\n A Silver Lion That Meant More Than a Trophy<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n For TBWA\\HAKUHODO, Cannes began with recognition. McDonald\u2019s Japan\u2019s recruitment campaign \u201cNo Smiles\u201d earned Silver in Creative Effectiveness \u2014 one of the festival\u2019s most unforgiving categories. Unlike others, it doesn\u2019t just reward bold ideas. It demands proof: measurable impact in society and business. \n Four of our colleagues walked the halls, theaters, and backrooms of Cannes this year. What they brought home wasn\u2019t only inspiration but hard questions for the future of agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Inside a cramped, cold theater \u2014 far from the beaches of the Mediterranean \u2014 I found myself gripped by the Titanium and Innovation Lions. These categories don\u2019t simply reward campaigns. They honor bold social experiments: ideas with the potential to transform the world through creativity. \n At Cannes this year, the strongest signal was clear: fans and everyday creators are no longer the audience. They are the protagonists. \n One of Cannes\u2019 defining trends this year was authenticity. The question was never just, \u201cIs this a great idea?\u201d but rather, \u201cDid it truly work?\u201d Creativity earns its place by how directly and sharply it delivers impact. \n One campaign left a lasting impression: AXA\u2019s Three Words. \n Across the four reports, two axes emerge. \n This year also carried a sharp reminder. In an unprecedented move, Cannes revoked several Grand Prix awards after discovering fabricated results, created with AI-generated and manipulated footage. \n The insights from Cannes 2025 sharpen both our pride and our responsibility. Creativity\u2019s role is not simply to produce, but to expand, to co-create, to intervene \u2014 and to change.
\n
\nTo stand among this category\u2019s winners means something deeper than originality. It signals that creativity can drive real outcomes, and that our work can be judged not just by how it looks, but by what it achieves.
\n
\nThree other projects from our teams \u2014 Pride Code<\/a>, The Symphony Plotter<\/a>, and Smart Eye Camera<\/a> \u2014 reached the shortlist, placing them in the top 10% worldwide. Across the TBWA collective, Grand Prix wins for Telstra, Apple, and Paris 2024<\/a> added up to 25 Lions. Proof again that disruptive creativity resonates on the global stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Lessons from the Festival Floor<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n The Ambition to Scale<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Kenshiro Suzuki, Creative Director<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nThe format is unforgiving. Only two presenters take the stage. Ten minutes to tell their story. Then, a barrage of jury questions \u2014 every answer expected to be flawless. To even reach this stage, projects must first clear the brutal shortlist process. The work that did was formidable: globally recognized architecture, technologies already embedded in daily life, innovations making headlines around the world.
\n
\nYet what united the Grand Prix and Gold winners was not their scale of execution or polish of craft. It was ambition.
\nHow strongly were these ideas designed to expand? To endure beyond a single brand, a single year, a single market? The jurors pressed this question again and again: Do you have the ambition to scale?
\n
\nProjects that existed only once, in one place, for one client, could not survive. And in that distinction, I saw the blueprint for the agency of the future.
\n
\nThe ideas we create must grow larger each time they are executed. They must invite people in, building momentum as others willingly join. They must be resilient enough that the next generation would want to inherit them.
\n
\nPerhaps the clearest signal of this ambition was in the presentations themselves. Many of the winning cases weren\u2019t presented by agencies alone, but by agency\u2013client duos, standing side by side with the same conviction. That shared energy was more than symbolic \u2014 it showed that scaling an idea requires a true partnership, united in both purpose and passion.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n From Audience to Co-Creator<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Takao Mizumoto, Art Director<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nBrands and agencies are no longer in the business of delivering messages one-way. The shift is underway toward a world where creativity is built together.
\n
\nTake Vaseline Verified. Online, countless \u201curban legend\u201d uses of Vaseline had been circulating. Instead of dismissing them, the brand partnered with creators to scientifically test and verify them, sharing results back to the community. This effort to grow knowledge and make trust visible earned recognition across categories, including Titanium.
\n
\nOr Sounds Right, a project that credited the Earth itself as an artist. Sounds of wind, waves, and forests were sampled by musicians and released on Spotify, where every play directly supports conservation. The result: a co-created musical experience between the planet, artists, and listeners.
