Pick Us A Cannes Lions 2025 Winner (Part 1)

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.

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.

First up is Wonderhood Studios, Grey London, Droga5, and BBH London.

Wonderhood Studios

National Theatre Live: 'The Best Seat in the House', Categories: Film Craft, Production - AO5, Cinematorgraphy

To give everyone the chance to access all that the theatre has to offer, up close and personal, National Theatre Live unveiled an emotive and celebratory brand film which promotes the feeling of watching world-class theatre on the big screen, through National Theatre Live.

Starring National Theatre alumnus Benedict Cumberbatch, the 85-second spot, opens on a dimly lit stage, before a spotlight illuminates a stand-alone wooden chair. A silhouetted Cumberbatch walks into frame, ducking into the light and speaks to the audience, requesting them to ‘please, take your seats’. Suddenly, a montage of situational chairs flicker across the screen; the same wooden chair is shown to mirror the emotions in the voice over- ropes held in suspense, tears raining down, joy floating in a flurry of balloons, all before arriving back to Cumberbatch on an empty stage, who speaks to camera saying ‘one performance, an audience of millions, all from the best seat in the house’.

Soup Kitchen x Just Eat: 'Homeless Delivery', Categories: Engagement, Direct - Use of Digital Platforms, Breakthrough on a budget

“Homeless Delivery” allows the public across the country to simply order a meal as they usually would through the Just Eat app, but instead of the meal getting delivered to their door, their order acts as a donation to the Soup Kitchen, funding a meal for someone facing homelessness.

The Soup Kitchen London has seen a significant rise in demand in their daily services, and the rise in inflation and soaring food and energy prices appear to be driving the increase. These challenges make Soup Kitchen London’s work during the festive period more essential than ever.

The campaign launched in the lead-up to the Soup Kitchen’s annual Christmas dinner event, taking place on 24 December. This year, Soup Kitchen London anticipates serving over 300 people at their event, approximately 15-20 per cent higher than usual, which will be the highest attendance they’ve ever had.

BBH London

Mentos: 'Fizzooka', Categories: Gaming / Brand Activation / Titanium / Design / Social & Creator Lions

BBH London shook up the gaming world with the release of the ‘Mentos Fizzooka’, a first-of-its-kind, custom Fortnite rocket launcher, powered by the force of the famous Mentos and cola experiment. Running in 30+ markets, with 2.5 million active players in Fortnite per day. A campaign that has travelled across gamers, influencers, social, OOH and IRL.

The work saw 12.2 million shots fired with Fizzooka, reaching over 511 million players and increasing social engagement by 590 per cent. It also inspired a combined 76 years of gameplay in the first two weeks.

Read more here.

Tesco: Icons Categories: Billboards / Posters / Craft in Brand Design / Craft in Art Direction / Craft in Outdoor

When the nation thought of Tesco, they thought of value and they weren't getting the credibility they deserved for the quality of the food they sell. We wanted to put that right by making the Tesco brand synonymous with great, fresh food.

The idea was simple: make Tesco stand for quality food by making quality food stand for Tesco. Literally. Each execution uses Tesco's iconic logo, replacing the letters with beautiful ingredients you can find at Tesco using those same letters. We shot every item of food for real and wanted to give it the love and attention to detail that Tesco do. Making each piece of food as iconic as the letters of Tesco.

The initiative drove 131 million impressions and increased the brand's quality perception by 3 per cent and positive sentiment by 25 per cent.

Read more.

Burger King: Bundles Of Joy Categories: Outdoor Lions / PR Lions / Titanium

After the launch of its new brand platform Foodfillment, Burger King UK (BK) wanted to use the platform to drive awareness and uptake of home. 

delivery. Through research done in partnership with Mumsnet, we uncovered that 33% of mothers wanted a burger after birth because they want something that truly satisfies them, and for many of them, they turn to BK for the ultimate satiation.

The campaign used real images of mums enjoying their first postpartum meal, featuring the exact time their food arrived on each print execution.

It included a social film showcasing authentic moments leading up to the meal and the "Grill Line", a hotline offering free Whoppers to new mums, sparking global conversations about motherhood, misogyny, and representation.

The work generated 300 million impressions, increased sales of family dining items by 15 per cent and helped BK achieve its best-ever quarter of delivery growth.

Read more.

Droga5 London

Lidl GB: 'Lidl Jacket', Categories: Classic / Outdoor / Culture & Context / Breakthrough on a Budget and Classic / Outdoor / Billboards Sectors / Retail

A bold and reactive OOH execution, featuring a Talon Outdoor billboard, that hijacked a high-profile campaign in just 24 hours. Alongside media partner OMD UK, it secured the billboard directly below a Berghaus ad featuring Liam Gallagher to highlight Lidl’s 24p British baked potato. Riding the wave of online conversation, this perfectly timed and culturally sharp intervention transformed an online joke into a high-impact, real-world moment, reinforcing Lidl’s reputation as a quick-thinking and culturally relevant brand.

Amazon Books: 'That Reading Feeling Awaits', Categories: Creative Strategy

Aimed at celebrating the place of books at the foundation of culture, this campaign gives life to the invisible magic that happens inside people's imaginations when we read, inspiring readers to read more and get more out of what they read.

Droga5 Dublin And London

Agency For Nature: 'The Talking Tree', Categories: Audio & Radio, Brand Experience & Activation | Touchpoints & Technology, Outdoor, Digital Craft, Brand Experience & Activation | Touchpoints & Technology, Creative Data

Utilising cutting-edge AI tech, ‘The Talking Tree’ translates a tree’s impulses into human-speak. The campaign features a film showing young people in a live back and forth with the Talking Tree and the surprising insights gained, launching in cinema and on TV.

Grey London

Stella Artois: 'Claustrobars' Categories: Outdoor Posters, Outdoor, Print and Publishing, Industry Craft,

The out-of-home campaign for Stella Artois approached the familiar experience of navigating a crowded bar with humour. Shot by photographer Ale Burset, each image features customers packed shoulder-to-shoulder, jostling for a drink at a bar. Among the chaos, however, one person remains unfazed, savoring a chalice of Stella Artois.

As well as being activated across DOOH and OOH placements next to bustling city bars across London, Chile, and Brazil, the campaign was also supported across social and digital media.  

Read more.

Coca-Cola: 'Ripples of Change: The Living Danube Partnership', Categories: Film (Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility), Film Craft (editing)

The film, Ripple of Change, focused on Coca-Cola’s work with The Living Danube Partnership to restore the Persina Island wetland on the river in Bulgaria as well as the Old-Drava oxbow on the Hungary-Croatia border, on the Drava.

Telling the stories of the Danube featuring local communities and authorities, the aim was to help restore the habitats in partnership with the World Wildlife Federation (WWF).

Pringles: 'Let's-A-Go Collabverts'. Categories: Outdoor (Billboards - Consumer Goods), Industry Craft (Art Direction).

After a long-standing relationship, Grey London partnered with Pringles to help the brand continue its venture in the gaming world. The challenge was to make Pringles matter to both modern gamers and nostalgic 90s gamers. By collaborating with Super Mario, Pringles created a campaign that tapped into shared cultural love for gaming and snacking, driving excitement in-store and online.