Cannes Lions reveals Titanium shortlist

IKEA, Heineken, Columbia and Xbox among 18 contenders

Cannes Lions has unveiled the shortlist for the 2026 Titanium Lions, the festival’s most prestigious award celebrating work that breaks new ground and redefines what creative marketing can be.

Just 18 campaigns made the cut from 137 entries, making Titanium one of the most fiercely contested awards at Cannes.

This year’s shortlist spans everything from second-hand marketplaces and election monitoring networks to insurance platforms, adaptive sportswear and a challenge to Flat Earthers to prove the Earth is flat.

Among the contenders is IKEA Preowned, McCann Spain’s peer-to-peer marketplace that allows consumers to buy and sell second-hand IKEA furniture directly through the brand.

Xbox also makes the shortlist with The Missing Managers, a campaign created with Football Manager and Sky Sports that aimed to help female Football Manager players transition into real-world football coaching opportunities.

Oreo launched an ambitious strategy to elevate dunking to a new level of cultural relevance in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Columbia Sportswear’s Expedition Impossible turned one of the internet’s most enduring conspiracy theories into a global earned media stunt, offering ownership of the company to anyone who could prove the Earth is flat by photographing its edge.

Several shortlisted campaigns blur the line between advertising, product innovation and service design.

Skoda’s Duobell is a bicycle bell designed to cut through noise-cancelling headphones.

ASICS’ The Undropped Kit tackled declining participation in sport among teenage girls through an adaptive sports kit initiative.

Elsewhere, Heineken’s Tocayos transformed a quirk of Spanish pub culture into a business platform, connecting independent bars that share the same name and helping them benefit from collective support and visibility.

The shortlist also features a strong showing for work designed to create tangible social impact.

Vehicle of Hope saw Caritas transform Pope Francis’ former popemobile into a mobile health clinic for children in Gaza, while 600K Network helped citizens monitor and report activity during Venezuela’s presidential election.

Other shortlisted campaigns include SOS POS, which turned retail point-of-sale infrastructure into an emergency support network, and Reverse Media Schedule, a collaboration between Sea Cleaners and JCDecaux that reframed litter collection as a media opportunity for brands.

The full Titanium shortlist is:

Haven (Suncorp Insurance) – Leo, Sydney
The Legacy of Virginia Giuffre (Virginia Giuffre) – Dini Von Mueffling Communications, New York
Birds Never Forget To Fly (PSP) – Playmakers, Tbilisi
The Philipstown Wirecar Grand Prix (The Philipstown Wirecar Foundation) – Accenture Song SA
SOS POS (BCP) – Circus Grey
IKEA Preowned (IKEA) – McCann Spain
The Missing Managers (Xbox) – McCann London
Duobell (Skoda) – AMV BBDO London
Welcome Back, Paisano (Tecate) – LePub Mexico City
The Undropped Kit (ASICS) – GUT Toronto / Ketchum London
Oreo Cows (Oreo) – VML
Vehicle of Hope (Caritas) – Differ Stockholm
The Faroe Islands Space Program (SKF) – Nord DDB
Vaseline Originals (Vaseline) – Ogilvy Singapore
Tocayos (Heineken) – LePub Milan
Expedition Impossible (Columbia Sportswear) – adam&eveDDB London
Reverse Media Schedule (Sea Cleaners & JCDecaux) – Dentsu Creative Aotearoa
600K Network (Comando Con Venezuela) – Rainbow Lobster

A few themes emerge from the shortlist.

Rather than relying on technology alone, many of the selected campaigns create entirely new systems, services and behaviours. IKEA built a marketplace. Heineken built a network. Xbox created a pathway into professional coaching. Columbia built a challenge platform around Flat Earth culture.

The shortlist feels notably focused on utility, participation and real-world impact.