\n
\nEntertainment echoed the same pattern. Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Episode revived an unfinished anime through fan theories, while Abracadabra: From Fan to Featured placed fans inside a Lady Gaga music video. In both cases, brands helped turn community dreams into reality.
\n
\nTogether, these cases point to a new truth: creation is not reserved for professionals or companies. In this world, anyone can become a co-creator.
\n
\nFor agencies, the challenge is clear. Can we design the spark that turns audiences into collaborators? True passion is born not from being told, but from creating together.\u3000That is where the real value of agencies will be tested.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n The Comment Section Doesn\u2019t Lie<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Shohei Oishi, Creative Director<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nAs a member of the Social & Creator Lions jury, I heard the jury president put it plainly: \u201cWe even check the comment sections.\u201d
\n
\nMetrics can be polished, results spun. But comments cannot be fabricated. They reveal the raw truth of whether a community was genuinely moved. In the highest-scoring cases, the further you scrolled, the more compelling and diverse the reactions became. People engaged in their own ways, finding new meanings and spreading them further.
\n
\nThat is the power of campaigns in social: to spark community-driven discovery that eventually draws in the mainstream.
\n
\nThe sheer volume of entries in this category confirmed another reality: today, there is no campaign untouched by social media. Exaggeration no longer works. The field is brutally fair. But in that fairness lies opportunity \u2014 every piece of work has a chance, if it can earn authentic engagement.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cThen Let\u2019s Change the Contract.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n Takuya Miyazaki, Art Director<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nBy simply adding the phrase \u201cand domestic violence\u201d to a housing insurance contract, AXA gave survivors the legal right to seek refuge in emergencies. No lavish budget. No grand production. Just a quiet intervention into a system \u2014 one that saved lives.
\n
\nAdvertising has long been associated with making something. That\u2019s why we often equate value with scale, spectacle, or production spend. But this case showed something profound: sometimes, you don\u2019t need to make. You need to change.
\n
\nThe lesson is clear. Agencies must look not just for dazzling outputs, but for the \u201cshortest, sharpest move\u201d that cuts to the essence of the problem. Sometimes the breakthrough lies hidden in existing rules or systems, waiting to be unlocked.
\n
\nThe future of agencies will not be defined by how loudly we can create, but by how smartly we can intervene. The real test is asking: What can we change to make society better? And then, having the imagination \u2014 and the will \u2014 to implement it.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n From Making to Changing<\/h2>\n\n\n
\nFirst: the power of expansion and co-creation.
\nSecond: the pursuit of essential impact and real change.
\n
\nSuzuki and Mizumoto spoke to expansion and co-creation<\/b>. Suzuki emphasized that ideas must not be one-off fireworks, but living forces that grow, scale, and endure. Mizumoto underlined the importance of building \u201centry points for co-creation,\u201d where brands and fans shape stories together. Both perspectives highlight a shared truth: ideas must be designed to involve people and continue spreading long after launch.
\n
\nOishi and Miyazaki, on the other hand, focused on essential impact<\/b>. Oishi pointed to authenticity as Cannes\u2019 defining undercurrent: campaigns win not through surface spectacle, but by earning real trust and genuine response. Miyazaki echoed this with his call for systemic interventions \u2014 solving problems not through bigger productions, but by changing existing structures. Both remind us that true value lies not in appearances, but in tangible, lasting change.
\n
\nTogether, their voices converge on a single message: the future of creativity lies not in what we make, but in what we change \u2014 and who we bring along to expand it.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n The Hard Question in the AI Era<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nTechnology now makes it easier than ever to \u201clook impressive.\u201d But surface-level spectacle is not enough. What matters \u2014 and what Cannes ultimately demanded \u2014 is whether work creates value that truly moves people and society.
\n
\nThat essential question remains:
\nAre we creating value that matters?
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n The Hard Question in the AI Era<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\nWith the lessons and challenges of this year\u2019s festival in hand, TBWA\\HAKUHODO will continue to push forward \u2014 striving to build work that does more than win awards, work that drives real and lasting impact.
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