Cannes Lions 2025 Winners
Cannes Lions is the closest thing advertising has to a global referendum on the year's ideas. The 2025 winners did the usual thing - rewarded craft, courage, and the occasional brand willing to look slightly stupid for the sake of a smart line. The Grand Prix and Gold haul reads less like a category list and more like a quiet argument: the best work still respects the audience enough to risk being misunderstood. Browse the winners below.
124 campaigns
Rimas Music: Tracking Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny replaced his Spotify tracklist with GPS coordinates, forcing fans to use Google Maps Street View to discover song titles hidden across Puerto Rico, turning a political insult into a global scavenger hunt that celebrated the island's beauty.
Nike: Jordan Can't Ban Greatness
Nike celebrated the Air Jordan 1's 40th anniversary by simulating a world where the 1985 NBA ban actually worked, using a massive 360-degree 'erasure' stunt to prove that the brand's spirit of defiance is what built modern culture.
Telstra: Together is for Christmas - Girl & Ghost
Telstra subverted festive cheer by pairing a misunderstood goth girl with a literal invisible ghost, proving that true connection is about being seen by someone who understands your isolation, set to a nostalgic 90s alternative anthem.
Second Nurture: 18 Months
Second Nurture redefined the concept of 'labor' by dramatizing the 18-month legal and emotional marathon of adoption through a handcrafted stop-motion film, proving that family isn't defined by biology but by the persistence of unconditional love.
Nike: So Win.
Nike reclaimed its performance-driven edge by flipping the double standards and criticisms faced by female athletes into a defiant call to action, proving that the very traits society labels as 'too much' are actually the keys to winning.
GAMBOL: Dare to Step
Gambol used a satirical prehistoric setting to dramatize domestic violence, showing how a comfortable sandal can physically and mentally calm an aggressor, turning a functional product benefit into a bold social metaphor for stepping up against injustice.
Article 19 / La Unión: The Shooting
The campaign dramatizes the lethal reality of Mexican journalism by using a visceral cinematic metaphor where photographers "shoot" back with cameras against criminals "shooting" with guns, highlighting that capturing the truth has become a life - or - death battle.
The New Yorker: Everything, Covered - 100 Years of The New Yorker
The campaign celebrates a century of journalistic depth by animating iconic cover art into a seamless narrative, proving that while the world changes rapidly, the magazine's commitment to clarity and rigorous observation remains the ultimate constant for curious minds.
Toblerone: Tantrum Girl
Staged a hyper - realistic airport meltdown where a child demands a Toblerone, leveraging the shaky - cam aesthetic of viral TikToks to spark organic debate before revealing the stunt as a dramatization of the brand's essential role in travel rituals.
L'Oréal: THE FINAL COPY OF ILON SPECHT
L'Oréal reclaimed its iconic slogan's feminist soul by producing a documentary about Ilon Specht, the copywriter who penned it in 1971 out of rage against male-dominated advertising, transforming a beauty cliché back into a powerful manifesto for self-worth.
Mandaue Foam Home Store: Steal
To prove they offer more than just mattresses, Mandaue Foam created a surreal heist film where burglars are overwhelmed by furniture that instantly replaces itself, humorously dramatizing their massive 5,000-item inventory through an inescapable and entertaining loop of variety.
Meat & Livestock Australia: The Comments Section
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Australian Lamb satirized the toxic polarization of online discourse by dramatizing real internet comments in the real world, proving that sharing a meal is the only way to bridge our digital divides.
AXE/LYNX: Lynx with Catnip
AXE/LYNX launched a catnip-infused deodorant to help men win over the ultimate dating gatekeeper - the woman's cat - using surreal humor to subvert the 'Axe Effect' and prove that feline approval is the key to romantic success.
The Exodus Road: Love Captured
The campaign used a synchronized dual-screen film to contrast a romantic date with the chilling reality of trafficking tactics, using an undercover cop twist to empower viewers and dismantle the myth that trafficking only begins with violent abduction.
