Case Studies for the 2025 Cannes Lions Grand Prix Winners
Whether you love or hate ad awards, these case studies are a masterclass in business storytelling
First of all: yes, advertising awards are ridiculous. I’ve written about the industry obsession with these pay-to-play pats-on-the-back for a long time. (Here, here, here, here…)
And Cannes Lions is the granddaddy of the them all—this year, they received 26,783 entries and raked in north of $38.7M in entry fees alone. (See the full breakdown here.) It’s good to be in the award show business!
But setting aside the industry’s obscene expenditure on trophies (while laying off people left and right)…the best creative work IS inspiring and worth celebrating.
I compiled links to all the case studies for the 2025 Grand Prix winners in all categories. They’re worth watching.
Because, when it comes to winning ad awards, a great case study film may be more important than the campaign itself. This year’s winning case studies are a masterclass in the genre. (I put a ❤️ by my favorites.)
Even if you don’t give two figs about a gold lion, lots of us make our living telling business stories. The ability to answer the question “did it work?” in two minutes or less is something we should all learn to do. The case film format is an important piece of content in the modern marketer’s arsenal.
There are always rumblings about whether the work that wins at Cannes is “real” or not. But this year, the debate is WHITE HOT as a number of big winners have been mired in controversy and one (for now) Grand Prix winner has been withdrawn. I included links to the push-back on some winners in the list below.
My two cents is that there are two classes of creativity honored by the festival: campaigns that sell stuff and efforts that solve a big problem.
There are some super impressive solve-a-problem winners this year: closed-caption technology, fighting medical racism, saving the rain forest, combatting domestic violence…
But, with due respect, those are very different problems than selling more groceries, train tickets, phones, or Ziploc baggies. You know… actual advertising. 😉 (Even Sir John Hegarty agrees.)
2025 CANNES LIONS GRAND PRIX WINNERS
Titanium
Titanium: Three Words — AXA + Publicis Conseil
Classic
Audio & Radio: One Second Ads — Budwesier + Africa Creative DDB ❤️ (NOTE: This one was controversial; they had to apologize.)
Film: Paris Paralympics 2024: Considering What? — Channel 4 & The Final Copy of Ilon Specht — L’Oreal + McCann ❤️
Outdoor: Crowd, Public Transport, Street — KitKat + VML & Olympic Games Opening Ceremony — Paris 2024 + Paname24 (Designing Paris 2024)
Print & Publishing: Price Packs — Penny + Serviceplan
Craft
Design: Caption with Intention — Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences + Rakish + Chicago Hearing Society + FCB Chicago ❤️
Film Craft: Better on a Better Network — Telstra + Bear Meets Eagle on Fire ❤️
Digital Craft: Caption with Intention — Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences + Rakish + Chicago Hearing Society + FCB Chicago
Industry Craft: Nigrum Corpus — IDOMED + Artplan
Engagement
Creative B2B: Act Like You Know — GoDaddy + Quality Meats ❤️ (Read about the strategy behind the idea.)
Creative Data: Efficent Way to Pay — Consul Appliances + DM9 😬 (NOTE: This entry is under investigation; UPDATE: This just got withdrawn! Does that mean one of the Golds gets elevated to Grand Prix winner in its place?!)
Direct: Three Words — AXA + Publicis Conseil
Media: Dove Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era — Dove + Mindshare ❤️
Public Relations: Lucky Yatra — Indian Railways + FCB India ❤️ (This one is controversial, too; there are claims that the case study misrepresents the actual effectiveness.)
Social & Influencer: Vaseline Verified — Uniliever + Ogilvy
Entertainment
Entertainment: Night Fishing — Hyundai + Innocean
Entertainment for Gaming: Call of Discounts — Mercardo Livre + GUT (Are the metrics in this one legit?)
Entertainment for Music: Tracking Bad Bunny — Rimas Music + DDB Latina Puerto Rico
Entertainment for Sport: Haaland Payback Time — Clash of Clans + David
Experience
Brand Experience & Activation: Caption with Intention — Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences + Rakish + Chicago Hearing Society + FCB Chicago
Creative Business Transformation: Three Words — AXA + Publicis Conseil
Creative Commerce: Preserved Promos — Ziploc + VML (Are the metrics in this one legit?)
Innovation: Sounds Right — Museum for the United Nations - UN Live + Spotify + AKQA
Luxury: The Partnership that Changed Everything — LVMH + Havas Play
Strategy
Creative Effectiveness: Shot on an iPhone — Apple + TBWA\Media Arts Lab
Creative Strategy: Real Beauty — Dove + Ogilvy UK
Health
Health & Wellness: Vaseline Verified — Uniliever + Ogilvy
Pharma: Make Love Last — Viatris + Ogilvy
Health Grand Prix for Good: The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes — New Zealand Herpes Foundation + Finch ❤️
Good
Glass: The Lion for Change: Real Beauty — Dove + Ogilvy UK
Sustainable Development Goals: The Amazon Greenventory — Natura + Africa Creative DDB (Questions raised about this one.)
Grand Prix for Good: The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes — New Zealand Herpes Foundation + Finch
FWIW, these didn’t win Grand Prix, but were some of my other fave case studies this year: U up? — IKEA | Other Hand — Cheetos | So Many Dicks — e.l.f. Beauty | Winter Takes on Color — McDonalds | Caramelo — Pedigree
See the award boards for the Grand Prix and Gold Lion winners.
Also, if you really want to go deep, LoveTheWorkMore.com does a great job of collecting links for all the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, too.
Cannes Lions — 2025 Entries + Winner Breakdown
Finally, I suspect that next year’s awards and winners are going to look very different. To say that AI is changing everything about the ad business is an understatement. If you haven’t read this yet, you should:
MORE:
Tour the IRL Pop-Up Activations from 2025 Cannes Lions Festival
The 10 Commandments of Award Show Case Study Videos
Case Studies for the 2024 Cannes Lion Grand Prix Winners
Case Studies for the 2023 Cannes Lion Grand Prix Winners
6 1/2 Ways to Fix Cannes Lions (Wrote this a decade ago; glad I didn’t hold my breath. 😉)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Kovacevich is a creative director and the founder of Agency SOS. He writes a weekly email newsletter highlighting three bits of creative inspiration for modern marketers. You should subscribe.
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