Cannes Lions: Athletes, algorithms and the ascent of women’s sport
At this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, sport didn’t just show up – it dominated. From athletes turned media moguls to billion-pound plays on women’s leagues, the message was clear: sport is now a strategic asset for marketers hungry for cultural relevance, real life interactions and experiences, and commercial return.
The Sport Beach is now a major hub. Year three of its athlete/brand/marketer collaboration means its reputation is firmly established and the venue and visitors it hosts elevates sport to the top tier of the festival.
Athletes are now media companies
The endorsement era is over. Athletes are now founders, funders and content creators. Serena Williams, announcing a new partnership at the festival with Reckitt to back community-based female entrepreneurs in health and hygiene, said she’s always seen herself as an entrepreneur first: “I did it myself. I worked for myself. I built my own brand.”
The industry is catching up. Lucy Bronze has invested in sport supplements brand Soccer Supplement. Cristiano Ronaldo is streaming the global professional padel tour, Premier Padel, on his own YouTube channel. WWE’s Maxxine Dupri runs a fashion label alongside her wrestling career. These are all athletes who know the strength of their own brand and the value of investing in the right partnerships and collaborations. This is the new template: athlete as brand, platform and business.
Ryan Reynolds’ onstage promotion at Cannes Lions of Wrexham AFC further underscored this. When athletes and owners take creative control, they deliver emotionally potent storytelling that bonds with communities and transcends identity politics. Reynolds has brought star power to lower league football, but he has also brought a vibrancy and commitment that many sports investors can learn from.
This sports evolution was on full display with this year’s Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner in Sport – Clash of Clans’ “Clash from the Past”, featuring Erling Haaland not just as an endorser, but as a creative co-author. It wasn’t a campaign; it was a co-production. And it marked a new standard: athletes as collaborators, not content props.
Women’s sport: on the rise, but under-rewarded?
On the ground, the momentum around women’s sport was undeniable. Advertising spend is up 139%, with revenue breaking the £1bn mark. PepsiCo’s commitment to the UEFA Women’s Champions League and F1 Academy isn’t just sponsorship, it’s strategic, long-term brand-building. And Disney+ streaming the Women’s Champions League is a cultural watershed.
But when it came to awards, the buzz didn’t translate into trophies. In 2024, campaigns tied to women’s sport took home a third of the medals. In 2025? The shortlist barely touched the space. Despite outstanding creative across the domestic leagues, WSL and Champions League, the recognition didn’t match the output. So, what’s the issue – under-submission or under-appreciation? Maybe time will tell; hopefully this year was just a blip, and we’ll see more parity return to the shortlists next year.
Still, the presence was powerful: Williams, Sue Bird, and a packed Sport Beach and Women’s Sports Yacht Club gave women’s sport a platform it has rarely enjoyed. The question now is whether brand commitment and creativity will match the rhetoric.
Live sport is the last cultural superpower
Forget primetime TV – live sport is now social, streamed and shoppable. Live content must flex “from stadium to scroll”. And brands are taking note because fans trust real-time content more than polished ads.
At Cannes, Omnicom Media Group (OMG) announced eight partnerships with media platforms and retail media supporting OMG’s live strategy to build incremental reach through these platforms. The partners include Sky and Disney – so that they now offer programmatic access to live sport inventory exclusively with Omnicom. Amazon is integrating NFL’s Thursday Night Football into its retail engine. And new research from Omnicom Media Group on ‘redefining Live’ shows that Gen Z values live content most when it comes with real-time engagement, not passive viewing. While younger generations may have rejected many traditional media and viewing path, the allure of live action is as potent for this generation as any that’s gone before.
Sport remains one of the few cultural rituals that cuts through the noise. It’s watched, lived and shared. Brands that show up in that space in honest and meaningful ways, as participants not spectators, will earn cultural equity that other areas of marketing often struggle to replicate.
Cannes Lions takeaway
The launch of new Cannes Lions awards categories like Social and Creator and Retail Media signals where things are heading. Creator-led storytelling is no longer a tactic, it’s the strategy. Sport is much more than a sponsorship deal, it’s a stage. And athletes? They’re not just playing the game; they’re rewriting the playbook.
With the UEFA Women’s Euros on the horizon, we can expect to see the alchemy of all these trends and more – as culture, audience and commercial impact come together for one of the foremost women’s sporting events. With sold out stadiums and primetime coverage on BBC and ITV, the brands involved will be building on this across social media and retail media platforms with their connected sport commerce strategies. There will be much to enjoy on and off the pitch.