Glass Lion for Change, Media and Creative Strategy
Dove “Real beauty” by Ogilvy UK
Ogilvy UK won two Grands Prix at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: in the Glass: The Lion for Change category; and for Media and Creative Strategy.
The awards were given for the agency’s long-running campaign for Dove, entitled “Real beauty”, which aims to challenge the way women view beauty. It launched in 2004, after research found that just 2% of women saw themselves as beautiful, leading to “Campaign for real beauty”, which featured a range of women in underwear.
Grand Prix for Good
New Zealand Herpes Foundation “The best place in the world to have herpes” by Motion Sickness
Auckland creative agency Motion Sickness, video production company Finch Sydney, and the New Zealand Herpes Foundation landed the Grand Prix in the Glass Lion for Good category.
The Lion was awarded for “The best place in the world to have herpes”, which also picked up gold in the Health and Wellness Lions.
The campaign aims to destigmatise herpes in New Zealand by talking more openly about the subject. It is made up of a 90-second spot which uses dry humour and features former rugby union coach Sir Graham Henry as a spokesperson. Henry highlights that New Zealand has lost its purpose, so he challenges people to make New Zealand the “best place in the world to have herpes”.
Dan Wieden Titanium Lion, Direct and Creative Business Transformation
Axa “Three words” by Publicis Conseil
Publicis Conseil in France received Grands Prix in the Dan Wieden Titanium Lion, Direct, and Creative Business Transformation categories for its domestic violence campaign for Axa insurance.
The campaign highlights Axa’s inclusion of domestic violence as a risk within its home insurance policies so that women are covered for relocation in the event of this type of emergency. Wavemaker Paris oversaw media.
Film Lions
Channel 4 and L’Oréal Paris each received a Film Lions Grand Prix this year, the former for “Considering what?” launched as part of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, and the latter for “The final copy of Ilon Specht.”
The 18-minute L’Oréal Paris film by McCann Paris followed the legacy of Ilon Specht, the woman who created the tagline “Because I’m worth it”. Specht was an advertising assistant working for McCann Erickson when she came up with the line, at a time where women’s beauty advertising was predominantly created through a male lens.
The Channel 4 campaign, made by 4Creative, included a 140-second film that brought three forces to life: gravity, friction and time. It explored how these forces do not care whether someone is disabled and encouraged the world to praise athletes for their performances at the Paralympic Games, without any caveats.
Audio and Radio
Budweiser “One second ads” by Africa Creative DDB
Creative agency Africa Creative DDB, São Paulo, took home the Audio and Radio Grand Prix for “One second ads” for Budweiser.
Playing on audiences’ lack of attention to online ads and their tendency to skip after just one second, creative used second-long excerpts of popular songs to create a “guess that track” competition linked to Budweiser. Rather than skipping the ads, people replayed them over and over.
PR
Indian Railways “Lucky Yatra” by FCB India
Mumbai advertising agency FCB India was presented with the PR Grand Prix for the “Lucky Yatra” campaign for Indian Railways.
The work centred on combatting ticket fare evasion, and featured train tickets turned into lottery tickets. It also received a gold and silver Lion.
Brand Experience and Activation, and Design and Digital Craft
Chicago Hearing Society and Rakish Entertainment “Caption with intention” FCB Chicago
FCB Chicago, Chicago Hearing Society, and Rakish Entertainment received the Grand Prix in the Brand Experience and Activation category at this year’s festival, as well as the Design and Digital Craft category.
“Caption with intention”, in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, reimagines closed captioning by emphasising that it has remained largely unchanged since the 1970s.
The two-minute film uses animation, colour and variable typography to showcase dialogue alongside emotional subtitles, such as tone, pacing and speakers’ identities. It is overlaid with clips from films such as Toy Story, Forrest Gump and Avatar, and highlights several of the issues deaf or hearing-impaired viewers could experience.
Creative Commerce
Ziploc “Preserved promos” by VML New York
This campaign tapped into the growing costs of groceries by asking people to upload expired coupons. The brand then matched the promotion when the item was bought alongside a Ziploc product.
Jury president Gabriel Schmitt, global chief creative officer at Grey, said: “It doesn’t get more commerce than this. I can’t think of any other brand that would do this idea at a massive scale.”
Creative Effectiveness
Apple “Shot on iPhone” by TBWA\Media Arts Lab
This work made use of images and videos that iPhone users had taken on their phones.
The Creative Effectiveness Lions jury president Andre Diquez, global chief executive of Gut Global, said: “When a client commits to a long-term campaign and platform that is highly creative, that uses user-generated content, that has the product and the technology … it’s [a] breakthrough, it’s relevant globally and locally. It’s just magic and it works.”
Entertainment – Gaming
Hyundai “Night fishing” by Innocean Seoul
Hyundai won the Entertainment Lions Grand Prix for its film promoting its Ioniq car. “Night fishing”, by Innocean Seoul, used cameras on the car to film the ad, and jury president David Rolfe, global head of production at WPP, called it “an extraordinary fictional film”.
Hyundai described the 10-minute film (teaser above), directed by Moon Byounggon, as a “humanistic thriller” involving a spy, played by actor Son Sukku, and an unidentified individual at an EV charging station. It was screened across 15 cinemas in South Korea with a ticket price of 1000 won (54p).
