Why Creators Should Attend Cannes Lions 2025: Inside the LIONS Creators Program
Cannes Lions
Over the past few years, creators have become a growing presence at major conferences and award shows. From CES and SXSW to the Shorty Awards and the Webby Awards, more and more events are adding dedicated tracks and categories to reflect the influence, credibility, and business-driving creativity that creators bring. Cannes Lions is no exception.
In 2024, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity debuted LIONS Creators, a dedicated program built to reflect the rising role of creators in today’s marketing landscape. As the initiative heads into its second year (June 16 to 20, 2025), it’s returning bigger.
Ahead of the event next month, I chatted with Marian Brannelly, Global Director of Awards at Cannes Lions, to discuss how LIONS Creators came to be, why creators should attend and submit their work, and more.
Creators Aren’t Just Amplifiers, They’re Originators
The inclusion of creators at Cannes Lions isn’t just symbolic. It reflects their growing influence on creativity, marketing, and commercial impact.
“Creators aren't just amplifiers, they're the originators. That's where the ideas are coming from. They’re not just creating really interesting pieces of work, but they're driving commercial results and they're redefining what creative collaboration looks like,” Brannelly told me.
While Cannes Lions introduced the Social & Influencer Lions back in 2018 (now known as Social & Creator Lions), the launch of LIONS Creators marks a more intentional evolution, one driven by rising demand from creators and their industry partners alike.
“We were seeing it come through in our awards and stages and more and more creators and the big talent agencies coming to us, being like there isn't a space for creators at Lions…this is what's next for this industry and it's not reflected in the show.”
With LIONS Creators, creators are being welcomed into the heart of the festival in a meaningful and lasting way.
Side by Side with Traditional
LIONS Creators
Importantly, LIONS Creators isn’t a side stage. It’s woven into the fabric of the festival. From speaking slots to award categories, creators are being treated with the same respect and seriousness as advertisers and agencies.
“The Film Lion was introduced 72 years ago and that's still going strong. But the Social & Creator Lions is one of our relatively newer Lions and there’s the same amount of entries in that. It really goes to show the scale of both of these areas. Traditional is still going to be amazing. But there are a lot of these new exciting spaces that we wanted to create opportunities for.”
That mindset extends to the programming itself. While there are big names for the Creator Pass like Amelia Dimoldenberg, Kai Cenant, Keith Lee, and Colin & Samir, they will be experienced across the festival, according to Brannelly.
“They’re on the big stages. So we're really doing a mix of both creating a dedicated space for creators and brands to connect and have honest conversations, but also bringing creators to the main stages and actually getting the masses to learn from this, and also trying to bring in from different audiences and different parts of the world.”
Why Creators Should Attend and Submit
For creators (and talent managers and reps), Cannes Lions brings learning, connection, and validation. Last year’s festival drew more than 500 global brands, opening the door to opportunities that can be hard to come by elsewhere.
“You could be a macro creator and working with CMOs and get in there and have those high-level strategic conversations, or you could be an up-and-coming creator and you're looking at how to scale your business from being a micro creator,” said Brannelly.
Cannes Lions also offers a front-row seat to the latest in marketing trends, tech innovation, consumer trends, and creative strategy from around the world. That could be very appealing for creators, as many conferences focus on what is happening locally, whereas with creators, brand marketers, agency reps, and more all coming to Cannes Lions, the festival becomes a unique opportunity to be the global meeting place for the creator economy.
Submitting work for an award, Brannelly adds, is a unique chance to get in front of some of the most powerful decision-makers in marketing.
“So as a creator, you're getting your work seen by some of the biggest CMOs in the world. So when they're in the room, they're looking at your work and saying, Oh, this is good. I really like that. And I think that in this, that's the first step of just having that visibility and getting it seen where you might not ever have the opportunity to get in front of a certain person.”
The impact of winning an award, too, can be significant for validation. Brannelly pointed to last year, when two interns at a creative agency pitched an idea in their second week of working and went on to win a Gold Lion in Audio & Radio. That launched them to work at two of the biggest agencies in New York and Toronto.
That independent validation of winning an award judged by experts and leaders, and the overall stamp of approval, can be powerful for creators, because it's experts and leaders saying “I really like what this person is doing. And I think what they're doing is really unique. It's original, it's pushing boundaries, it's not been done before,” Brannelly explains.
“What we're trying to do specifically from the awards perspective is we really want to signal to the industry that creator-led work is serious, it's strategic, it's impactful, and actually it does brilliant work for brands,” Brannelly says when it comes to the inclusion of creators in awards.
Making the Festival More Accessible
LIONS Creators
It would be naive to mention Cannes Lions without addressing the cost for a creator to attend, from travel to lodging to the festival ticket itself. When it comes to access, there are a few different ways Cannes is addressing this, including the Creator Pass, which is offered at a reduced cost, and the ERA Pass (Equity, Representation and Accessibility Programme), which provides free passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities. There’s also a Creator Fund by Billion Dollar Boy.
Brannelly also points out how some creators are making their way through brand and agency partners, which is likely the best way for creators to front or reduce their costs across the board. I personally think this will become a bigger piece of the puzzle as creator-first brands see an opportunity to bring their creator partners to the event.
Success and the Future
The second year of LIONS Creators is poised to be a big one. When it comes to measuring success, Brannelly says its attendees are leaving with more than what they expected. That can be a connection to knowledge. For creators, it could be as simple as meeting three brands, doing that, plus more. On the awards front, she hopes to see more creator-led work being recognized with awards.
And going forward, the vision for Cannes Lions is to continue to embed creators across content and programming, and reflect where the industry is going. She doesn’t just see creators as attendees, but more as speakers, judges, and award winners. That’s something that we all can get behind.
For more on LIONS Creators and Cannes Lions, head here.
