Here’s a front row seat to what the industry is talking about at Cannes Lions 2026

Campaign Middle East reported live from Cannes Lions 2026, bringing readers key conversations, exclusive interviews and on-the-ground insights from the industry leaders shaping the future of advertising, media and marketing.

Throughout the week, the team spoke to regional and global brand and agency leaders, attended headline sessions, and tracked the trends defining this year’s festival — from the business of creativity and AI to the creator economy and the changing media landscape. Explore all of Campaign Middle East’s coverage from the Croisette below.

Through Day 1 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed:

Dave Dugan, Vice President – Global Ad Sales, Open AI
Ozge Akcizmeci, YouGov
Habiba Allam, Head of Creative, Careem
Mohammed Al Nimer, Chief Commercial Officer, Esports Foundation
Amit Nayak, Managing Director – Middle East and Africa, Bloomberg Media

Setting off the tone for the festival, Dave Dugan, Vice President – Global Ad Sales, Open AI shares how AI is changing the the advertising game when it comes to the thinking and creativity.

YouGov’s Ozge Akcizmeci shares her takeaways including the need for sandwich method of balancing AI and humans from Day One at Cannes Lions 2026.

Habiba Allam, Head of Creative, Careem speaks to Campaign Middle East at Cannes Lions 2026 as the only regional in-house agency that had its work shortlisted at the awards. Allam dives into the details of the campaign that had them up on the walls at the festival.

She also shared her lessons and takeaways from her time inside the jury room as one of the people judging the outdoor category at the festival.

Campaign Middle East also caught up with Mohammed Al Nimer, Chief Commercial Officer, Esports Foundation who shared the importance of centering communications on humans, their passion points and fandoms.

Amit Nayak, Managing Director – Middle East and Africa, Bloomberg Media shares a few top takeaways from initial conversations at Cannes Lions 2026.

Through Day 2 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed:

Adam W
Riccardo Fregoso, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu SEMENAT
Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS
Florian Root, Global Head of Business and Growth

On the second day, the team caught up with comedy content creator Adam W who shared his perspectives on being on the other side of brand partnerships and what really makes a better brand-creator partnership.

Riccardo Fregoso, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu SEMENAT gives his input on the CEER campaign.

One of the key themes of the festival, as Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, points out the need for continued investment in creative marketing. This reflects in the content itself which provides the data to support creativity contribute to the broader growth.

Florian Root, Global Head of Business and Growth, dentsu Lab dives in how to innovate with purpose in a way that solves real problems within society through culture, but also drives brand and business outcomes.

Through Day 3 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed:

Essam Akhonbay, Vice President – Marketing, Saudi Airlines

Andrew Choi, K-Pop singer and songwriter
Rich Ting, Emmy nominated actor/producer
Huda Buhumaid, Group Chief Impact Officer, Dubai Holding
Reem Abdalla, Head of Marketing and Communications
Muhannad Kadi, CMO, King Faisal Specialist Hospital
Passant El Ghannam, Chief Marketing Officer – MENA, Kraft Heinz
Diego Florez, AI Creative Director, Core42, UAE
Asiya Ali, Founder and Managing Director, MKV Digital, and Jury Member at Cannes Lions
Jason Murison, Creative Lead, DAMAC Properties

Taking home two back-to-back wins for their campaign Let It Fly, Saudi Airlines’ Vice President – Marketing Essam Akhonbay, shares takeaways for marketers back in region that move the needle.

Echoing Simon Cook’s sentiment, Huda Buhumaid, Group Chief Impact Officer, Dubai Holding discusses the need for investment in brand, human-led creativity and celebrating simplicity.

The team also caught up with Reem Abdalla, Head of Marketing and Communications at Parkin to discuss the brand’s win for two Silver Lions and a Bronze Lion for its campaign Spots for Shops.

Muhannad Kadi, CMO, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, shared an inspirational message from Cannes Lions as he shares his belief of advertising being able to make an impact on the real world.

Passant El Ghannam, the Chief Marketing Officer – MENA, Kraft Heinz takes business impact where she emphasises on creativity as a force for growth and AI as an accelerator and multiplier.

Taking the AI conversation further, Diego Florez, AI Creative Director, Core42, UAE discusses how artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming the norm in every day work from using it for creative generation to thinking, research and strategy.

Asiya Ali, Founder and Managing Director, MKV Digital, gives insight into the entire jury process, As a jury member of the Social and Creator category, Ali notes the most difficult sub-categories to judge and calls for more entries from the region for the category.

Another jury member, Jason Murison, Creative Lead, DAMAC Properties, part of the Print and Publishing Jury, notes one of the points they taking into acccount while judging the category: Fast and Fresh.

Ending the day with a little bit of fun, the team caught up with one of the singers from the movie Kpop Demon Hunters. Andrew Choi, K-Pop singer and songwriter and Rich Ting, Emmy nominated actor/producer at the at the UK Advertising Association gathering.

Through Day 4 at Cannes Lions, Campaign Middle East interviewed:

Essam Akhonbay, VP – Marketing, Saudia Airlines, and Luc Speisser, Global Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Landor
Ghadeer Khub, Director of Creative, Social & Digital at DCT Abu Dhabi
Nishita Virkar, Acting Strategic Communications Director, DCT Abu Dhabi
Tarek Miknas, CEO, FP7 McCANN MENAT
Ghassan Harfouche, Group CEO, MCN MENAT
Dana Tahir, CEO of HAVAS Red Middle East
Ali Rez, Regional Chief Creative Officer, IMPACT BBDO – MENAP

The team caught up to Saudi Airlines’s Essam Akhonbay, VP – Marketing, Saudia Airlines, once more. This time together with Luc Speisser, Global Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Landor to discuss the agency’s work and the brand’s second winning campaign, The Coolest Ihram.

Circling back to Ghadeer Khub, Director of Creative, Social & Digital at DCT Abu Dhabi, shares a hot take on a hot topic at Cannes Lions where she makes a case for handing over the mic and the creative reigns to creators.

Shifting the conversation to the communications side, Nishita Virkar, Acting Strategic Communications Director, DCT Abu Dhabi, shares the changing roles of Chief Comms Officers – where comms itself is now moving from being a message delivery or a message generation vehicle to becoming part of business decisions which affect reputation management and brand growth.

Back to the award winning campaigns, Tarek Miknas, CEO, FP7 McCANN MENAT, Ghassan Harfouche, Group CEO, MCN MENAT, Ali Rez, Regional Chief Creative Officer, IMPACT BBDO – MENAP and Sylvain Valeix, Global Client President, CARAT weigh in on their award wins at the festival.

Meanwhile, Dana Tahir, CEO of HAVAS Red Middle East took to the stage at Cannes to address the audience asthe First Arab Woman Jury President in Cannes Lions history, and shared how far PR effectiveness has travelled and moved jury deliberations.