Media Lions: Mindshare NY wins Grand Prix while UK agencies pick up 8 Lions

Mindshare New York has picked up the Grand Prix in the Media category for its 'Real Beauty Redefined For the AI Era' work on Dove. It was supported by Edelman in PR.

The initiative, which marks the 20th anniversary of Dove’s 'Campaign for Real Beauty', addresses the growing concern over AI’s role in shaping beauty standards. By pledging never to use AI to alter images of women, Dove continues its mission to promote real, unaltered beauty.

The campaign not only exposes the negative impact of AI tools on beauty standards but also provides a solution. By adding the phrase “according to Dove Real Beauty Ad” to AI-generated prompts, the campaign reveals more realistic and diverse images, challenging the narrow definitions of beauty often produced by AI.

Dan Clays, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, EMEA, and Jury President, said: "Dove has embraced the very technology that is distorting the notion of real beauty in today’s media ecosystem and partnered with a platform to not only generate and showcase content for women that elevates a more authentic version of real beauty but also serves as a source of highly impactful media for the brand across multiple channels and in commerce. In keeping with the brand story, Dove doesn't over-claim to have solved the problem across platforms. But in 2025, the Jury felt the work reflected real optimism for how brands can embrace the future of media creativity."

PHD London and Leo Burnett UK won Gold for their 'Redditor Edit' campaign for Skoda, which tapped into the enthusiasm of the Reddit community with a new social-first campaign for the fourth-generation Octavia.

The campaign saw Škoda handing over the keys to Reddit members with the first-ever ‘Reddit Car Share’.

Participants from across the length and breadth of the UK were the first to test-drive the new fourth-generation Octavia, before press, retailers and even before the car was photographed for marketing.

Manning Gottlieb OMD and Saatchi & Saatchi London picked up a further Gold for 'Sweet Suspicion' for Waitrose, while Saatchi also picked up a Silver for the spot.

The festive campaign was designed to showcase the delicious Christmas range at Waitrose while engaging viewers with its two-part mystery-and-reveal, a first for Waitrose.

Initiative Media NY with Momentum Worldwide London won Silver for 'Health Is' for BUPA, while Edelman London also picked up Silver for 'Code My Crown' for Dove. This was the world’s first free guide training game developers on how to code for Black hair styles and textures within games, enabling all players to confidently represent themselves in the digital world.

Leo Burnett London won Bronze for 'The Meal’, an initiative that removed the iconic smile from millions of Happy Meal boxes to prompt families to discuss emotions during Mental Health Awareness Week.

It also won a further Bronze for McDonald's with 'McRib Mistakes' for the return of the burger.

This saw the agency make a few “mistakes”. It began with an “accidental” test notification sent to all 20 million McDonald’s UK app users; all it said was, “McRib_Test.notifcation 16.10.24(TEST)”. It then added more fuel to the fire by prematurely revealing posters (then covering them back up), mistakenly playing out unfinished TV ads, and broadcasting corrupted sound files in every McDonald’s restaurant in the country.

A final Bronze went to adam&eveDDB for 'Missed Birthdays' for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and ITV that tackled the urgent issue of youth suicide in the UK. It aimed to turn the tragedy of young lives lost into a national conversation.

At the heart of the campaign was an installation using a universal symbol of celebration, birthday balloons, to deliver a somber message of loss and raise awareness of the tragedy that is youth suicide.

There were a total of 66 Lions awarded in this category.

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.