The Cannes Lions Awards 2025 closed amid the DM9 DDB AI scandal, but the real story lies in the data. After stripping out disqualified campaigns, at the time of writing the festival awarded 880 Lions. Rather than rehash “scam” rumours, let’s dive into what what trends emerged and what we can learn for 2026.
The Good
- B2C & Cause-Driven Dominance
While it always seems like not-for-profit and dubious works take over the awards, taking a closer look is painting a different picture.
- 76.4% of trophies went to consumer-brand work (671 Lions).
- Cause-led B2C campaigns (like AXA’s Three Words) continue to pack a punch in Grand Prix.
Breakdown of all 880 Lions by client type:
Client Type | Trophies | % of Total |
B2C (Consumer Brands) | 671 | 76.4% |
B2B (Media Owners, Tech, Services) | 46 | 5.2% |
Musicians, Bands & Sports Clubs | 15 | 1.7% |
Healthcare | 20 | 2.3% |
Non-Profit / Associations / Museums / Self-Promotion | 127 | 14.4% |
Gold Lion Breakdown
Golds often set the perceived “quality” bar. The distribution of the 148 Gold Lions mirrors the overall split:
Client Type | Gold Lions | % of All Golds |
B2C (Consumer Brands) | 113 | 76.4% |
B2B (Media Owners, Tech, Services) | 9 | 6% |
Musicians, Bands & Sports Clubs | 5 | 3.3% |
Healthcare | 1 | 0.1% |
Non-Profit / Associations / Museums | 20 | 13.5% |
So far, so normal. But when we zoom in on Grand Prix winners, the picture shifts—and helps explain why purpose-driven work generates so much buzz.
Grand Prix tend to grab headlines—and also skew perceptions:
- Total Grand Prix Awarded: 34
- B2C Campaigns: 66% (22 GP)
- Associations / Non-Profits / Museums: 24% (8 GP)
- Other (B2B, Musicians, Healthcare): 10% (4 GP)
Though B2C campaigns still dominate, nearly 1 in 4 Grand Prix went to associations, NGOs, or museums, fuelling the narrative that “purpose-driven” work can punch above its weight when it’s truly impactful.
2. Efficiency Over Volume
- A constant rumour about the Cannes Lions Awards is that you need endless entries to win. While submitting to multiple Lions most certainly can give you more chances due to your work being seen by different jury panels, the top campaign this year converted 95% of its entries into shortlist spots or trophies – only one entry missed the shortlist.
- In reality, it’s not about volume but strategy: submit fewer, more relevant entries in the right Lions and categories.
- Tip: Focus on categories that align tightly with your campaign’s core idea; breadth isn’t always best.
3. Bubbles of Brilliance
- Beer soared with 89 Lions across Outdoor (15), Film (20), Direct (7), Audio (10), Media (9), Print (8) and Social (8) – that’s taking home 10% of the Lion, making it the festival’s product superstar.
Beer’s dominance across both classic and digital categories – from outdoor billboards to audio spots and social campaigns – underscores its creative versatility. Even more impressive, these trophies are spread among 24 different beer brands, proving that the industry as a whole is pushing the boundaries of advertising, globally and across formats.
The Bad
Re-Entry Fatigue
- Cannes allows a 14-month eligibility window, so winners from early 2024 can re-enter in 2025 (albeit not in the same Lion as the previous year).
- This practice can crowd out fresh work- teams spend time tweaking last year’s campaign instead of creating new ideas, and taking up spots with old work that could have gone to other entries. While Michael Cerave and Animal Alerts absolutely deserve their spots in Creative Strategy & Creative Effectiveness, did we really need to see them surface again in Direct, Brand Experience, Design, Outdoor & the SDG Lion?
This “re-run” approach risks dulling the festival’s creative edge and limiting opportunities for genuinely new campaigns to shine.
The Ugly
The DM9DDB AI Debacle
- Two DM9 DDB campaigns from Brazil were disqualified after AI-doctored footage from a CNN report and a TED Talk surfaced. One entry, “Efficient Way to Pay” for Consul, had won a Grand Prix in Creative Data. Along with the withdrawn “Plastic Blood,” Cannes stripped away 3 Gold, 3 Silver, and 3 Bronze Lions – and possibly 15 additional shortlist spots.
