Cannes Lions Entertainment Awards: Adidas Takes Home Grand Prix for Oasis ‘Original Forever’ Collaboration
The 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recognized the best creative campaigns across entertainment, design and craft categories. Sports apparel and footwear maker Adidas‘ tie-up with English band Oasis winning the top prize in the Entertainment Lions category.
The festival’s Entertainment Lions award celebrates “creativity that turns branded content into culture.” From 656 total entries, the jury awarded the Grand Prix to Adidas for “Original Forever,” by New York agency Johannes Leonardo and Adidas London.
Per the entry’s description: “Drawing on Adidas’s cultural legacy with Oasis, the brand partnered with the band to create official tour merch and indelible cultural moments to build fandom.” In addition, the Adidas-Oasis partnership won a Grand Prix in the Entertainment Lions for Music category.
Popular on Variety
Adidas said the Oasis collaboration was one factor behind a 12% increase in “lifestyle revenues” for the brand in 2025, alongside double-digit growth for its Originals brand.
“Choosing a Grand Prix was difficult, but in the end one piece of work stood apart because it understood the moment perfectly,” said Chris Beresford-Hill, BBDO Worldwide’s worldwide chief creative officer, who served as the Entertainment Lions jury president. “At a time when so many brands are trying to manufacture relevance, this was a reminder that the most powerful thing a brand can do is show up in the right moment, for the right community, with something worth caring about.”
Other winners announced included:
- Entertainment Lions for Gaming Grand Prix winner: “Copycats Welcome” for Clash Royale, by David, New York. “Targeting the game’s imitators to win loyalty, this boundary-crossing work blends brand film, community activism and interactive gaming experience,”
- Entertainment Lions for Music Grands Prix winners: “Rosalía Ft. Björk, Yves Tumor – Berghain,” for Rosalía, by Canada, Barcelona / Rosalia, Barcelona; and “Original Forever,” for Adidas, by Johannes Leonardo, New York / Adidas, London.
- Entertainment Lions for Sport Grand Prix winner: “The Thousand Sponsors of Muni” for Club Deportivo Municipal, by McCann, Lima. “A sponsorship platform turning football club supporters into sponsors, the work tapped into fan loyalty and created a national conversation.”
- Design Grand Prix winner: “Apple TV Rebrand” for Apple, by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Los Angeles. “The brand design is as cinematic as the shows and films it represents, and the exceptional craft brings the same weight, texture and presence as the content it lives alongside.”
- Digital Craft Grand Prix winner: “Project Genie,” for Google, a “first-of-its-kind application of the Genie 3 model, bridging the gap between DeepMind’s frontier research and a functional consumer interface.”
- Film Craft Grand Prix winner: “Your Way Out” for Coinbase, by Isle of Any, New York, a “film that challenges perceptions about today’s financial system through video game aesthetics and original craft.”
- Industry Craft Grand Prix winner: “Tiny Coffee Shops” for De’longhi, by LOLA, Madrid. “De’Longhi transformed five iconic coffee machines into handcrafted, miniature cafés to change perceptions about drinking coffee at home, deepening brand engagement.”
All of the shortlists and winners from this year’s awards program are available to view on Cannes Lions’ The Work website.
