As the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity reaches its midpoint, the Croisette is buzzing with bold ideas, human impact, and some seriously creative data. On Day Three, Lions were handed out across five categories — Creative Data, Direct, Media, PR, and Social & Creator — with the U.S. snagging three Grands Prix, while Brazil, India, and Singapore each took home one apiece.
“Huge congratulations to all our Lion winners,” said Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS. “This work transforms data into insights, communications into movements, and ideas into cultural impact.”
Creative Data Lions: Appliances that Pay for Themselves
The Grand Prix for Creative Data went to ‘Efficient Way To Pay’ by DM9 São Paulo for Consul Appliances. The campaign introduced a new business model where low-income Brazilian families could try energy-efficient appliances and pay using money saved on utility bills.
Tina Allan, Jury President, said: “This year’s Creative Data Grand Prix winner, ‘More Efficient Way to Pay’, set a new benchmark for how data can drive both innovation and meaningful impact. By making data visible, actionable, and human-centered, this work showed what’s possible when data serves real people. It redefined how we think about financing and proved that creative data can help brands become true partners in solving real-world challenges – for communities, businesses, and beyond.”
Direct Lions: Three Words That Could Save Lives
The Grand Prix in Direct went to ‘AXA – Three Words’ by Publicis Conseil, Paris, which simply added “and domestic violence” to the most common insurance contract in France, giving survivors an out. Jury President Gaëtan du Peloux called it, “We have awarded the three little words that are undoubtedly the most powerful. This groundbreaking idea sets a new standard and will have a lasting impact on consumers, the brand, and the entire category. It’s the kind of idea that, even 10 years from now, everyone will still remember.”
France won its first Direct Lions Grand Prix with ‘AXA – Three Words’ by Publicis Conseil for AXA.
Media Lions: Dove Battles AI Beauty Bias
Dove continues its legacy of Real Beauty with ‘Dove Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era’, crafted by Mindshare New York. The campaign rewrote Pinterest’s algorithm to represent a wider spectrum of beauty — an antidote to AI’s narrow aesthetic bias.
Judge Dan Clays praised the campaign, “Dove has embraced the very technology that is distorting the notion of real beauty in today’s media ecosystem and partnered with a platform to not only generate and showcase content for women that elevates a more authentic version of real beauty but also serves as a source of highly impactful media for the brand across multiple channels and in commerce. In keeping with the brand story, Dove doesn’t over-claim to have solved the problem across platforms. But in 2025, the Jury felt the work reflected real optimism for how brands can embrace the future of media creativity.”
PR Lions: Indian Railways Bets on Luck
‘Lucky Yatra’ from FCB India turned every Indian Railways ticket into a potential lottery win — transforming the ticketing experience into one of hope and fun. It’s India’s first-ever Grand Prix in PR Lions.
Jury President Tom Beckman said it best: “The biggest theme this year was services. A majority of the standout work was from service companies like banks and financial institutions, but also product brands adding newsworthy services to their products.”
“The Grand Prix winner is a reflection of this main theme – twisting the design of their service to address a major business problem. It had engagement, likeability, talkability and integration. Selecting the Grand Prix didn’t take long.”
Social & Creator Lions: Vaseline Enters the Chat
Vaseline Verified’ by Ogilvy Singapore took home the Social & Creator Grand Prix by tackling misinformation about petroleum jelly on social platforms. The campaign authentically embedded Vaseline into creator culture while fighting back with facts and fun.
“Joyful, clear, and deeply native to social,” said Beth Keamy, Jury President. “A perfect marriage of brand, creator, and community.”
Quick Stats
- Creative Data Lions saw a 63.1% increase in entries.
- Media Lions continue a four-year streak of growth, boosted by FMCG (+20%).
- GoDaddy, based in Tempe, AZ, scored its first-ever Cannes Lion — and it was a Grand Prix.
- OMD Worldwide was named Media Network of the Year 2025, followed by Mindshare and PHD Worldwide.
Stay tuned to Reel 360 as Cannes Lions continues its creative conquest — and rosé-fueled revelations — through June 20.
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