As the official Canadian Representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, The Globe and Mail hosted special Après Cannes events in Montreal and Toronto to spotlight the standout work and emerging themes from Cannes Lions 2025. This year’s festival proved that the future of creativity isn’t cautious – it’s courageous. From AI’s wild west to the rise of ROE (Return on Emotion), Cannes Lions 2025 reminded us that imagination still leads the way.
Canada’s creative industry delivered a remarkable performance, ranking #5 globally with 31 Lions, including 4 Golds. With only 3% of entries earning a Lion, each recognition reflects the exceptional caliber of work coming out of the country.
The events whisked guests to the South of France, complete with flowing rosé, artisanal French cheeses, and abundant charcuterie and desserts.
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See all the Montreal Cannes Après party pictures here, and the Toronto pictures here.
A highlight of both events was Decoding Cannes with Karen Howe, Founder of The Township Group and Canadian Cannes Lions Advisory Board Member offering an insider’s perspective on the work, trends, and provocations that defined this year’s festival.
Karen presented her highly anticipated list of the year’s top creative insights. Emphasizing provocation and possibility as the year’s defining themes, she positioned Cannes Lions as a view into the broader creative and cultural moment.
#1: Data doesn’t care
Debates raged at Cannes Lions about the use of artificial intelligence. Karen highlighted the impressive capabilities of the tech while reminding the audience that 91% of decisions are made with the heart, not the head.
“As human beings, we seek empathy, we seek understanding – not soulless data,” she said. “That’s the Achilles heel of AI.”
#2: The Democratization of Everything
AI is levelling the playing field, helping small players compete on big stages and bringing new solutions to long-overlooked problems. Karen cited Caption with Intention, which modernized an outdated captioning system, enabling deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences to experience cinema like never before.
#3: Age of Collaboration
Not every brand is brave enough to let the audience take the wheel. But for those that do, there’s real payoff, as Lidl proved with its campaign embracing user-generated ideas, creating genuine excitement for the brand.
#4: Using AI for good
Sometimes, the best offence is a great defence. Karen showcased the power of AI to do good with O2’s “Daisy,” an AI-generated granny designed to distract scammers and protect real customers.
#5: Empathy and Emotional Intelligence Reign
Brands that tapped into a higher purpose made big leaps this year. From AXA’s insurance policy update protecting women from domestic violence to Nordea’s Parental Leave Coverage, which brought relief to new parents, these campaigns proved that creative thinking can drive real impact.
#6: Hope as Currency
Campaigns that offered humanity in the face of fear resonated deeply with jurors. From Valencia’s flood-responsive JCDecuax subway activation to Samsung’s exploration of The Worst Children’s Library, brands that met the human moment head-on stood out.
#7: Culture is the new strategy
The best ideas tapped directly into cultural truths. Karen highlighted ACKO’s “Tailor Test,” which showed that when brands understand real behaviours, their solutions become more relevant and effective than ever.
#8: Nature still matters
Amid tech dominance, nature re-emerged as a creative winner. Britannia’s campaign showed that staying true to your roots and respecting nature can lead to standout thinking.
In Montreal, Marcin Zerek, Head of Trade Marketing at The Globe and Mail thanked the event sponsor WPP Motion Entertainment, before hosting an intimate Q&A with Canada’s Young Lions Gold and global Media Bronze winners, Samuel David-Durocher and Tristan Bonnot-Parent, who shared their behind-the-scenes experience at the 2025 global competition.
In Toronto, WPP Motion Entertainment returned as the event partner, with Kruger Products Inc. as the event sponsor. Shannon Lewis, President of CMDC and Canadian Cannes Lions Advisory Board Member, opened the Young Lions panel and welcomed to the stage Canadian Gold and globally shortlisted Marketers Suzanne Liu and Arielle Uwonkunda, as well as Top 5 Media winners Mateo Molinaro and Tristan Ruffo St Armour. The discussion was guided by special guest moderator Susan Irving, CMO at Kruger Products Inc. and fellow Canadian Cannes Lions Advisory Board Member.
In both discussions, panelists spoke about their motivations for entering the competition, how they approached the brief, and the factors behind their successes. They emphasized developing ideas with “heart” and the importance of speaking the “language of empathy.”
They also shared advice for future competitors:
- Don’t forget about the execution and implementation of your idea – you want to show it has legs
- Contextualize your idea for your audience
- Never be afraid to think bigger
- Find your common truth, then mass-ideate
- Be fearless in pitching ideas
In Toronto, the event featured an additional special on-stage session titled Inside the Cannes Jury Room, highlighting what Cannes judges are looking for when reviewing submissions to award Cannes Lions.
Moderated by Andrea Hunt, President and CEO, Association of Canadian Advertisers with Cannes Lions jurors Krista Webster, President and CEO at Veritas, and Communications and Meat and Produce Vice Chair at Stagwell Global (DPN), and Graham Lang, Chief Creative Officer at VML Canada.
Their discussion centred on what makes award-winning work stand out, with speakers emphasizing the importance of well-rounded submissions that combine fresh ideas with cultural relevance and a strong execution.
Krista shared that the strongest work clearly explained its country’s unique context, while Graham stressed the importance of selecting the right category, noting that many strong submissions didn’t advance due to misalignment with the category. Both offered advice to future competitors to curate submissions thoughtfully and focus on full campaigns with real-world impact rather than short-term stunts.
With more than 26,000 entries at the 2025 Festival, Après Cannes has become a must attend gathering to unpack the standout work, explore the global trends shaping creativity, and it comes with shot of creative adrenaline and inspiration.
Explore our Cannes Lions hub for more insights, stories and upcoming details on the Young Lions 2026 competition here.
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