Sponsored by Cannes Lions • June 15, 2026 •
Ilaria Pasquinelli, Chief Marketing Officer, LIONS
Brands that invest in creative marketing outperform the competition and grow. That is a bold claim, but there is proof to back up these claims.
Global brand consultancy Interbrand analyzed data from 50 businesses that won the most Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity awards from 2020 to 2025 and found a correlation between creativity and growth. The companies, which ranged from automakers like Volkswagen to streaming services like Netflix, had a 2.7% rise in profitability and 4.7% growth in market capitalization in the year following a Cannes Lions award win, according to the study.By outperforming market averages, the brands proved that investing in creative marketing directly translates into improved business performance. But, if that is the case, why is creativity still missing from the boardroom agenda?
For too long, creativity has been an abstract and unquantifiable entity that was easy to undervalue. In addition, businesses are currently facing immense market instability. Delivering growth for shareholders while budgets are under scrutiny is business as usual for CEOs, but creative marketing is rarely a part of their training. Only 37% of Fortune 500 CEOs have some marketing experience, according to a SpencerStuart report.
