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36 articles
HEINEKEN | THE PUB THAT REFUSED TO DIE | 2026
In a small village in Ireland, the only pub in town was about to close. Instead of shooting a commercial about it, Heineken went and actually saved the place.
CLASH ROYALE | COPYCATS WELCOME | 2026
The experience points people earned in knockoff games just turned into rewards from the real thing. Instead of suing, they welcomed them in.
CLUB DEPORTIVO MUNICIPAL | THE THOUSAND SPONSORS OF MUNI | 2026
Put 1,000 companies' logos on a jersey. It sounds like a joke, but it actually saved a club.
Battleground Mobile India | The Great In-Game Wedding | 2025
Meet in the game, marry in the game. On BGMI's battleground Pochinki, a couple held a real three-day Indian wedding, complete with Mehendi, Sangeet and Phere. Two hundred million people watched what became "India's Biggest In-Game Wedding."
MCDONALD’S | WINTER TAKES ON COLORS | 2025
A McDonald's restaurant turned into one giant coloring book. What happens when you hand customers the power to add color during Poland's long winter?
ACKO | TAILOR TEST | 2025
An Indian tailor finds the risk of heart disease with nothing but a measuring tape. He measures your waist and hips, and if something seems off, he quietly stamps the bill. On the stamp is a phone number for a free checkup. This is what an insurance company did before it ever tried to sell insurance.
PlayStation | Project: MEMORY CARD | 2025
For PlayStation's 30th anniversary, the star wasn't the brand—it was players' memories. 26,000 submissions became a single song, thanks to YOASOBI.
BUDWEISER | ONE SECOND ADS | 2025
The very first note is all it takes to know the song. That feeling every music fan has was turned straight into an ad. Budweiser's "ONE SECOND ADS," an ad from Brazil, won the Grand Prix in the Audio & Radio category at Cannes Lions 2025.
Coca-Cola | 2024
In bodegas and small shops around the world, owners have been painting their own versions of the Coca-Cola logo. Instead of telling them to fix it, the brand officially celebrated it.
RENAULT | PLUG-INN | 2023
Is it an ad, or is it a business? Renault's "PLUG-INN" came to smash that whole line apart. It took the Grand Prix in the Creative Strategy category at Cannes Lions 2023.
MARS | HOPE REEF | 2022
A cat food company planted letters on the ocean floor. H-O-P-E. Visible from space, on Google Earth. And made of living coral.
THE BIG ISSUE & LINKEDIN | Raising Profiles | 2020
A homeless magazine seller signs up for LinkedIn. As a response to the pandemic, you couldn't ask for a more logical idea.
REDDIT | Superb Owl | 2020
For five seconds, text just appears on screen. You can't read it. But that was the most talked-about ad at the 2021 Super Bowl. Reddit's own line, "Wow, this actually worked," turned out to be exactly right.
BEATS BY DRE | You Love Me | 2020
"You love Black culture. But do you love us?" In November 2020, Beats asked that question in a two-minute film.
EPIC GAMES | ASTRONOMICAL | 2020
April 2020. The world was still stuck at home. Travis Scott grew to giant size and danced his way across Fortnite's island, trampling everything in his path. 12.3 million people watched at the same time, and 27.7 million joined in over five days—the biggest live event in gaming history.
REGENT PARK SCHOOL OF MUSIC | PARKSCAPES | 2020
Instead of "receiving" donations, why not "earn" them? Kids learning music ended up standing on the same ground as the pros who make a living from it.
MERCADO LIVRE | FEED PARADE | 2020
In 2020, the world's biggest pride parade disappeared. The 2.5km road that 5 million people were supposed to walk was completely wiped out by the pandemic. Brazil's GUT rebuilt that road on Instagram, using 279 photos.
WENDY’S | Keeping Fortnite Fresh | 2019
A fast food chain spent nine hours destroying freezers inside Fortnite, and the game's developer ended up removing freezers from the game entirely. This stunt beat Nike's "Dream Crazy" to win the very first Grand Prix in the Social & Influencer category at Cannes Lions.
