Manifest's third day of the 2026 edition at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity began with breakfast with Dept at the agency's 'Secret Garden'. 

We met with Andrew Dimitriou, partner, global chief client and growth officer, Dept, to speak about the recently launched Studios in India, and what's happening across APAC. The full interview will appear in the July edition of Manifest.

Also during the breakfast, we learned of India's last shortlist - taking the tally up to 24. 

Our next stop was the Carlton, which is hosting Lions Sports. 

The opening session here featured a talk moderated by Kameryn Stanhouse, VP, sports and entertainment partnerships, IBM. She was in conversation with Usama Al-Qassab, marketing and commercial director, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon), and five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova. Sharapova, who spoke at Sport Beach yesterday, chatted about how she now enjoys tournaments such as Wimbledon as a fan, while Al-Qassab stated how the tournament addresses fans as guests. More on this shortly on the website.

Next, at the Debussy Theatre in the Palais, Leandro Barreto, CMO, Unilever, addressed the audience.

He argued that brands grow when they create meaning worth sharing, and not just content worth distributing. Barreto also showcased a few case studies of some of the Unilever’s most successful campaigns including Dove’s Real Beauty, Vaseline’s community hacks, and Hellmann’s X Will Levis. More from his talk shortly on the site.

The notable conversation of the day featured Priyanka Chopra Jonas, actor, producer, and entrepreneur reflecting on a career spanning 26 years, speaking candidly about reinvention, audience relationships, producing films, confidence and balancing ambition with motherhood. 

At Lions Sports, a panel featuring Tanuj Kapilashrami, group chief operating officer, Standard Chartered; Jayathma Wickramanayake, policy advisor – sport partnerships, UN Women; Lisa O’Keefe, secretary general, International Working Group on Women and Sport; Kate Theobald, commercial director, Liverpool FC; and Susie Wolff, managing director, F1 Academy, explored why do awareness campaigns often fail to create lasting change for women and girls in sport. Read more from the talk here. 

 The Rotonde Stage hosted a debate around one of marketing's most enduring questions: should brands build in-house capabilities or rely on agency partners? The speakers of the 'Inside Out: In-house or Agency?' included David Lee, chief brand and creative officer, SquareSpace; and Judy John, global CCO, Edelman. The debate was moderated by Rei Inamoto, founding partner, I&CO. 

From left: Rei Inamoto, Judy John and David Lee

During the session, both the speakers were given three provocations to discuss on and each shared their own perspective on the argument. Click here to read their views. 

Day three ended with no win for India. So the tally stays at five Lions, with Leo India leading the list.

Day three for Manifest ended with a walk down the Croisette with Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani, co-founders, Pro Panja League, who are here in Cannes for the first time. They'll be sharing their experience of being at the festival shortly on Manifest. 

See you all on day four!