Canada’s 39 shortlisted campaigns across Media, Direct, PR and Social & Creator turned into seven Lions on Wednesday: three silver and four bronze. The country picked up hardware in every category except Social & Creator, where, despite five shortlisted entries, it came away empty-handed.

PR delivered Canada’s biggest payoff of the day, with Rethink leading the charge. According to Dana Tahir, CEO of Havas Red Middle East and the PR Lions jury president, the category has matured into one with a clear identity of its own. This year’s winners showed brands acting less as sponsors and more as cultural participants, engaging deeply with communities, celebrating heritage and joining conversations that already mattered to people.

Overall, Tahir noted a growing use of humour in the category to open the door to serious issues, reinforcing the idea that brands don’t have to be solemn to make an important point. Above all, however, the work that stood out went beyond generating headlines, she said.

Rethink earned Bronze for Ikea’s “Sleep Talk Reviews” and Penguins International’s “Protest March of the Penguins,” both in PR. The agency also won a silver in Direct for its “Heinz Dipper” work for Heinz.

Courage also added to Canada’s PR medal count, with KFC’s “Kyle F*cking Connor” earning a silver, and Edelman taking a bronze for Hellmann’s “#Mainflavourenergy.”

On the media side, McCann’s “Defining Help” for Kids Help Phone secured a silver, while Ogilvy’s “TD Fractional Window Shopping” brought home a Bronze.

Sindhuja Rai, chief client office at WPP Media APMEA and Media Lions jury president, tells strategy that “Defining Help,” which seeks to expand and reframe what help really means to youth today, stood out because it showed how data can be used to do more than inform marketing decisions; it can help solve real problems.

She also highlighted TD’s campaign as one of the jury’s favourites because it made a complex financial offering instantly understandable. The campaign used billboards that framed familiar logos, including McDonald’s, Starbucks, Nike, Apple and Google, through square cutouts, showing that Canadians can buy fractional shares in these companies through TD Direct Investing.

For Rai, the brilliance of the work lay in how it navigated a fundamental constraint. Because TD couldn’t directly use those brands as advertising assets, the campaign found an inventive way to reference them without actually featuring them. It was a reminder that some of the strongest marketing emerges when creative thinking turns limitations into an advantage, she says.

Media (2)

“Defining Help”
Kids Help Phone
McCann Canada, Toronto
Silver

“TD Fractional Window Shopping”
TD
Ogilvy, Toronto
Bronze

Direct (1)

“Heinz Dipper”
Heinz Ketchup
Rethink, Toronto
PR: Zeno Group, Toronto
Silver

PR (4)

“Kyle F*cking Connor”
KFC Canada
Courage, Toronto
Media: UM Toronto
Silver

“Sleep Talk Reviews”
Ikea
Rethink, Toronto
Media: Carat, Toronto
Bronze

“Protest March Of The Penguins”
Penguins International
Rethink, Toronto
Media: Rethink, Toronto
Bronze

“#Mainflavourenergy”
Hellmann’s Mayonnaise
Edelman, Toronto
Media: Initiative, Toronto
PR: Edelman, Toronto
Bronze