Strategy is on the ground in Cannes, bringing you the latest news, wins and conference highlights all week long. Catch all the coverage here.

The first Silver and Bronze Lions of the week landed on Monday, spanning Health & Wellness, Pharma, Creative B2B, Audio & Radio, Print & Publishing and Outdoor.

Canada secured awards in Health & Wellness (two silver and one bronze) and Pharma (one bronze), alongside further recognition across Print & Publishing (one silver) and Outdoor, where it also led the pack, picking up the highest number of Lions (five silver and four bronze). The country landed 14 silver and bronze awards across agencies this Monday, including Gut, Rethink, Local Collective, Courage, Publicis, Ogilvy, Klick Health and No Fixed Address.

In Print & Publishing, Publicis took home a silver Lion for Jeep’s “Silent Edition” (see video below). Using the Jeep Cherokee Hybrid’s near-silent operation, conservation photographer Patricia Homonylo captured wildlife behaving naturally and undisturbed. The campaign turned a product feature into proof, expressing capability through what it enabled.

Jessica Apellaniz, chief creative officer at Wieden+Kennedy Mexico and jury president for Print & Publishing, tells strategy that one of the strongest trends this year was radical simplicity. Many campaigns stripped away products, logos and explanatory messaging, leaving only the most essential brand cues. According to Apellaniz, that approach put brand equity to the test, as only a handful of brands remained instantly recognizable without their usual assets.

That confidence in brand building was one of the reasons Canadian work stood out. Apellaniz said the strongest entries trusted audiences to make the connection without over-explaining the idea and demonstrated the value of years of consistent brand building. At the same time, the jury was careful not to reward simplicity for its own sake. Some ideas, while visually striking, relied too heavily on case-study videos to explain themselves. The jury instead favoured work that could be understood immediately in the real world.

Despite expectations that AI would feature heavily, Apellaniz said it was largely absent from the awarded work. Instead, jurors gravitated toward ideas that felt authentic and human. One of her favourites involved the use of fax machines, with the case demonstrating that fax outreach to French municipalities generated a conversion rate roughly 10 times higher than email marketing. For Apellaniz, it was a reminder that in an AI-obsessed era, sometimes the most effective solution is also the simplest and most unexpected.

In Pharma, Canada landed a single Lion, with “Animal Attraction” by The Local Collective Toronto for Gilead Sciences Canada, earning bronze. To promote Descovy as a modern HIV prevention option, the campaign (which also won gold in Pharma Marketing at strategy’s Marketing Awards), tapped into identity language already embedded in gay culture, using terms like bear, otter and wolf as its creative foundation.

Pharma jury president Tracey Brader, who is chief strategy and innovation officer at Omnicom Health U.K., said the overall quality of work was strong, but argued that branded pharma still has room to elevate its creative standards and cultural relevance to match the best disease-awareness campaigns.

Brader pointed to several themes that emerged across the work, including the growing use of humour, debates around the appropriate role of AI, technology-driven innovations that improve diagnosis and care, and more human-centred storytelling rooted in patient experiences. It was also an increase in highly targeted communications aimed at specific communities and subcultures, reflecting a more nuanced approach to healthcare marketing, Brader said, noting that simplicity was rewarded alongside innovation, with many of the strongest campaigns finding elegant ways to solve longstanding healthcare challenges.

The campaigns taking home Silver Lions in Health & Wellness were “The Undropped Kit,” for Asics, produced by Gut Toronto in collaboration with Golin Ketchum London, and “Infinitee Saree,” developed by Klick Health Toronto for Asics. Rethink Toronto also earned a bronze Lion for Penguins International’s “The Protest March of the Penguins” (see video below).

In Outdoor, Canada picked up five silver and four Bronze Lions. Silver winners included Maple Leaf Foods’ “Look for the Leaf” (image below) from No Fixed Address and Tim Hortons’ “Blizzard As Usual” from Gut Toronto. Bronze Lions went to campaigns including TD’s “Fractional Window Shopping” from Ogilvy and Ikea’s “Sleep Talk Reviews” from Rethink.

Outdoor jury president Aaron Starkman, global chief creative officer at Rethink, said the jury looked for ideas that felt “inevitable”: work that could only have come from that specific brand and would not have worked for anyone else. The strongest entries demonstrated a natural and authentic connection between brand and idea. He also wanted young creatives to see the winning work and feel empowered to pursue bigger, bolder and more unconventional thinking.

Pharma (1)

“Animal Attraction”
Local Collective, Toronto
Gilead Sciences Canada
Bronze

Health & Wellness (3)

“The Undropped Kit”
Asics
Gut Toronto w/ Golin Ketchum, London
Silver

“Infinite Saree”
Red Dot Foundation
Klick Health, Toronto
Media & PR: Klick Health
Silver

“The Protest March of the Penguins”
Penguins International
Rethink, Toronto
Bronze

Print & Publishing (1)

“Silent Edition”
Jeep
Publicis Canada, Toronto
Media: Starcom, Toronto
Silver

Outdoor (9)

“Look for the Leaf”
Maple Leaf Foods
No Fixed Address, Toronto
Media: Fuse Create, Toronto
Silver

“Blizzard As Usual 1”
Tim Hortons
Gut Toronto
Media: PHD Toronto
Silver

“Blizzard As Usual 2”
Tim Hortons
Gut Toronto
Media: PHD Toronto
Silver

“Blizzard As Usual 3”
Tim Hortons
Gut Toronto
Media: PHD Toronto
Silver

“Kit Kat Security Detail”
Kit Kat
Courage, Toronto
PR: Courage, Toronto
Silver

“TD Fractional Window Shopping”
TD
Ogilvy, Toronto
Bronze

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

“Look Familiar?”
Heinz Ketchup
Rethink, Toronto
Media: Carat Toronto/Chicago
PR: Zino Group Toronto/Chicago
Bronze

“Heinz Dipper”
Heinz Ketchup
Rethink, Toronto
PR: Zeno Group Toronto/Chicago
Bronze