Strategic communications group Aeorema Communications plc has announced its brand experience agency, Cheerful Twentyfirst has secured a record level of contracted Cannes Lions-related revenue for 2026, with the agency set to deliver 17 activations across Cannes Lions week.
The agency returns to Cannes as brand experience partner for a number of major multi-million-pound activations, including SPORT BEACH for the fourth consecutive year, alongside recurring events for publisher The Wall Street Journal, and other global SaaS platforms.
Cheerful Twentyfirst said 92% of its Cannes projects were returning year-on-year, alongside an additional five new activations in 2026. As the Group continues to transition from transactional project execution to multi-year, strategic partnerships, repeat business is creating greater revenue visibility, they say, reducing seasonality and opening broader opportunities across complementary global events.
The Group’s expansion into POSSIBLE and SXSW Austin earlier this year was driven by existing Cannes client relationships, demonstrating the increasing opportunity to extend client partnerships beyond a single event.
Andrew Harvey, managing director of Cheerful Twentyfirst commented: “This year is our biggest Cannes yet, and our newer client wins are further evidence that a boutique AIM-listed micro-cap company can legitimately win against multi-billion-dollar network agencies. I’m incredibly proud of the operational scale and expertise of the Cheerful Twentyfirst team which continues to compete at the highest level and deliver world-class experiences in an event landscape we know so well.
“Our expansion into POSSIBLE and SXSW Austin earlier in the year came through relationships built in Cannes, demonstrating the strength of those partnerships and the opportunity to grow alongside clients across multiple international events.”
Steve Quah, CEO of Aeorema Communications plc, said: “We are no longer simply competing for individual creative briefs, but increasingly securing repeat and multi-year work from the world’s largest brands and marketing networks.”
“With the Group’s financial year now running January to December, this record-breaking Cannes portfolio falls squarely into the first half of the current financial year. This concentrated volume of high-margin, contracted business provides excellent revenue certainty for the interim results, while establishing a confident trajectory for the second half of the year,” Quah added.
