Cannes Lions 2025: 12 agencies and 32 Lions tell a bigger story

India’s presence at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was anything but quiet. With 32 Lions across 12 agencies, the country delivered one of its strongest performances in recent memory, not just in terms of numbers, but in the breadth, depth, and texture of the work. From culturally rooted storytelling to platform-native innovation, Indian campaigns this year demonstrated that they could move audiences and juries across formats, markets, and categories.

To put things in perspective, India’s best-ever showing at Cannes came in 2022 with 47 Lions, followed by 2017 with 40. In that context, the 32 Lions in 2025 represent a meaningful resurgence, especially after 2024 saw a decline in terms of numbers, when the country won 18. But these numbers — they rarely tell the full story. Each campaign submitted to Cannes reflects months of strategic thinking, cultural insight, and creative risk-taking. The work is no less passionate or purposeful, regardless of how it converts.

If earlier years hinted at India’s creative growth, 2025 confirmed it. Brand India is no longer finding its feet at Cannes. It is speaking in a language the world is learning to recognise and respect.

The work showcased India’s capability across the spectrum from Outdoor and Creative Commerce to Pharma, Entertainment, and Social & Creator Lions.

FCB India led the charge with a Grand Prix and multiple Golds for its ‘Lucky Yatra’ campaign for Indian Railways, an idea that cut across Outdoor, PR, Direct, Brand Experience, Creative Business Transformation, and Commerce categories. Ogilvy India continued its strong run with wins across Design, Media, PR, and Outdoor for work on Titan, Cadbury, and Amazon.

Havas India won in categories like Print & Publishing and Direct for The Times of India.

Other work that stood out at Cannes included Leo India’s ‘Acko Tailor Test’, BBH India’s campaign for Garnier, VML’s ‘The Girl Who Played the Tutari’, and BBDO’s Silver Lion for Ariel in the Sustainable Development Goals Lions.

Independent agencies also made a significant mark. Talented picked up wins for Britannia’s ‘Nature Shapes Britannia’ and ‘Avani’s Gold’. 

But not all wins were met without scrutiny. FCB India’s ‘Lucky Yatra’ and Talented’s ‘Nature Shapes Britannia’ invited criticism. While both earned praise for their ambition and creative framing, online discourse and industry commentary raised questions around ground-level impact, executional authenticity, and the depth of stakeholder engagement.

Yet, even amid debate, what stood out was the sheer range of contributors and the kinds of ideas being recognised. Indian creativity wasn’t confined to a few legacy players or safe formats. It came from all corners, network giants and independents, purpose-driven narratives and platform-first solutions. The result? A more distributed and distinctive showing on the global stage.

It’s a shift that did not go unnoticed.

Commenting on the breadth of contributors, Josy Paul, Jury President for SDG Lions and Chairperson at BBDO India, said:

“What’s different this year is how the roar came from every corner. 12 agencies contributed to that diverse win. It’s a celebration of India’s distributed brilliance. It showed how we can be diverse, disruptive, and deeply rooted in our own truths.”

This breadth of recognition wasn’t just about volume, it was about work that travelled, both in geography and in genre. Jurors took note of campaigns that were rooted in Indian culture yet crafted to resonate universally.

Pallavi Chakravarti, Founder and CCO at Fundamental and a juror in the Outdoor Lions category, said, “India has had a great year. 32 metals is not to be scoffed at. Like every time, culturally nuanced work stood out.”

This shift in tone and intent also emerged in how Indian jurors described the work that stood out this year. It’s this ability to hold on to the local while leaning into the global that’s defining India’s creative voice today, one that’s no longer content with just telling stories, but increasingly focused on doing them.

From storytelling to story-doing

A recurring theme among Indian jurors this year was the evolution of narrative craft, a move from traditional emotional storytelling to more action-oriented, impact-driven work.

Design Juror Mahima Mathur, Creative Director, DDB Mudra, said, “By the end of it all, the work that we awarded wasn’t the loudest or the flashiest. It was the honest stuff. The weird stuff. The work built with care and actual thinking. If your work knows what it stands for, it’ll find its place in the world. And eventually, in a jury room. Between two very strong opinions.”

For Mathur, a standout moment of pride, especially as a first-time Indian juror, was seeing Titan Eye Test Menu earn a Bronze. “It was smart, rooted in culture and beautifully right for its context,” she added.

That same idea of authenticity meeting intent was echoed by Paul, who observed:

“From storytelling to story-doing — that’s the leap. That’s what India is doing right now. The work that’s connecting globally is not manufactured empathy, it’s lived truth. That’s why it lands. The best Indian work is not an ad, it’s an act. Acts, not ads! They are engaging and immersive and connect deeply with the Indian situation.”

This sentiment was reflected in several awarded campaigns, whether it was purpose-led behaviour change like Ariel’s decade-long #ShareTheLoad or ideas that bridged insight and execution like ‘Acko Tailor Test’ by Leo.

But for Indian agencies, making that leap comes with a unique challenge: how to remain rooted in the local context while ensuring the work resonates with an international jury. That’s where clarity of narrative, precision in case-building, and cultural translation become critical.

Chakravarti articulated this balancing act and said, “Most of the ideas Indian agencies submit have a strong cultural context, and packaging it in a way that is universally understood becomes a must-do and not a good-to-do. Over time, people have developed a sense of what is likelier to work for a global audience.”

Her remarks highlight an important evolution in Indian entries, an increased sophistication in how they are presented to international juries, without losing the authenticity of their cultural source.

It’s this fusion of cultural specificity and universal human relevance that helped the campaigns travel globally. And it’s also what helped Indian work hold its own in some of Cannes’ most competitive categories.

India’s creative playbook is expanding

The diversity of wins from health and pharma to commerce and culture, from big network agencies to independent shops, underscores a growing maturity in India’s creative ecosystem. It’s no longer just about making emotional films that go viral. It’s about combining storytelling with technology, design, commerce, and media in new ways.

If anything, India’s 2025 performance signals that its creative maturity is catching up to its ambition. As Paul put it,

“When 32 Lions roar from India, you can bet the next massive bite is coming soon.”

And if the trends from this year are any indication, that bite may come not just from one big idea, but from an entire ecosystem that’s increasingly confident, collaborative, and globally credible.