TODAY@APPLE | Today at Apple | 2018
At Cannes 2018, what Apple won wasn't for advertising. It won the Grand Prix for store experience — an award earned by giving up on being a "place to sell."
AP PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED | The Unusual Football Field | 2017
The assumption that soccer fields have to be rectangular gets broken here with an L-shape and a zigzag. In Khlong Toei, a densely packed slum area in Bangkok, a real estate developer built soccer pitches in oddly shaped lots. The moment you see it, you think "oh, this actually works" — that's how strong the idea is.
NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11TH MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM | 9/11 Memorial Museum Exhibition Design | 2015
70 feet below Ground Zero, there's a museum. But it's not a "finished" museum. As Jake Barton of Local Projects put it: "It doesn't need to be finished. It can be an experience that keeps changing."
AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR | PROJECT DRIVE IN | 2014
You need a car to go to a drive-in theater. That point is so obvious nobody ever says it out loud, but Honda took it seriously.
NOT IMPOSSIBLE LABS | PROJECT DANIEL | 2014
A 14-year-old boy who'd lost both arms said he'd rather be dead than become a burden to his family. A video producer who read that article flew to Sudan carrying a 3D printer, with no medical knowledge at all.
Duracell | Moments of Warmth | 2014
Hold hands and the heater turns on—that's all it takes. In the dead of a freezing Montreal winter, this experience landed at exactly the right moment.
THE BARBARIAN GROUP | CINDER | 2013
At Cannes Lions 2013, the very first Grand Prix in the newly created Innovation Lions category went to a development tool made by an ad agency. And it's one they give away for free. It sounds like an odd thing to win an award for, but the reasoning behind it makes complete sense.
TROY PUBLIC LIBRARY | Book Burning Party | 2012
Signs went up around town announcing a "book burning party." Everyone was furious. But that anger was exactly the plan to save the library.
NIKE+ | FuelBand | 2012
This isn't an ad. But an ad agency made it. That contradiction is exactly why it won two Grand Prix at Cannes.
Google Chrome | The Web Is What You Make of It | 2011
On 5/21/2011, this commercial aired live during Saturday Night Live. Lady Gaga running across the Brooklyn Bridge, fans dancing and singing their hearts out, filling the whole screen. That raw energy grabbed me and wouldn't let go.
ZOO ANTWERP | BABY ELEPHANT | 2010
An elephant's pregnancy, watched by an entire country. The ultrasound photos, the contractions, the moment of birth. This isn't really an ad—it's the story of everyone coming together to witness a new life.
CANON | EOS PHOTOCHAINS | 2010
In 2010, Canon Australia turned photography, a solo hobby, into a game that connects people. This campaign won the Grand Prix in the Media category at Cannes Lions.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2008 | OBAMA FOR AMERICA | 2009
At Cannes in 2009, the jury did something no political campaign had ever had done to it before. They gave it two Grand Prix at once, in Titanium and Integrated, and both decisions were unanimous.
NIKE | PAPER BATTLEFIELD | 2009
This campaign won the Grand Prix in the Design category at Cannes in 2009, and even looking at it now, it's absolutely thrilling. Using silkscreen printing, a technique that goes back to the 10th century, the players themselves made their own posters. That process itself embodied the very essence of competition.
GLOBO TV | One Thousand Casmurros | 2009
Split a book into 1,000 pieces and have 1,000 people read it. Who even comes up with that?
T MOBILE | Life's for Sharing - Dance | 2009
2009, London's Liverpool Street Station. In the middle of the rush hour crowd, one commuter started dancing. Then another, then another. Before anyone knew it, 350 people were dancing their hearts out to "Shout" in a full-blown celebration.
PLAYSTATION 2 | Fun, Anyone? | 2004
Not a single second of gameplay footage appears. And yet I've never seen an ad that feels this much like a game. In Brazil, 1,500 people built a human mountain, climbing it over and over, only to be knocked down again and again. At the end, just one line appears: "Fun, Anyone?"
NIKE | TAG (Play campaign) | 2002
In a subway station, a man being chased dives onto a train. The doors close right on his pursuer's arm, just out of reach. Before you know it, the whole city seems to be caught up in one game of tag.