Entertainment Lion – Music
Independent music label Rimas Music’s “Tracking bad bunny” by DDB Latina Puerto Rico was awarded the Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix.
Jury president Seiya Matsumiya, chief executive and co-founder of Black Cat White Cat Music, said: “It was heavily contested. We had a long, long argument about it, but then [there were] a couple of comments made by the minority in the room who supported this work to say that it brought pride back, not only to Puerto Ricans, but to Latin Americans as a whole. And that’s what changed everything. It’s unique. It has a huge cultural impact. It pushes boundaries, and it’s a statement.”
Entertainment Lion – Gaming
Mercado Livre “Call of discounts” by GUT Sao Paulo
“Call of discounts” scooped the Entertainment Lions for Gaming Grand Prix.
Jury president Sue Anderson, vice-president, creative at Roblox, said “It’s the whole package. You could not have done that anywhere else, and it took somebody to really know that mode of Call of Duty, the amount of homework that was done in what the props could be, matching those to a brand. It just feels like it’s kind of classic.”
Entertainment – Sport
Clash of Clans ‘Haaland payback time” by David New York
Norwegian Manchester City forward Erling Haaland was immortalised as a character in the popular Clash of Clans mobile game, owned by Supercell, for this campaign.
The film opened with a newspaper floating into the game picturing Haaland next to the headline, “World’s greatest attacker,” as the game’s characters need help and embark on a mission to bring Haaland into the animated game by heading into the real world. The video features both animation and live action.
Jimmy Smith, chairman, chief executive and chief creative officer at Amusement Park Entertainment, and president of the jury, said: “The fan engagement had to have made its competitors cry, as the number of downloads was well into the double-digit millions. ‘Payback Time’ effortlessly pulled all of the right levers of gaming, sport, celebrity and entertainment. So effortlessly, in fact, there was no Clash of Jurors. The Jury chose Clash of Clans’s ‘Payback Time’ for the Cannes Lions Grand Prix on the very first vote!”
Film Craft
Telstra “Telstra – Better on a better network” by Bear Meets Eagle On Fire and +61
Australian telecommunications company Telstra and its agencies Bear Meets Eagle On Fire and +61 landed a Grand Prix in Film Craft for its “Better network” ad in the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025.
The work – which Campaign highlighted as one of its Cannes Contenders – is a series of 26 ads directed by Jeff Low through Revolver for Biscuit Filmworks. They showcase a variety of Australian wildlife brought to life via stop-motion.
Industry Craft
Idomed “Nigrum corpus” by Artplan Sao Paulo
Idomed and Artplan Sao Paulo were awarded a Grand Prix in the Industry Craft category for “Nigrum corpus” – a medical book highlighting racism in medicine. The brand based the work on research that found that in Brazil, black patients are “six times more likely to suffer medical errors”, with their appointments being shorter and their pain ignored.
Innovation
Spotify and the Museum for the United Nations “Sounds right” by AKQA Copenhagen
This initiative by the Museum for the United Nations – UN Live in partnership with Spotify, rebranded “Nature” as a music artist, recording natural sounds and letting other artists use it in their music. By crediting “Nature”, it collects funds through royalties which are then used for nature conservation.
Luxury and Lifestyle
LVMH “The partnership that changed everything” by Havas Play Paris
The Grand Prix for the Luxury category, which was launched at last year’s Cannes Lions, was picked up by LVMH and Havas Play Paris for “The partnership that changed everything” this year.
The campaign aimed to redefine Olympic sport sponsorship, where advertising is not allowed in competition areas. As partner for Paris 2024, LVMH was involved in various touchpoints, such as dressing artists and the French athletes for the opening ceremony and creating the medals, and the partnership resulted in €350m (£298m) earned media for the brand.
Outdoor
KitKat “Phone break” by VML Czechia
This playful campaign pokes fun at how people take breaks today — without even using the long-running tagline. It replaces smartphones with KitKat bars in everyday scenarios, such as waiting for a bus or meeting a friend for a drink, to highlight how people instinctively reach for their phones during breaks.
Outdoor Lions Jury President Keka Morelle called the campaign a “masterclass in Outdoor,” and praised its minimalism and cultural relevance.
Print and Publishing
Penny “Price packs” by Serviceplan Munich
This campaign was designed as a response to the uncertainty of inflation, Serviceplan redesigned the packaging of Penny’s products to include the price, communicating trust and security in the supermarket. Running through print and outdoor, it generated $190m (£139m) in earned media as news channels picked it up.
Icaro Doria, jury president and DM9’s president and chief creative officer, said: “This idea is print, publishing, it’s packaging, it’s price and it’s position – the 5 Ps in every marketing book. It’s such a massive yet simple and elegant statement from the brand. They’ve done an amazing job to set up what Penny stands for.”
Social and Influencer
Vaseline “Vaseline verified” by Ogilvy Singapore
This campaign showcases many of the Vaseline life hacks people have put out on the internet — including some good and some potentially dangerous. The campaign aimed to test the hacks in the Vaseline labs and “verify” the ones that actually work.
It boasted a success rate of 63.3 million social interactions, 87% positive sentiments and 7.1 million organic reach and views.
