Voices
Purposeful partnerships
At Creative Equals’ RISE, brand leaders from Guinness, Sure and Tony’s Chocolonely explored how to build growth through partnerships.
The 2026 Creative Equals RISE Trend Report is live
The free-to-download report shares learnings on how inclusion drives growth from brands including Nurofen, Mattel, Tony’s Chocolonely and the Financial Times.
Nicola Kemp
Editorial Director CreativebriefThe Creative Equals RISE Trend Report, the free-to-download round-up of all the insights from the flagship event, has launched.
The report, created by Creativebrief, contains all the insights and learnings from the conference, held at Cannes Lions London HQ. It underlines that inclusive audiences are not niche audiences; they are growth audiences. The report is a must-read for ambitious marketers seeking to harness the growth potential of inclusive marketing.
Introducing the report, Ali Hanan, Founder and CEO of Creative Equals, said: “The smartest CMOs are finding growth where competitors have left the page blank. In our work with Effie UK, 58% of award-winning campaigns had inclusion built into the core strategy.”
What if we stopped guessing what the future holds and started selling to the Britain that already exists?
Ali Hanan, Founder and CEO of Creative Equals
Hanan continued: “Similar patterns have shown up in Cannes Lions effectiveness winners, where inclusion appears repeatedly in the strongest work. Across that body of work, a significant share of campaigns addressed gender equity challenges, from child marriage to domestic violence.”
The Unstereotype Alliance puts the commercial picture in plain figures. Inclusive ads deliver 3.46% higher short-term sales and 16.26% higher long-term sales, while also increasing loyalty by 15% and making consumers 62% more likely to choose the brand first.
“Inclusion works best when it changes the brief itself,” adds Hanan.
In a year where disruption is the norm, inclusive marketing is a proven strategy to drive market share through innovation, deeper reach and cultural resonance.
Ali Hanan, CEO and Founder of Creative Equals
2026 marks a decade since the launch of Creative Equals and the fifth iteration of the RISE Trend Report. Creative Equals set out its mission to fuel progress and opportunity for business and society through inclusive transformation.
RISE is sponsored by Cannes Lions, BBC Studios and Ipsos.
This year’s event set out an ambitious inclusive growth agenda. Speakers underlined the commercial and creative firepower of inclusion with Mattel lifting the lid on the marketing lessons from Autistic Barbie. The Financial Times shared how it is reaching new audiences and Reckitt shared the financial firepower of purpose.
Creator marketing was also top of the agenda, with BBC Studios sharing how it is putting diverse creators in the driving seat of creativity. While Ipsos released new research underlining the enduring power of supporting causes consumers care about.
Creativebrief is proud to be supporting RISE with the free to access RISE Trend report. Please register to receive the report here:
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