15 hidden gems among 2023’s Cannes Lions winners

Once the craziness of Cannes Lions week is over, it’s fun to dig through the winners’ lists to find work that may have gotten a bit lost in the shuffle.

Below, check out 15 Lion-winning campaigns from around the world this year that we felt deserved a second look. (Plus, look back on all of the Grand Prix winners here.)

Cheat Cookies

Client: Oreo
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Dusseldorf
Seven Lions including Golds in Direct, Media and Social & Influencer

One of two Oreo campaigns on this list, this one involved the launch of six different Oreo-cookie embossments, inspired by the Xbox controller buttons, which let consumers create cheat codes with the Oreo Xbox Special Edition and unlock in-game content in Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and Sea of Thieves.

The Congregation

Client: podHER
Klick Health, Toronto
Gold Lion in Design

The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion—so, what if a new religion were invented that endorsed a woman’s right to choose? That was the starting point of this campaign centered around an impressively designed book of beliefs.

Doppelgänger

Client: Chipotle
Agency: Gale
Gold Lion in Creative Data

Email isn’t the sexiest marketing channel, but when used creatively, it can deliver big results—as seen in Gale’s clever campaign connecting customers who made the same orders at the same time in different parts of the country.

The Greatest Guide to Jochos & Burgers

Client: Bimbo Buns
Agencies: VectorB McCann, Mexico City and Performance Art, Toronto
Silver Lion in Design

There was a lot of talk about AI at Cannes this year. This delightful campaign was one of the few that showed how generative AI, when used with guardrails, can lead to resounding success.

Gut Health

Client: Dutchie
Agency: Ogilvy, Bangkok
Silver and Bronze Lions in Film Craft

Thai advertising is revered for its offbeat humor. This campaign fits perfectly into that legacy with a personification of gut health that’s quite unforgettable.

I'm a Criminal

Client: Girls Not Brides
Agency: Media.Monks, Mexico City
Silver Lion in Film Craft

For World Children’s Day, Media.Monks partnered with Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo and Oriental Films to educate people on a gruelling reality in Mexico that’s rarely discussed. Over 300,000 girls share the same fate as the subject of the film.

The Life Collection 2022

Client: Ikea
Agency: Try, Oslo
Gold Lion in Print & Publishing

This standout print campaign promoted Ikea’s furniture recycling program by featuring items that had outlasted their original owners—for reasons including death, divorce, bankruptcy and the pandemic.

Life Subtitled

Client: Chicago International Film Festival
Agency: Ogilvy Chicago
Silver Lion in Industry Craft

Ogilvy subtitled the city of Chicago in honor of the thousands of subtitled films that have screened over the years at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Normalize It

Client: Oatly
Agency: In-house
Silver Lion in Film

The EU School Scheme supports the distribution of milk, fruit and vegetables to millions of children, from nursery to secondary school, across the European Union. This film from Oatly cleverly advocated for plant-based milk to be among the offerings.

Oreocodes

Client: Oreo
Agency: VMLY&R Commerce, New York
Five Lions including Golds in Creative Commerce and Direct Winners 

Much like Oreo’s “Cheat Cookies” campaign did (see above), “Oreocodes” engaged customers on a one-to-one level using some snazzy tech. In this case, a commerce experience tapped into the minimalistic similarity between barcodes and a stack of Oreos to allow people to get Oreo offers by scanning barcodes on milk products.

Red River Farm

Client: PETA
Agency: House 337, London
Silver Lion in Film

PETA won its first Lion since 2016 for “Red River Farm,” a darkly satirical take on children’s television programs—with animals on a farm singing about how they’re really treated, much to the horror of the show’s host.

Rocky

Client: Ladbrokes
Agency: In-house in partnership with Neverland, London
Silver and Bronze Lions in Film Craft

Rocky’s famous solo jog through the streets of Philadelphia becomes a group affair in this seamlessly produced spot for betting site Ladbrokes, directed by Nicolai Fuglsig.

The Soot Life Expectancy

Client: The Extra Step Initiative
Agency: X3M Ideas, Lagos
Bronze Lion in Health & Wellness

Nigeria won its first-ever Cannes Lion with this campaign from X3M Ideas, which created a formula that calculated and issued a new, more realistic life expectancy for Nigerians based on time spent in the soot-ravaged Rivers State.

There’s Nothing Comic About Dyslexia

Client: Dyslexia Scotland
Agency: Innocean Berlin, Berlin
Silver Lion in Industry Craft

Designers will nerd out on this campaign, which challenged the industry to create dyslexia-friendly fonts other than the famous (and much-hated) one that’s already out there—Comic Sans.

We Didn't Write This Campaign

Client: NotMilk
Agency: MRM Worldwide, Santiago
Gold Lion in Print & Publishing, Silver Lion in Outdoor

After years of fighting lawsuits from big dairy, plant-based NotMilk decided to use language directly from those lawsuits in its ads.