Creative Circle Full Circle 2026 | When AI panic subsides

Machine_ ECD - Jabulani Sigege, deputy chairperson of the Creative Circle and chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe Africa - Pete Little, Creative Circle chair and Ogilvy JHB chief creative officer - Kabelo Moshapalo, founder and chief creative officer of LoveSong and Open chair co-founder - Suhana Gordhan, partner at Relationship Audits and Management and Cannes trend spotter Ann Nurock, and Accenture Song ECD - Danni Pinch

Nurock was the headline speaker at last week’s Creative Circle Full Circle in Cape Town, held at Ster-Kinekor’s Cine 12 at the V&A Waterfront. It also featured the Radio & Audio, Entertainment Lions for Gaming, and the Glass Lion for Change.

This is the 10th year that Nurock has presented at the event. In her presentation, Nurock points out that out of the 34 Grand Prix awarded, only two were created primarily by AI.

“For the others, creatives used AI to amplify the idea or for visual effects, which is the right way to use it.”

AI and humanity is one of the key trends she spoke about.

The surprise factor

The other key trend she notes is the value of the ‘surprise’ factor.Analysis of 13,000 ads has identified that ‘the element of surprise’ allows brands to stand out, exponentially increasing the chances of success and of reframing perceptions.

She points to The Extraordinary Cost of Dull, a presentation that debuted at Cannes Lions 2024, which identified that if you create dull advertising, it's going to cost you more than triple the amount than it would for creative advertising, because you have to spend more money on media to make it noticed.

Other key trends Nurock spoke about are the Creator Economy and strategies used by the world’s leading brand names to leverage creativity, sustainability and value.

Cultural capital

Machine_ ECD, Jabulani Sigege, served on the Audio & Radio jury this year.

This category not only includes radio but also how sound can be used in different ways, and new things that produce sound to create something new, innovative or that will grab people's attention.

In this category, there were 513 entries, 51 shortlists, and 37 winners, including the Grand Prix.

Sigege says that all the winning work had one thing in common: it tapped into cultural capital defined by a sense of identity, background, heritage, or pop culture.

“That made for so much interesting work because once a brand had done it, you couldn't see it being done by any other brand, because the insight was so strong from that cultural capital.”

This is demonstrated by the Grand Prix winner, Hyundai in Puerto Rico Coquí Alarm’Coquí is an endemic Puerto Rican amphibian of 14 species, three of which are currently endangered. For Puerto Ricans, the call is a melody of identity and pride. But visitors don’t feel the same. In May 2025, a Reddit post from a tourist asking how to kill Coquís for being annoying sparked national outrage.

As a foreign brand, Hyundai decided to remind visitors what Puerto Rican pride sounds like right where they arrive first. Introducing: Coquí Alarm, which turned Hyundai's rental fleet into cultural ambassadors, replacing the factory alarm sound with one that carried a greater purpose: the Coquí frog call!

What started as an instant cultural response turned into a conservation effort through the sound of every alarm, ensuring that every rented car helped the Coquí sing on - a unanimous Grand Prix winner.

Key takeout trends:

• Culture is the edge: In any campaign or brief, once you tap into culture, you create magic. Use what you know, what you've experienced, and what you've lived—that brings a unique perspective to the world.

• Reimagine audio and radio: Don't limit yourself to traditional radio spots. Hack platforms and find different ways of using media that involves sound.

• Traditional radio spots aren't dead: They just need resuscitation. Find a story with great talent and craft it so that it's worth listening to repeatedly.

Cannes Lions

#CreativeCircle | Jabulani Sigege's insights into audio and radio

Jabulani Sigege  27 Jul 2026

”Hate something, change something, make something better”

The Glass Lion exists because the industry needed an award that asked a harder question than 'Is this beautiful?' or 'Did this sell?' It asks," 'Did this work change something real for people who have historically been left out, talked over, or gotten wrong by this industry?"

That question is not decorative—it's the whole point.

Glass Lions jury member and Creative Circle board member, founder and chief creative officer of LoveSong and Open chair co-founder, Suhana Gordhan quotes the words written by a creative legend 22 years ago: “Hate something, change something, make something better”.

“I feel those words are endemic and enduring. They are words we can use to navigate the change we want to see in the world and in our own industry.

“For me, they are a great summation of what Glass: The Lion for Change is all about. Glass is about work that is righting the wrongs in the world,” she says.

However, she says that in the early shortlisting phases, many of the jury members struggled because, as creatives, they usually judge the idea above all else.

“I asked our jury president for guidance, and she gave us a mantra that stayed with me throughout the entire process: ‘It has to be load-bearing creativity.’”

This, she says, means that you cannot hide behind a fancy idea or fluff. The creativity itself has to be integral to driving the change.

“The brands and non-profits winning in this category weren't just dipping their toes into a virtue-signalling pool. They put themselves at the heart of systemic issues, from disenfranchisement to systemic racism.

”Of the only 121 entries in Glass this year globally, only five were awarded. One of these is the Māori Roll Call (Gold Glass Lion – New Zealand / Aotearoa), a campaign lobbying for greater representation for Māori seats in parliament.

Key takeout trends

• "Hate something" is about seeing: It’s about identifying problems in marginalised communities or among groups of people, and seeing if it is right for a brand to own that problem and change it at the heart of the organisation's mission.

• "Change something" is creativity: It’s using craft, innovation, collaboration, and emotion to shift something and get the world to sit up and take notice.

• "Make something better" is impact: Taking something immovable and pushing it forward—taking something stagnant and turning it into a wave of change by altering an established narrative through deep human engagement.

Big business and whimsical nonsense

ECD Accenture Song, Danni Pinch, judged the Entertainment Lions for Gaming. Pinch addressed a common misconception that people in agency boardrooms often refer to gaming as a ‘niche.’

“Gaming is not niche. As an industry, it is six to seven times bigger in revenue than Hollywood. If you combine the entire global music industry and the film industry, gaming is still significantly larger.” In South Africa alone, there are over 24 million digital gamers. Yet there was not a single South African entry, not even on the shortlist.

“That is a massive missed opportunity for our industry because we have the tech, the brands, the game designers, and the creative talent to compete globally here.”

A standout campaign is Kao Silent Cleaning from Japan, which won a Gold Lion. Kao, a 130-year-old household cleaning brand in Japan, faced low brand awareness among young people disengaged from house cleaning. To show them the satisfaction of cleaning, we created Silent Cleaning, a full horror game released on Steam.

Key takeout trends:

• The full spectrum of gaming: Gaming isn't just a 25-year-old guy in an RGB gaming chair playing Call of Duty. It’s mobile, casual, tabletop, AR, and alternative media.

• Respect for the community: Gamers can spot authentic engagement versus a brand leeching off their culture from a mile away.

• Genuine engagement metrics: We scrutinised case study numbers strictly. If a campaign claimed to target gamers but didn't list player/download stats, it was weeded out immediately.

• Is it entertaining?: This falls under the Entertainment Lions, so it had to be fun.

The next Creative Circle Full Circle takes place this Friday, 14 August, in JHB at the Wits Linder Auditorium. The event will feature a lineup of Cannes jurors discussing the Direct, Print & Publishing, Glass Lion for Change and the holy grail, Titanium, categories.
Booking at Webtickets.