Angel Soft: Potty-tunities
Angel Soft subverted Super Bowl ad-mania by airing a 30-second countdown timer that encouraged viewers to stop watching and take a bathroom break, positioning the brand as a helpful ally during the game's most high-pressure physiological moment.
ITV X CALM: Missed Birthdays
To confront the silence around youth suicide, the campaign used a 'Trojan Horse' installation of 6,929 birthday balloons to lure shoppers into a joyful-looking space, only to reveal each balloon represented a 'missed birthday' of a child lost to suicide.
Uber Eats: Brian Cox Goes to College
Uber Eats cast 78-year-old Brian Cox as a college freshman, using his intimidating 'Logan Roy' persona to demonstrate that Uber One student discounts are so lucrative they would tempt even a wealthy, high-status legend to re-enroll.
Billboard Arabia: The Second Release
Billboard Arabia remastered and rereleased a forgotten tribute song by Etab, Saudi Arabia's first female singer, transforming a suppressed historical recording into a modern National Day anthem to restore her legacy and celebrate the nation's progressive cultural evolution.
Acko: Tailor Test
Acko transformed neighborhood tailors into informal health diagnostic centers by using their measurement data to calculate waist - to - hip ratios, turning routine clothing fittings into life - saving heart risk screenings for millions of Indians who avoid formal checkups.
Equality Health Foundation: Zip Code Exam
The campaign visualized the startling reality that ZIP codes predict life expectancy better than genetics by creating an interactive platform and hyper-local OOH ads that transformed invisible health disparities into actionable data for residents to lobby local officials.
Skol: Retro Influencers
Skol bypassed skeptical influencer culture by turning thousands of fans' old, organic photos into official ads. By hacking a caption - editing loophole, the brand retroactively paid loyal drinkers for years of unpaid advocacy, proving that real brand love is timeless.
Banco de Chile: Project 4270
Banco de Chile captured the country's entire 4,270km length via a continuous drone flight, transforming natural topography into abstract art to reinforce its identity as the 'Bank of Chile' and turn the nation's geography into a shared cultural asset.
Lidl: Lidlize
Lidl empowered its cult following to co-create the brand's next product using an AI platform that 'Lidlized' any object. By turning fans into designers and manufacturing the most popular creation, Lidl transformed from a discounter into a community-driven hype brand.
Oreo: Name This Oreo
Oreo gamified a viral "Oreogrammar" meme by launching a mobile audio experience that challenged fans to vocalize cookie - and - cream combinations, turning a playful internet naming theory into a rewarding, voice - activated commerce engine that drove sales during a traditional slump.
Desperados: GUAO GUAO
Desperados transformed a mundane supermarket checkout into a high-energy reggaeton music video, positioning the brand as a cultural catalyst that unlocks the unusual by tapping into the global explosion of modern Latin music and its infectious, rhythmic energy.
Association Valentin Haüy: The Last Birthday
To protest an absurd French law denying full disability benefits to those losing sight after age 60, the campaign used dark humor to show a family frantically trying to impair themselves before a 59th birthday deadline, making the injustice undeniable.
JCDecaux: Still Open
JCDecaux transformed 650 premium subway ad spaces into life-sized virtual storefronts for flood-damaged Valencia businesses. By turning OOH media into active commerce channels via QR codes, they allowed commuters to support small shops that were physically closed but digitally Still Open.
Lynx: Scratch & Sniff
Lynx launched its Lower Body Spray by turning high-fashion billboards into interactive scratch and sniff experiences, inviting men to lean into their natural instinct to scratch their crotch to sample the fragrance in a humorous, public product demonstration.
AXA: Group Therapy
AXA produced a feature-length docu-therapy film featuring world-class comedians to destigmatize mental health, proving that sharing struggles through humor is therapeutic while shifting the brand from a transactional insurer to a proactive mind-health partner.
Biogen: Friedreich's Back
Biogen resurrected the 19th-century neurologist Nikolaus Friedreich as a "zombie-lite" intern in a mockumentary social series, using dark humor and self-deprecation to demystify a rare disease and drive record-breaking genetic screenings among Gen Z and Millennial audiences.