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posted on Jul. 30, 2025 at 10:47 amJul 30, 2025

Cannes Lions 2025: Natalie Shardan shares insights from the jury room

posted on Jul. 30, 2025 at 10:47 amJul 30, 2025

Serviceplan Middle East’s Natalie Shardan invites brands to lean into bold ideas, stay rooted in culture and create connections that matter.

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Natalie Shardan, Managing Partner, Serviceplan Middle East

Great brand experiences don’t just show up – they stay with you. They stir something, shift something and leave something behind. Judging the Cannes Lions in Brand Experience and Activation this year was a powerful reminder of that.
In a room full of bold opinions and sharp minds from around the world, we sifted through hundreds of campaigns in search of that rare magic – ideas that went beyond flash to deliver feeling; ideas rooted in local truth yet expressed with a clarity that transcended borders. The kind of work that doesn’t just speak to people but speaks for them. Work that feels unmistakably human.

Ideas that left a mark in the Cannes Lions jury room
For me, what separates a

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Tags:“Serviceplan Middle East”Advertising awareness bold opinions Campaigns Cannes Lions Cannes Lions 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Cannes Lions Jury Cannes Lions jury room creativity cultural context Culture emotion human work marketing Natalie Shardan Purpose Serviceplan Group Serviceplan Group Middle East simplicity

the authorAnup Oommen

Anup Oommen is the Editor of Campaign Middle East at Motivate Media Group, a well-reputed moderator, and a multiple award-winning journalist with more than 15 years of experience at some of the most reputable and credible global news organisations, including Reuters, CNN, and Motivate Media Group. As the Editor of Campaign Middle East, Anup heads market-leading coverage of advertising, media, marketing, PR, events and experiential, digital, the wider creative industries, and more, through the brand’s digital, print, events, directories, podcast and video verticals. As such he’s a key stakeholder in the Campaign Global brand, the world’s leading authority for the advertising, marketing and media industries, which was first published in the UK in 1968.