PR Lions: Wins For O2, Heineken, Dove and Xbox

It was a proud moment for VCCP as 'Daisy vs Scammers' picked up a Gold lion in the PR category, plus a Silver lion to match her hair.

Created for O2, the lifelike elderly lady was designed by AI to keep scammers on the phone for as long as possible so that they have less time to respond to real people.

Made in response to research which reveals that 1 in 5 Brits experience a fraud attempt every week, with her cunning tactic Daisy also subverts stereotypes about older people being especially vulnerable to scammers.

Edelman London clenched a Silver for 'Starring Bars' with Heineken. Working with LePub, the campaign helped to tackle a staff shortage in Dutch hospitality by focusing on the soft skills young people ca gain working in the sector - coordination, agility, persuasion and customer empathy.

The agency also took a Bronze lion for 'Share the First' with Dove. The campaign encouraged women to share their first photo, rather than extensively PR'd and doctored images.

After artist Bebe Rexha kicked off the campaign - it spread globally with 111 creators chiming in and an out-of-home takeover at London's Liverpool Street.

Ogilvy UK also won a Bronze lion for its work with charity My Life My Say to help encourage young Brits to register and vote ahead of the mayoral election in 2024.

Tapping into the fact that young people are 68 per cent more likely to vote on reality TV shows as they are in elections, MyLifeMySay and Ogilvy recruited a roster of influencers from Big Brother, Love Island, Britain's Got Talent and Love Island.

McCann added a Bronze lion to its collection for 'Cheeky Controller' with Xbox designed to mark the release of Marvel Studios' 'Deadpool And Wolverine'.

Modelled after Deadpool's famously round and perky tush, the controller was available for one lucky fan who entered the sweepstakes.

The coveted Grand Prix went to FCB India for 'Lucky Yatra' with Indian Railways.

With around 7.5 million customers travelling daily on Mumbai's trains, many travelling without tickets has contributed to revenue losses for Mumbai's local railways.

To tackle this problem FCB India tapped into Indian's love for lottery tickets (with the nation spending $28bn annually on the tickets) by turning each train ticket into a potentially prize-winning opportunity.

Jury President Tom Beckman, Global Chief Creative Officer, Weber Shandwick, said: "The biggest theme this year was services. A majority of the standout work was from service companies like banks and financial institutions, but also product brands adding newsworthy services to their products."

“The Grand Prix winner is a reflection of this main theme – twisting the design of their service to address a major business problem. It had engagement, likeability, talkability and integration. Selecting the Grand Prix didn't take long."

A total of 44 awards were handed out in the category, including 8 Gold lions, 14 Silver lions and 21 Bronze lions in addition to the Grand Prix.

Stay tuned throughout the week and keep up to date with our Cannes Lions 2025 coverage.