Stéphane Gaubert led the 2025 Cannes Lions creative judging panel through a week of deliberations that awarded Grand Prix honors across 28 categories, with jury spend and attendance reaching €42 million according to organizer Ascential disclosures. The festival drew 12,400 registered delegates to the Palais, a 7 percent increase over 2024, while jury composition shifted visibly toward independent studios and away from legacy holding-company creative directors.

Gaubert, who runs the Paris-based consultancy StG Creative, chaired a 340-member jury pool that included 18 chief creative officers from agencies inside WPP, Publicis, and Omnicom networks. Grand Prix recognition went to work spanning pharma DTC, automotive launch, and prestige-beauty storytelling, with notable wins for campaigns integrating generative-AI concepting tools in pre-production phases. The festival disclosed that 62 percent of shortlisted entries this year involved some form of machine-assisted ideation, up from 31 percent in 2024. Jury members told trade press they evaluated AI contributions case-by-case, focusing on whether the technology enabled ideas previously unachievable at the approved budget.

The shift matters for three reasons. First, holding companies now face internal pressure to justify sending senior talent to Cannes when the same creative directors can jury remotely and bill client hours during the festival week. One multinational network executive said off the record that the firm is piloting a model where only Grand Prix-winning teams attend the following year, with other jury seats filled by mid-level creatives who have not yet expensed a Cannes trip. Second, the 62 percent AI-assisted figure suggests concepting workflows are bifurcating faster than most CMOs realize. Agencies using Midjourney, Runway, and similar platforms in pitch phases are completing mood boards and animatics in 40 percent less time, which compresses the window for strategic input from client brand teams. Third, the jury's willingness to reward AI-enhanced work reduces the stigma that prevented some agencies from disclosing tool use in case studies submitted before March.

Operators should watch whether Ascential adjusts category definitions for 2026 to formalize AI-tool disclosure, a change the organizer has privately discussed with the 4As and IPA. Expect clarity by October when early-entry deadlines open. Also track whether independent studios that swept multiple Grand Prix this year convert awards into retainer growth with Fortune 500 brands; initial signal will come from new-business announcements between July and September. Holding-company investor-relations teams are already modeling the revenue risk if prestige work continues migrating to boutiques with lower overhead and faster iteration cycles.

Ascential has not yet published the 2026 festival dates, but industry expectation is mid-June with jury selection opening in February.