VidCon Joins LIONS to create premier global platform for the creator economy
VidCon x LIONS Creators unites the world's largest celebration of digital culture with the global benchmark for creative excellence to connect cultural influence with commercial impact
16 September 2026 - LIONS today announced that VidCon, the world's largest celebration of digital culture and its creators, is joining the LIONS family to create VidCon x LIONS Creators—the premier global platform connecting the cultural and commercial forces shaping the creator economy.
Over the last decade, creators have become a critical part of the marketing ecosystem, redefining traditional formats and establishing new cultural touchpoints. For the past three years, LIONS has championed this evolution through LIONS Creators, a programme designed to place creators at the heart of the global creative marketing industry. Now, by bringing VidCon into LIONS, the platform will guide the rapidly growing creator community through its next phase of growth, connecting the ecosystem, and helping brands and creators transform cultural influence into commercial results.
Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “The creator economy has never moved faster or mattered more within the global marketing ecosystem. Creators are increasingly central to how culture is created and how brands connect with audiences. We've seen this evolution firsthand at Cannes Lions through the growth and scale of LIONS Creators, with brands, agencies, media platforms, and creators coming together to build relationships, establish partnerships and do business. The introduction of VidCon is an exciting next step which will allow us to build out a dedicated global platform for an industry that’s rapidly reshaping the marketing landscape.”
Moving from VidCon's prior location in Anaheim, California, the primary home of VidCon x LIONS Creators will be the Insight to Impact Festival, LIONS' North American platform. Insight to Impact debuts in Denver in October 2026 before moving to Nashville in 2027, bringing together Informa’s TMRE: The Market Research Event and Content Marketing World with expertise from across LIONS, including WARC, Contagious and Effie. The platform will connect consumer understanding, marketing effectiveness and creativity for the North American market. VidCon x LIONS Creators will also have a presence at Cannes Lions in June 2027, with further programming details to be announced.
Sarah Tortoreti, VP and Business Lead, VidCon, said: “For 15 years, VidCon has been the heartbeat of the creator community—the place where emerging and established creators, fans, brands, and industry leaders come together to celebrate digital culture in real life. Joining LIONS allows us to amplify that mission on a global scale. By combining VidCon's deep-rooted relationships across the creator economy with LIONS' unparalleled industry authority and global reach, we're creating unprecedented opportunities for creators to build their careers, for brands to forge authentic partnerships, and for the entire ecosystem to shape what's next together.”
Bringing VidCon into the LIONS family is part of a wider move from LIONS to evolve its global model to champion creative marketing effectiveness across North America, APAC and MENA. Home to Cannes Lions, Effie, Contagious and WARC, LIONS has announced a series of regional platforms that will make it more accessible to the worldwide industry year-round.
Further information is available at www.lions.co.
ENDS
Assets:
Logos to be used for your reporting can be found here.
Contacts:
Camilla Lambert
PR Director
LIONS
Camillal@canneslions.com
Tash Naidoo
Senior PR Manager
LIONS
Tashn@canneslions.com
Press Portal:
press.canneslions.com
Notes to editors:
About LIONS
LIONS is the global platform that champions creativity and marketing effectiveness for growth. We help businesses grow through creative marketing that matters
We know that creativity can and should be applied across the full marketing mix. Creativity is an impactful business driver - and when it's integrated with a culture of effectiveness, it's a competitive advantage.
Backed by over 150 years of experience and evidence, Cannes Lions, WARC, Effie, Contagious and Acuity - provides the global marketing industry with the definitive benchmarks, intelligence, training and tailored advice needed to grow.
LIONS is part of Informa PLC.
www.lions.co
About Informa
Informa PLC is a leading international B2B events, digital services and academic research group.
We champion specialists. Through hundreds of market-leading brands, we connect people with knowledge so they can learn more, know more and do more.
We operate in over 30 countries and serve businesses and professionals working in over a dozen specialist markets.
Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.
www.informa.com
Over the last decade, creators have become a critical part of the marketing ecosystem, redefining traditional formats and establishing new cultural touchpoints. For the past three years, LIONS has championed this evolution through LIONS Creators, a programme designed to place creators at the heart of the global creative marketing industry. Now, by bringing VidCon into LIONS, the platform will guide the rapidly growing creator community through its next phase of growth, connecting the ecosystem, and helping brands and creators transform cultural influence into commercial results.
Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “The creator economy has never moved faster or mattered more within the global marketing ecosystem. Creators are increasingly central to how culture is created and how brands connect with audiences. We've seen this evolution firsthand at Cannes Lions through the growth and scale of LIONS Creators, with brands, agencies, media platforms, and creators coming together to build relationships, establish partnerships and do business. The introduction of VidCon is an exciting next step which will allow us to build out a dedicated global platform for an industry that’s rapidly reshaping the marketing landscape.”
Moving from VidCon's prior location in Anaheim, California, the primary home of VidCon x LIONS Creators will be the Insight to Impact Festival, LIONS' North American platform. Insight to Impact debuts in Denver in October 2026 before moving to Nashville in 2027, bringing together Informa’s TMRE: The Market Research Event and Content Marketing World with expertise from across LIONS, including WARC, Contagious and Effie. The platform will connect consumer understanding, marketing effectiveness and creativity for the North American market. VidCon x LIONS Creators will also have a presence at Cannes Lions in June 2027, with further programming details to be announced.
Sarah Tortoreti, VP and Business Lead, VidCon, said: “For 15 years, VidCon has been the heartbeat of the creator community—the place where emerging and established creators, fans, brands, and industry leaders come together to celebrate digital culture in real life. Joining LIONS allows us to amplify that mission on a global scale. By combining VidCon's deep-rooted relationships across the creator economy with LIONS' unparalleled industry authority and global reach, we're creating unprecedented opportunities for creators to build their careers, for brands to forge authentic partnerships, and for the entire ecosystem to shape what's next together.”
Bringing VidCon into the LIONS family is part of a wider move from LIONS to evolve its global model to champion creative marketing effectiveness across North America, APAC and MENA. Home to Cannes Lions, Effie, Contagious and WARC, LIONS has announced a series of regional platforms that will make it more accessible to the worldwide industry year-round.
Further information is available at www.lions.co.
ENDS
Assets:
Logos to be used for your reporting can be found here.
Contacts:
Camilla Lambert
PR Director
LIONS
Camillal@canneslions.com
Tash Naidoo
Senior PR Manager
LIONS
Tashn@canneslions.com
Press Portal:
press.canneslions.com
Notes to editors:
About LIONS
LIONS is the global platform that champions creativity and marketing effectiveness for growth. We help businesses grow through creative marketing that matters
We know that creativity can and should be applied across the full marketing mix. Creativity is an impactful business driver - and when it's integrated with a culture of effectiveness, it's a competitive advantage.
Backed by over 150 years of experience and evidence, Cannes Lions, WARC, Effie, Contagious and Acuity - provides the global marketing industry with the definitive benchmarks, intelligence, training and tailored advice needed to grow.
LIONS is part of Informa PLC.
www.lions.co
About Informa
Informa PLC is a leading international B2B events, digital services and academic research group.
We champion specialists. Through hundreds of market-leading brands, we connect people with knowledge so they can learn more, know more and do more.
We operate in over 30 countries and serve businesses and professionals working in over a dozen specialist markets.
Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.
www.informa.com
