Cannes Lions PR category 2025: Our 7 favourite campaigns

Cannes Lions 2025 saw plenty of gongs for PR creative. Creative Moment rounds up the campaigns of note in the sector.

The 72nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held from June 16-20, 2025, at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, showcased work in the PR categories, celebrating strategic and creative communication that resonated globally.

Campaigns that tackled real-world issues with 'elegance, cultural relevance, and measurable impact' were given the nod, in a year when service-oriented solutions and playful brand engagement got particular love from the judges.

Below is our roundup of select PR winners, as announced on June 18, 2025.

Grand Prix winner: 'Lucky Yatra' by FCB India for Indian Railways

India secured its first-ever PR Lions Grand Prix with FCB India’s 'Lucky Yatra' campaign for Indian Railways, a creative solution to address fare evasion on Mumbai’s commuter trains. With high passenger volumes making ticket verification challenging, the campaign transformed every valid train ticket into a lottery entry, offering daily prizes of INR 10,000 ($117) and weekly prizes of INR 50,000 ($585).

Commuters could check their ticket’s status via a dedicated website using their PNR or ticket number. The result was a 34% increase in ticket purchases, generating an additional $685m in revenue against $1.4m in prizes, which was reinvested into railway infrastructure.

Edelman Chicago for Progresso Canned Soups, ‘Progresso Soup Drops’

This campaign for General Mills’ Progresso brand introduced hard candy flavoured like Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup, capturing the essence of broth, vegetables, chicken, egg noodles, and parsley.

The innovative approach, which won a Gold award, turned a traditional product into a cultural conversation starter, earning praise for its bold creativity.

Ready10 London for 'The Meal', McDonald’s

During Mental Health Awareness Week 2024, McDonald’s UK launched its “Smile-Free Happy Meal” campaign, removing the iconic smile from Happy Meal branding to challenge the expectation that children must always appear happy.

Crafted by Ready10, the initiative aimed to foster family conversations about mental health, earning a Bronze win in the PR category at Cannes Lions 2025 for its bold creativity and societal impact.

McDonald’s sold over 2.5bn Happy Meal boxes during the May 13–19 activation week, exceeding sales goals. Brand sentiment surged to 87% positive, and the campaign garnered 2,000+ media articles, prime-time TV coverage across Europe, North America, and Asia, and 8 billion impressions.

LePub Milan for Heineken, ‘Starring Bars’

This Silver-winning campaign reimagined Heineken’s brand presence by focusing on bars as cultural hubs, creating engaging storytelling that resonated with audiences.

The result is a very meta campaign, playing to the industry’s self-awareness.

Weber Shandwick San Francisco for MSI Reproductive Choices, 'Vagina Privacy Network'

Addressing reproductive rights, this campaign used sharp, culturally relevant messaging to advocate for privacy and choice, earning a Silver Lion for its impactful communication and societal relevance.

Corona, 'Sun Reserves' by Grey Sao Paulo

Celebrating 100 years of Corona’s connection to the sun, this Gold-winning campaign aimed to protect beachfront lots in Brazil and South Africa from real estate development, creating 'sun reserves' to preserve natural spaces.

The campaign generated impressive media coverage, proving that unique and memorable acts of goodwill get results.

Daisy VS Scammers for O2 by VCCP London

With 7 in 10 Brits targeted by scammers, O2 fought back by attacking scammers’ most valuable resource: time.

This Gold-winning campaign introduced 'Daisy', the AI granny trained on real scammer data to keep fraudsters talking, sometimes for over 40 minutes, about her cat Fluffy, her family, and her hobbies.

Daisy became a social media hit, raising awareness and restoring O2’s customer-first image. The result? A national sensation with 2,000+ PR pieces, 1.7 billion impressions, and £36 million in AVE.

Our take? An absolute belter.

Our take

The 2025 Lions saw a shift toward campaigns that prioritise action over mere words, with a focus on real-world problem-solving. Jury President Tom Beckman emphasised the jury’s preference for 'work that is designed to survive in the jungle,' meaning campaigns that thrive in real-world conditions without artificial support. You’ve got to earn it, basically.

The dominance of creative agencies like FCB India over traditional PR firms continued, with only a few PR agencies (Edelman, Weber Shandwick, and MSL) securing awards.