- Why this matters: Those 25 trophies and shortlist places could -and should – have gone to genuine campaigns. With strict quotas on trophies and shortlist slots, every spot is precious. Agencies that narrowly missed out spent time, effort, and budget only to have their chance taken away.
This incident underscores how critical it is for Cannes to enforce honesty – and for the industry to hold itself to the highest standards.
Festival Policing Limits
- Cannes cannot vet every clip or client testimonial. From my time managing awards entries, I know spotting an AI-altered news clip or TED Talk in elite campaigns would have been impossible without insider tips. It has to rely on the industry to hold itself accountable.
- Possible safeguards:
- Require senior client sign-off on every entry. – This is a plan to implement, and I would hope this also will be checked for campaigns that make the shortlist multiple times.
- Mandate a brief client verification call for Grand Prix finalists might slow things down slightly on their organisation end, but with the scale of Cannes and the fees involved, it’s a small ask to help to avoid major slip-ups on the night.
- Enforce the ban on disqualified agencies. While Cannes Lions has said agencies could get a 3-year ban, I have not seen anything that this will be applied to DM9. At minimum you’d expect to see them banned for the next year (from jury and entries), and also don’t wait with the ban until a scam entry wins – enforce it even if it’s found in prejudging.
Scam work has been an ongoing problem for years now, it’s time was stricter on the work that is let into the judging room.
- It’s not just Cannes Lions’ Responsibility
- This is not Cannes Lions’ burden alone. Networks, holding companies and jurors all play a part. Awarding unverified or impossible work fuels cynicism and undermines real creativity.
- If you are lucky to be a juror, it’s also in your hand what work you elevate to the top. Juries set the tone for the industry. Awarding “impossible” or unverified work not only fuels cynicism but undermines true creativity. Now, you won’t be able to do a good job as a juror if you doubt every campaign or result, but using your sense and gut instinct should guide you in the jury room
Final thoughts
There’s been debate over Cannes Lions’ lack of focus on effectiveness. Cannes celebrates creativity in all its forms. If you want hard ROI awards, enter the Effies. Creative awards like Cannes, Clios, LIAs and The One Show reward bold, boundary-pushing ideas – even when their commercial success is yet to be proven. These daring concepts inspire the industry to take bigger creative risks. Effective creativity matters, but we must also champion ideas that change how we think about advertising.
Yes, awards should recognize real client work that has run in the real world. But the craziest, most inventive ideas often aren’t the ones that deliver immediate sales. They matter because when the second-or third- client adopts a Cannes-winning concept, it may finally pay off commercially. You need those fearless ideas to persuade future clients to go big. If we judge only by immediate sales, advertising would never be daring or beautiful.
Effectiveness has its place, but we also must champion work that changes how we think about advertising.
Key Takeaways
- B2C Still Rules – but Purpose Packs Punch: Consumer brands win most trophies, yet social-impact work earns disproportionate Grand Prix coverage.
- Beer’s Banner Year: Beer led across 7 different Lions categories, showcasing the industry’s unmatched adaptability and breadth of creative approaches.
- Everyday Heroes: From lotion to snacks, “everyday” categories remain fertile ground for memorable ideas.
- Data Over Drama: Numbers don’t lie -while scandals capture headlines, the majority of winners align with long-standing brand categories.
- Choose Cannes Wisely
I often advise clients not to enter Cannes unless their campaign breaks new creative ground- think industry-changing, tear-jerking, or socially transformative work. With incredibly high benchmarks (and yes, some disqualified “scam” entries setting unrealistic standards), only truly exceptional, never-seen-before work will stand a chance. For most solid client campaigns, other awards offer a better fit and a higher likelihood of success.
Cannes Lions 2025 teaches us that creative impact thrives on human insight: from transforming captions for inclusion and embedding silent SOS codes into insurance policies, to debunking myths with joyful science and reimagining retail packaging. At the end of the day, integrity, fresh ideas, and deep cultural understanding are what drive lasting change.
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