Cannes Lions 2025

Pick Us A Cannes Lions Winner (Part 3)

The 2025 Cannes Lions are almost upon us. Throughout this week, we'll be highlighting some of the entries aiming for glory at the awards

By Creative Salon

04 June 2025

With UK agencies vying with their counterparts from all around the world once more, creative excellence is the name of the game in Cannes. Across this week, we'll be showcasing some of the UK entries to look out for on the winners' podium.

Third up are VML, St Luke's and Pablo.

Stay tuned to find out what else has entered this year's awards throughout the week and keep up to date with our Cannes Lions 2025 coverage.

VML

Duracell, Bitter Truths

The aim of 'Bitter Truths' was to steer kids from swallowing lithium Duracell batteries based upon research which revealed that related accidents in households had quadrupled since 2002.

A set of playfully illustrated OOH posters were created to show off the brand's use of non-toxic, but bitter-tasting Bitrex technology to help prevent ingestion.

The posters included phrases such as: "No One Likes Your Singing Voice" and "Your Dog Didn't Go To Live On A Farm" to highlight that some things are too bitter for kids to swallow...

Ikea: DIY by Ikea

'DIY by Ikea' was created by VML to show off Ikea's affordable and cost-effective product range, with a campaign that highlights ingenious solutions to typical household mishaps and eyesores.

Sela and Newcastle United: Unsilence The Crowd

The RNID (Royal National Institute For Deaf People) carried out a survey which revealed that 71 per cent believed that technology can be used to enhance matchday experience at the football.

To help solve the problem, VML worked with Newcastle United's shirt sponsor, the live experience firm Sela, to enhance the experience of deaf fans at live football games by introducing haptic technology which can transform the sound of the game into a series of live sensations.

Guinness: Glassphemy

In the tense lead up to transfer deadline day, VML worked with Guinness to launch a campaign entitled #TransferThatPint and make their own switch (to 0 per cent) before the window closes.

A set of out-of-home activations were created across Dublin alongside social teasers during one of the busiest weekends of the football calendar as fans from every club pour over rumours and articles - desperate to know who their club will buy, sell, loan or release.

Tanqueray: Cocktail Of Dreams

For Tanqueray, VML launched an experimental work entitled 'Cocktail Of Dreams' which uses EEG sets to transform brainwaves into bespoke cocktails.

It was accompanied by live tastings throughout Milan Fashion Week and an exclusive documentary launched online.

Suicide & Co: Heirlooms

Drawn from the personal experience of people who have experienced suicide, VML was behind 'Heirlooms' - a short film for suicide prevention charity Suicide & Co, directed by Luke Brookner and executive produced by Will Castle.

The poignant long-form film explores the complex feelings surrounding suicide including guilt, shame, anger and confusion.

NHS Blood & Transport: Waiting To Live Categories: Strategy and Creative Effectiveness

To raise awareness of the fact that there are not enough child organ donors in the UK, VML created a series of 233 hand-crafted dolls to represent the number of real children on local transplant waiting lists.

The dolls were placed in their local medical waiting rooms around the UK and featured a QR code (which when scanned contained a link to audio of real children telling their stories).

St Luke's

THIS Changes Everything

In a mockumentary-style film directed by Glenn Kitson via St Luke's in-house production studio, the vegan food brand woos customers with an upmarket estate agent (and a brave, and gloriously delusional attempt at using a wingsuit flyer...)

Pablo

Poretti, Welcome To The Lake - Categories: Film - Consumer Goods, Craft Use Of Licensed/Adapted Music, Craft Animation

Directed by Jeff Low and produced by Biscuit, Pablo's 'Welcome To The Lake' for Poretti celebrates the idyllic lakes of northern Italy with a stylish, and surreal ride featuring harmonica-playing foxes driving boats.

Unconventionally enticing. In Low's words: "Most ads are awful. This one is not".

Wilkinson Sword, Blademasters Categories: Film - Challenger Brand, Consumer Goods, Use Of Humour

Centred around the enigmatic suave 'Blade Master' and directed by Craig Ainsley - Pablo's series of three tongue-in-cheek films highlight the problem's caused by faulty blade technology (equating it to a doctor with no training, a bartender with zero accuracy, and a waiter whose behaviour is picked up from life in a zoo).