Written by Kianna Best on Jun 20, 2025. Posted in Awards and Festivals

Cannes Lions 2025 comes to a close

Engulfed in the golden summer of the French Riviera, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has once again raised the bar for the industry. With over 13,000 professionals from 90 countries converging in Cannes from 16 to 20 June, the event served as a vivid reflection of advertising's evolving tensions and triumphs—merging groundbreaking creative mastery with a renewed commitment to genuine social impact

Image courtesy of Jannis Lucas by Unsplash

At the heart of the festival were the final winners: France and the US each secured two Grand Prix honours, with Brazil and New Zealand claiming one apiece. Notably, the USA scored a Grand Prix in Creative Data, Direct, Media, PR and Social & Creator—including a second consecutive Grand Prix for VML’s 'Preserved Promos' campaign for Ziploc.

France stood out too: Publicis Conseil’s bold AXA – Three Words Grand Prix campaign, which enriched standard home insurance contracts with domestic violence support, marked a groundbreaking moment in the Insurance category. Socially driven creativity reached new heights with New Zealand’s Herpes Foundation taking home the coveted Grand Prix for Good for their destigmatisation campaign The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes, a bold, educational, and irreverent effort aiming to restore national confidence. Meanwhile, Dove’s Real Beauty self-esteem initiative earned the Grand Prix in Creative Strategy, proving long‑term, values-led platforms can still command the spotlight.

Entertainment and branded content also stole the show: Innocean’s Night Fishing for Hyundai earned the Grand Prix in its category for the second year running, reinforcing storytelling’s enduring power to connect consumers with brands in emotionally meaningful ways. Puerto Rico, too, celebrated a milestone: DDB Latina’s Tracking Bad Bunny won the first-ever Entertainment Lion Grand Prix in Music.

Beyond awards, Cannes Lions was awash with industry trends that speak to advertising’s future. Artificial intelligence reigned as a central theme. With agencies like Havas announcing EUR400 million investments and Meta presenting AI agents as “teammates,” the shift is clear: AI is no longer a novelty, but a core business tool. Yet even in AI’s wake, the forum demonstrated that advertising remains profoundly human‑centred. As Meta’s CMO Alex Schultz emphasised, automation may support small businesses, but creative partnerships and human insight remain irreplaceable for bigger brands.

Sports marketing emerged as another festival highlight. With linear TV viewership declining, F1 and live sports are seen as fertile ground for immersive brand experiences. Uber’s F1 campaigns and celebrity appearances—from Serena Williams to Travis Kelce—underscored how sponsors are leaning into live cultural moments.

Celebrity presence elevated the buzz too: Cardi B, Ryan Reynolds, and Reese Witherspoon sparkled at brand‑led activations and beach parties, all while Sebastian Maniscalco cracked jokes at UTA’s high‑profile dinner under the Riviera sun. Amid the glamorous frenzy, certain topics quietly disappeared. Brand safety—once a festival staple—went unsaid, suggesting the industry is deferring to more euphemistic terms like “brand assurance,” perhaps due to increasing regulatory sensitivity.

This year’s Cannes Lions festival was as much about cultural conversation as creative courage. The tech‑charged optimism driving AI investment exists side‑by‑side with heartfelt, human storytelling—whether that’s helping women escape domestic violence or shifting global perceptions of herpes.