Cannes Lions owner Ascential acquires Warc

Following the acquisition, Ascential intends to combine Warc with The Work, its digital offer for the marketing discipline, to form a new digital subscription service.

The Work will offer Cannes Lions customers access to a database of over 200,000 Lion-winning pieces of creative work and associated data insights.

Warc’s global digital subscription service gives brands, agencies and media platforms access to marketing best practice, evidence and insights. The company also owns the Gunn Report, a ranking of advertising creativity and effectiveness.

The acquisition is expected to complete on 2 July.

Duncan Painter, chief executive of Ascential, said: “Warc is an important step forward as we continue to grow our digital offering, adding breadth and depth to our marketing proposition.”

Philip Thomas, chief executive of Ascential Events and Chairman-elect, Cannes Lions, said: “With Warc sitting alongside Cannes Lions’ The Work, we can now provide measurement and effectiveness insights alongside the best creative thinking in the world.”