An award-winning Cannes Lions entry includes tangible business results and unique work, according to industry creatives.
Entries for 2026 have opened, and AdNews has asked former Cannes winners what led to the success of their work.
The festival will take place on Monday, June 22, to Friday, June 26, in Cannes, France.
Leo Australia’s ‘Building a More Resilient Australia’ for Suncorp Insurance won a silver Lion in 2025 for the Creative Business Transformation category.
Leo’s creative director and former Cannes Lions juror Andy Fergusson told AdNews that the Creative Business Transformation Lion is about solving real problems
"With Suncorp, the idea of resilience has been embedded into the ethos of the company. It's affecting the way the products are made and the way the business operates," Fergusson said.
“This wasn't work that we were creating with awards in mind. This was work that had a big, meaty problem ahead of it, which was the future in Australia, where we aren't going to be able to be insured because of climate change.
"And how do you solve that huge problem? It requires a huge solution. That's the reason that we spent multiple years making these projects like Haven, which launched last year.
“It was important for us to map out every single home in Australia. It took a couple of years and a big investment from the client.
"The juries see that scale and ambition. It's also quite a non-traditional idea. They're not just communication platforms, they are products and apps and that's what helped it stand out."
Fergusson said that the agency began planning budgets at the end of each year, ensuring they know what work may be entered and how much to spend on each entry.
The Creative Business Transformation lion cost EU€865 (AU 1505.78) for early entry.
“We have creative teams and strategists pull together the entries, editors and animators creating the boards and case films," he said.
“We ensure that we have fresh eyes on the work and entries. What a lot of people forget is not every country has the same brands and cultural nuances.
“So if you're on a jury, you might see work from a small brand in a small country that has completely different ways of doing things.
"There's not enough context for you to understand why it's a great idea, or sometimes they're not giving you enough of that context.
"It's important to assume that the jury knows nothing about the specific brand and context of the work that you're making.”
Bear Meets Eagle on Fire creative directors Mark Carbone and Ian Williamson spent a lot of time putting together the entries for the 2025 Cannes Lions.
The creative agency won six Cannes Lions in 2025, including a Grand Prix and Independent Agency of the Year award.
Telstra's ‘Better on a Better Network’, which won a Grand Prix and 3 Lions, condensed a 26-film campaign into a 2-minute case study.
The Film and Film Craft Lions cost EU€1,095 (AU 1866.33) for each early entry.
“In my 15 years of doing this, case studies have become a real art form. A lot of time and money goes into making them,” Carbone said.
“We shot the puppets getting made. We did interviews with Jeff, the director, and Tobias, the animation director, and showed all the effort that went into the campaign.
“We then made boards and wrote the entries for each category.
“There's at least 12 different write-ups that went out to 30 categories on my computer.
“We knew we had a good body of work, so we thought we’d go to town last year."
Cannes works on cumulative points, meaning that each Lion that BMEOF won led to a point towards its ‘Independent agency of the year’ award.
“Case studies have evolved over time. A few years back, it'd be news clips, the impact, lots of graphics and percentages. I think that's gone away a little bit,” said Williamson.
“You don't want to bore someone with a five minute case study. You should be more concise, entertaining and avoid the cliches that we've all seen.
“Judges see the same thing over and over again, for a different client, a different product, but there's a well-worn path to telling your story, and I think trying to shake that up a bit more would be my advice.”
Williamson said that an independent agency creating unique content for a client raises the bar for in the industry in Australia.
“It raises the bar for clients as well as agencies. We all tend to think it's down to the agency to be creative and make the work great, but you need the client to go along that journey with you and be prepared to take those risks. And fortunately for us, Telstra has done,” said Williamson.
Australia climbed the Cannes Lions ranking in 2025 to 7th from 11th.
This put Australia back in the same position as the 2023 Cannes Lions.
Fergusson said that Australia has always punched above its weight.
"We've seen that particularly in recent years, where Australia has done very well compared to the population," he said.
“Australia thinks outside the box in the type of work that gets made, and I think that's something we have done for the insurance industry with Suncorp, being able to create big, interesting products.
“The juries will be looking for real, tangible impact on the business and that you're actually solving a business problem, not just a marketing one. You need to understand where the business is at before the campaign or idea.”
Cannes Lions is enforcing integrity standards for entries from 2026. The changes follow controversy at the 2025 festival, where winning work was withdrawn due to AI-controversy, greenwashing claims and unverified campaign statistics.
Fergusson said that the controversy may lead to a lot more rigour on the work and results.
“They will be making sure that everyone is very buttoned down in how they tell their stories," he said.
"I think we'll also start to see a lot more mature AI pieces of work and examples that don't just rely on the gimmick factor of AI, but actually embed it in interesting, new and fresh ways."
Williamson is expecting more genuine work for real clients.
"Cause-led work has been a priority for agencies and it's been a way to win. Wrongly, a lot of agencies will prioritise that kind of work over genuine, real world stuff. The stuff we get paid for as an industry," he said.
"I think this year was a bit of a turning point for that. We saw a lot more real work being awarded, and we hope that train continues and more real clients are recognised for their bravery."
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