The Creative Opportunity: What Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity Can Teach Us About Merch

What if merch was part of the creative idea, not an afterthought?

Cannes Lions Festival of creativity is a benchmark for creative ambition. So, we took some of the ideas that caught attention this year and looked at them through a different lens: what do they tell us about the creative opportunities for merch?

Our recent fireside chat brought together creative, marketing and merchandise experts to explore exactly that.

From Apple TV’s physical approach to its brand identity, to Heinz turning an everyday problem into a useful brand experience, the conversation revealed a bigger opportunity: physical products can do far more than carry a logo.

We explored why real-world craft can cut through in an increasingly AI-driven world, why B2B audiences deserve the same creative ambition as consumers, and how one distinctive physical object can become a story in its own right.

The takeaway? The opportunity isn’t simply to make better merch. It’s to think about merch differently.

Watch the full fireside chat to hear the debate, explore the ideas and discover where the next creative opportunities could be.

WATCH THE FIRESIDE CHAT HERE: