” It was a display that visualized visitors’ dream businesses and products through AI agents.
Visitors selected business genres, concepts, atmospheres, brand logos, and more from various options recommended by AI. After completing all selections and scanning the displayed QR code to hand to staff, they could choose from keys, charms, and pouches in various designs.
When you held the key up to the digital signage, the AI actually generated your business vision! It visualized everything including office images and store names, such as “a cafe that heals people with warm vibes” or “a global agency connecting influencers.”
Turning the grand visions you envision or the dreams you vaguely hold into reality through your own power requires enormous energy. What made this display experience unique was the process of “concretizing the vagueness within yourself”—not starting from zero, but having AI present options that allowed you to think, “This might be closer to my image.”
Indeed, many sessions and works on-site raised issues regarding AI utilization as a frequent topic. AI is merely a toolkit to be used toward realizing human creativity. Seeing the faces of participants delighted as their dreams were visualized, I truly felt the “passion for human creativity” that permeates this festival.
Receiving “a key to open the door to your dreams” is quite elegant, isn’t it?
Not only Amazon, but also familiar global giants like Meta and Google exhibited massive booths with their own creative touches. Watching people spontaneously enjoy the content, smile, and become fans of those brands provided us—who organize and manage events ourselves—with truly abundant inspiration and learning!
What Were the Grand Prix Winners in “PR” and “Creative Strategy”?
On days 3 and 4, two categories we particularly focus on—”PR” and “Creative Strategy”—were announced among the numerous categories, so we would like to introduce them.
PR | Grand Prix
THE KITKAT HEIST
Agency: BURSON
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At a tour held the following morning where judges explained the winning works themselves, it was noted that “when brands face a crisis, they typically try to keep it secret or minimize the situation to protect the brand, but this was evaluated for doing the opposite—turning it into a grand incident and converting it into a unique initiative.” By issuing statements like “We have one lead… but since this is an investigation, we cannot share details,” they employed communication that invited laughter and heightened the investigation, generating long-term buzz.
Creative Strategy | Grand Prix
THE PUB THAT REFUSED TO DIE
LEPUB, MILAN, HEINEKEN, 2026
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In Ireland, one pub was closing every three days due to soaring prices and high alcohol taxes. The decline of pubs meant the decline of communities and accelerated depopulation of rural areas. Local residents pooled funds to buy and reopen pubs, but none had any pub management experience. Beer brand Heineken stepped in to help, providing pub operation training courses to residents and documenting the process. With Heineken’s expertise and support, pub operations succeeded, and this reproducible model spread as a sustainable initiative, with pubs being purchased in other villages as well. |
The Creative Strategy category evaluated whether there was “strategic ingenuity that could produce a major turnaround even with limited resources, like applying a judo technique to industry conventions.” It appears the work was recognized for addressing the decline of pubs as a “community (social infrastructure) crisis” and tackling fundamental, sustainable problem-solving. Personally, I thought it was excellent that Heineken—which had a strong image as an imported product and lagging brand penetration compared to competitor Guinness Beer—saved towns while also contributing solidly to brand penetration, not ending as mere lip service.
The next blog will be delivered after we have already returned home! It makes me quite sad to think this festival will end, but I will report thoroughly next time as well, so please be sure to check it out.
That’s all from Cannes, France!
