Cannes Lions 25: Heroing the Human, Mining Virality, Remedying Inequities
Published 27 June 2025
The most noteworthy Grand Prix-winning ads and activations at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 (Cannes, June 16-20) paid homage to human creativity, community and connectivity (Telstra; Apple); reengineered best retail practices (Natura); advanced and improved disability representation (Channel 4); and deftly – and discriminately – capitalised on social media popularity (Vaseline).
Social & Creator Grand Prix: Vaseline Harnesses TikTok Virality by Verifying Hacks
Demonstrating how to transcend TikTok virality without jumping on every trend, Unilever-owned skincare brand Vaseline exploited its popularity on the platform – users regularly post new use cases for it, including smearing it on a camera lens to get a soft-focus effect or using it as the base for a homemade body exfoliant – by endorsing or debunking them.
Vaseline Verified, which also won the Health & Wellness Grand Prix, saw its in-house scientists test viral hacks from 450 TikTok creators, ratifying or rejecting them as ineffective or potentially dangerous. It then partnered with creators to make all verified hack videos shoppable via TikTok Shop. Garnering 63.3m+ social interactions, the campaign led to a 1,293% rise in #vaselinehack mentions across TikTok and a 43% TikTok sales uplift in its first month.
Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix: Natura’s AI Reengineers Retail Behaviours
Exemplifying the recent clutch of powerful eco-ethical schemes aiming to reengineer damaging retail practices (see Retail’s Radical & Reciprocal Perception-Shifting Civic Initiatives in Eco Comms: Retail Services, Marketing & Messaging, Summer 2025), Brazilian eco cosmetics giant Natura’s civic initiative helps Amazonian farmers make a sustainable living from harvesting plant produce including açaí berries and Brazil nuts.
Responding to the fact that many Amazonians have to participate in deforestation to make a living, Natura deployed a drone capable of scanning 400 sq km of rainforest – an area that would have previously taken 25 years to map – in six months. It then fed the results into an AI model that determined plant species by canopy so locals knew exactly where to harvest – with Natura committing to buying the proceeds.
Film Grand Prix: Channel 4 Rectifies Disability Representation via Brute Force Equaliser
British broadcaster Channel 4’s 2024 Paralympics campaign issued a rallying cry for better disability representation while acknowledging its past mistakes. The TV advert confronted the narrative of its previous well-known campaign ‘Superhumans’, which faced criticism from disability rights campaigners for inadvertently inferring that what made Paralympians worthy of attention was their disability – essentially presenting them as “inspiration porn”.
Created with British disability- and inclusion-focused communications consultancy Purple Goat, the two-minute slot depicted Paralympians being slammed to the floor or having the skin scraped of their knees by the forces that govern movement (gravity, friction) – “none of which care about disability”.
Film Craft Grand Prix: Telstra’s Animated Homage to Human Creativity & Community
Australian telecoms brand Telstra paid homage to human ingenuity and idiosyncrasy against the backdrop of an advertising industry grappling with the impact of AI-engineered creative work.
Forgoing one standard advert boasting of its coverage (the widest in the country) in favour of 26 skits, Telstra’s TV and social media campaign focused on how it connects virtually unknown towns (such as Meekatharra, population 708) to the wider world. Featuring hand-crafted and hand-worked stop motion animation animal puppetry – a hugely labour-intensive undertaking – puppets were voiced by real locals from the places they represented.
Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix: Apple’s Loneliness-Countering Ad
Zeroing in on the ever-deepening loneliness epidemic – 62% of people worldwide say it’s harder than ever to build meaningful connections (Human8, 2025) – Apple’s ‘Fuzzy Feelings’ Christmas campaign encouraged investing in wider relationships.
Also rebuffing the slickness of much AI content via stop motion animation, its iPhone-shot reworking of A Christmas Carol depicted the strained relationship between a woman and her boss. When it transpires his malice is actually social awkwardness and isolation, they connect with the tagline “you make the holidays”, inferring that every individual has the power to support social change.
See also our Spaces: Cultivating Connection spotlight, publishing July 7.