AB InBev Wins Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year for an Unprecedented Third Time
6.5.2026 12:03:00 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
The world’s leading brewer’s approach to creativity as a competitive advantage results in strong performance and increased revenues
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced AB InBev (Brussel:ABI) (BMV:ANB) (JSE:ANH) (NYSE:BUD) as the 2026 Creative Marketer of the Year. The honorary accolade is presented to a marketer that has amassed a body of iconic, Lion-winning work over a sustained period of time. AB InBev’s continued commitment to using creativity as a growth lever across its portfolio resulted in it winning an impressive 37 Lions at last year’s Festival.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506536538/en/
AB InBev is the first company in Cannes Lions’ history to be honoured with the award for a third time. Since 2021 the global brewer has embarked on a journey of inorganic to organic growth, betting on creativity as a key competitive advantage that has contributed to strong performance and increased revenues.
About the honour, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “AB InBev has embedded creativity into how it operates, not just how it leverages marketing, and it is consistently outperforming as a result. By prioritising creativity at a C-suite level and implementing an internal creative effectiveness system, it continues to demonstrate the clear and compelling link between creative excellence and commercial performance. This is a historic win, recognising a company that has made creativity scalable, measurable and sustainable across hundreds of brands globally.”
AB InBev’s published Q1 2026 business results demonstrate strong momentum across its global footprint, achieving all-time high revenues and increased beer volumes. Its focused and consistent consumer-centric strategy builds brands to drive sustainable long-term growth – with 20 “+1 billion-dollar” brands.
About the award, Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing Officer, AB InBev, said: “Creativity is always in service to driving growth. To be named Creative Marketer of the Year for the third time in the last five years reflects our consistent and sustainable approach to building brands people love. It’s also a credit to the amazing teams and agency partners we have around the world that are delivering all-time high revenues. Cheers to everyone that helped make this history-making recognition possible.”
At Cannes Lions the Juries have consistently recognised AB InBev and last year awarded work from 10 countries across a breadth of 15 different Lion Awards. Additionally, the Global Effie Index ranked AB InBev as the World’s Most Effective Marketer for the fourth year in a row, and in the Kantar BrandZ rankings, AB InBev brands lead the world’s most valuable beer brands, taking eight of the top 10 places, with Corona ranked number one for two years in a row.
AB InBev will open the 2026 Cannes Lions programme, delivering a keynote on the Lumière Theatre stage at 10am, Monday 22 June. Following this, it will be honoured as Creative Marketer of the Year at the final Awards Show of the Festival on Friday 26 June.
Cannes Lions will run from 22 to 26 June in Cannes, France. To view the full programme and see the range of Festival passes available, visit www.canneslions.com.
About LIONS
LIONS is the global platform that champions creativity and marketing effectiveness for growth. We help businesses grow through creative marketing that matters.
We know that creativity can and should be applied across the full marketing mix. Creativity is an impactful business driver - and when it's integrated with a culture of effectiveness, it's a competitive advantage.
Backed by over 150 years of experience and evidence, Cannes Lions, WARC, Effie, Contagious and Acuity - provides the global marketing industry with the definitive benchmarks, intelligence, training and tailored advice needed to grow.
LIONS is part of Informa PLC.
About Informa
Informa PLC is a leading international B2B events, digital services and academic research group.
We champion specialists. Through hundreds of market-leading brands, we connect people with knowledge so they can learn more, know more and do more.
We operate in over 30 countries and serve businesses and professionals working in over a dozen specialist markets.
Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506536538/en/
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Elisa Expands PON Deployment with Vecima’s All-PON™ Shelf, Delivering 10G Fiber Services in Estonia6.5.2026 13:30:00 CEST | Press release
Elisa plans to install Vecima’s EXS1610 All-PON shelf across its footprint in Estonia, building on its existing Vecima PON deployment16-port EXS1610 All-PON Shelf supports a variety of PON standards, including GPON, XGS-PON, and 10G-EPON Vecima Networks Inc. (TSX: VCM) announced today that leading telecommunications operator Elisa has deployed Vecima’s Entra EXS1610 All-PON™ Shelf for 10G Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) services for its subscribers in Estonia. In Estonia’s competitive broadband market, Elisa brings highly innovative solutions to its subscribers. Vecima’s EXS1610 supports multiple deployment use cases, including greenfield, targeted brownfields, rural edge-outs, hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) overbuilds, footprint extensions, and hub collapses. Its compact shelf footprint can help reduce operating costs and allow operators to deploy anywhere – for maximum flexibility, including data centers, remote cabinets, the headend, and multi-dwelling units. The Entra EXS1610 All-PON Shelf featu
Vertex Announces CASGEVY® Reimbursement Agreement for the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease and Transfusion-Dependent Beta Thalassemia in Germany6.5.2026 13:01:00 CEST | Press release
-The agreement ensures sustainable access to this innovative therapy for eligible patients ages 12 years and older in Germany- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) announced today that a reimbursement agreement was signed with the GKV-Spitzenverband for its CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited therapy, CASGEVY® (exagamglogene autotemcel). This agreement secures sustainable access to this innovative one-time treatment for eligible patients in Germany ages 12 years and older living with severe sickle cell disease or transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia. “For the first time in Germany, a long-term, sustainable access agreement to a gene therapy has been established for people living with sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia,” said Ludovic Fenaux, Senior Vice President, Vertex International. “This agreement represents significant progress for people living with these two devastating and life-shortening diseases. We are pleased to collaborate across the health c
Suzano Connects an Area the Size of Over 200,000 Soccer Fields Through Ecological Corridors in Just Four Years6.5.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
Initiative integrates fragments of native forests in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and Amazon biomes, stimulating wildlife movement, the expansion of vegetation cover and the restoration of ecosystems Suzano, the world's largest pulp supplier, has connected 214,368 hectares of native forest in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Amazon biomes in Brazil by establishing ecological corridors, restoring an area larger than 200,000 soccer fields within four years. In 2025 alone, 55,366 hectares of native forest were connected, advancing Suzano’s public goal of connecting 500,000 hectares by 2030, as outlined in the Company’s recently published Sustainability Report. The implementation of ecological corridors is guided by decades of research and monitoring by Suzano and its partners. The aim is to connect larger fragments of land that host greater biodiversity, as well as those already monitored by experts, with sites where wildlife is limited or threatened. These corridors are designed to foll
NIQ Launches AI-Powered Platform to Help Brands Test Pricing Decisions Before They Go to Market6.5.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
New AI-enabled solution replaces fragmented tools with simulation-driven pricing and promotion decisions before execution As manufacturers face mounting pressure to protect margins, justify trade spend, and respond faster to shifting consumer demand, NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today announced the commercial launch of Price & Promo Optimizer, a next‑generation, AI‑enabled Revenue Growth Management (RGM) platform built to fundamentally change how pricing and promotion decisions are made. Today, many pricing and promotion decisions are still made across disconnected tools, manual workflows, and siloed teams—slowing execution, increasing risk, and limiting the ability to validate strategies before they reach the market. Price & Promo Optimizer replaces this fragmented approach with a united platform that brings pricing, promotion, and trade strategy into a single workflow. Powered by NIQ’s trusted store‑level measurement data and advanced analytical models,
From Checkout to Check-In: Klarna and Minor Hotels Bring Flexible Payments to Europe6.5.2026 12:56:00 CEST | Press release
Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, and Minor Hotels, one of the world's leading hospitality groups, today announced a new partnership bringing Klarna's payments to travellers booking across Europe, just in time for the summer holiday season. With over 640 hotels, resorts and branded residences in operation and committed development across 63 countries, the group crafts innovative and insightful experiences through its hotel brands including Anantara, Elewana Collection, The Wolseley Hotels, Tivoli, Minor Reserve Collection, NH Collection, nhow, Avani, Colbert Collection, NH, Oaks, and iStay, as well as a diverse portfolio of restaurants and bars, travel experiences, and spa and wellness brands. Guests booking through Minor Hotel can now choose how they pay at checkout, whether that's paying immediately or splitting the cost into three interest-free installments, giving travellers greater financial flexibility when planning their dream trips. The partnership
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom