Canada’s Cannes Contenders 2025
Let’s be real, there’s no intro I can write which will make you even more excited to check out the work that’s below than you already are. You clicked on this story for a reason – to see Canada’s hopefuls after the 2024 record-breaking 66 Lions grab – and rest assured, this compilation has been worth the wait. In fact, it’s the biggest-ever contender piece we’ve done in Canada, seeing as this year, we’ve included networks in the fold. More creative, more ingenuity, more credits, all assembled here, for your viewing pleasure.
So, sit back, grab something to drink, and take a scroll through. I hope you enjoy this showcase as much as I do, ordered this year alphabetically by agency.
Angry Butterfly
Porsche Cars Canada - Taste Drive
Bensimon Byrne
White Ribbon - My Friend, Max Hate
White Ribbon is tackling issues that no one else is addressing. For example, there’s been an alarming rise of online misogyny spread by male influencers in the 'manosphere' – a term that, despite its growing relevance, is unfamiliar to 83% of Canadians, including 82% of parents with boys. The campaign was grounded in the insight that boys weren’t turning to parents or educators for guidance – they were turning to influencers who promised confidence and success, then fed them misogyny and hate.
At the centre of the campaign was this PSA, which followed a boy manipulated by a puppet symbolising these online figures. Moreover, to extend its impact, White Ribbon launched a TikTok account (@max_hate_) and an online hub offering resources to help recognise and resist harmful online communities. The strategy: use the manosphere’s own tactics to expose its dangers and provide boys with a way out.
The campaign went viral among parent groups, with millions of views and hundreds of thousands of engagements with the video. Then, the global phenomenon, 'Adolescence', was released on Netflix, just a few weeks after. This helped the campaign become a part of the cultural zeitgeist. It's currently being used in workshops to educate young men across Canada, and has already been awarded multiple One Show Pencils and Clios, so creatives are seeing its value.
Broken Heart Love Affair
Lactalis - 0% American
Royal Ontario Museum - Immortal: Nature’s Symphony
Cossette
Les Roses FC de Montréal
Vice president of design Richard Bélanger: We’re incredibly proud of what we created with the Montréal Roses. It’s not just a team identity, it’s a statement. We wanted to challenge the clichés of sports design and build something that truly reflects the passion and spirit of Montréal. From the visual language to the tiniest design choices, everything was crafted with meaning and purpose. That kind of authenticity and creative boldness is what we think Cannes juries are looking for.
McDonald’s Canada - Eat the Code
Vice president of creative, Alexandre Gadoua: 'Eat the Code' is the kind of idea that makes any creative smile – unexpected, smart, and executed with precision. It’s a rare blend of digital intelligence, strategic insight, and clever storytelling. That’s exactly the kind of work we believe has the power to stand out at Cannes.
Dentsu Creative Canada
tentree - Following Wildfire
Chief executive officer, Stephen Kiely: 'Following Wildfire' demonstrates how creative strategy can transform an environmental and business challenge into an innovative brand action. By pinpointing the critical detection gap – 55% of wildfires start in overlooked recreational areas – and ingeniously leveraging Canadians’ existing photo-sharing habits, tentree helped turn social media posts into a proactive wildfire detection tool.”
Executive creative director Ryan Egan: The brand’s strategic pivot from reactive reforestation to prevention exemplifies how consumer insight and bold strategic thinking can deliver tangible impact, catalyse cultural change, and drive business value.
Edelman Canada
Advil - Head Settings
For Advil's 'Head Settings', we developed a proactive headache pain solution accessible to all gamers, every time they play. Using a combination of neuroscience research and live gamer response data, we were able to develop customisable in-game settings designed to target the on-screen headache-causing triggers at the source.
Dove - Shower Sensor
While the physical transformation of the label is surprising, where 'Shower Sensor' really delivers is simplicity: there is no extra step – no new equipment to install or app to download – you just shower like you normally would, proving that breakthroughs need not always be high-tech.
IKEA Canada - Sleepless Lamp
The 'Sleepless Lamp' uses real sleep data, vetted by sleep medicine experts, to not just represent the issue, but recreate it, turning awareness into action. And that’s why it was even able to light up the halls of power, something few brand-led campaigns are able to do.
FCB Canada
Air Canada - Ticket to Dream
Executive creative director Jeremiah McNama: If you asked around our agency, you’d find a common thread. Many of us are first or second-generation Canadians. Our parents, or grandparents, arrived here with full suitcases, dreams, and a deep belief that their kids could have more. That belief shaped who we are, how we work, and the stories we tell.
'Ticket to Dream' is personal to us, and to most Canadians. It follows a father who immigrates to Canada in the '90s, and the daughter who grows up chasing Olympic gold. Their stories unfold side by side until the reveal: they’re family. His dream gave life to hers.
As the official airline of the Canadian Olympic Team, Air Canada wanted to celebrate the grit and quiet ambition behind every athlete. We saw that same spirit in the people who raised us. So far, the response has been overwhelming. But for us, the reward was getting to tell a story that every Canadian could identify with. This isn’t just an Olympic ad; it’s a tribute to every new Canadian who came here for a better life, and every kid who made the most of that chance.
SickKids - The Count
Executive creative director Andrew MacPhee: It always feels a bit strange to champion your own work, especially when the subject is as heavy and hopeful as this. But SickKids' 'The Count' adds a different kind of voice to this year’s Cannes submissions.
This wasn’t just a film – it was a creative swing at capturing something almost impossible to describe: the intensity of a child’s fight for their next birthday. Every creative choice, from the metaphors, to the score, to the real kids cast in every role, was made to honour that fight, not soften it. The story shows strength, not sympathy. Resolve, not pity.
What makes this campaign stand out is that it doesn’t follow the playbook for emotional advertising. It’s visually arresting, but never exploitative. It’s metaphorical, but still rooted in truth. And it earns its emotion honestly, without needing to overexplain or oversell.
Plenty of campaigns will show up at Cannes with massive budgets, celebrity cameos, or clever tricks. 'The Count' shows up with something else: heart, honesty, and the kind of creative restraint that lets the real story shine
FUSE Create
Soles4Souls - Doors of Opportunity
Grey Toronto
Best of Kin - Fire Bloom
Chief creative officer Marty Martinez: 'Fire Bloom' is the first beer made from the ingredients of wildfires to help fight back against them. Brewed in the heart of wildfire country, this lager is crafted using the honey from fireweed – the first flower to grow from wildfire ashes – to fund reforestation. Developing this beer has been incredible! We believe it’ll stand out at Cannes because it’s so innovative – not just due to the fireweed honey, but because of what it means to use new ingredients created by our changing climate to transform businesses and help our environment.
Special Olympics Canada - Screen Sponsors
Executive creative director Fernando Hernandez: We’re very proud of the ‘Screen Sponsors’ campaign, not just because it supported an extraordinary organisation like Special Olympics Canada, but because it gave national visibility to athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a smart, scalable way. By inviting businesses of all sizes to ‘sponsor’ Special Olympics Canada athletes by donating their public-facing screens, we created a nationwide network that celebrated their talent during the World Winter Games in Turin. It was a creative, inclusive, and effective way to generate exposure, build community involvement, and bring the spotlight to where it truly belongs: the athletes.
GUT Toronto
Tim Hortons - The Last Timbit
Tim Hortons has been a part of Canadian life for decades, but in recent years, it's faced growing competition from brands leveraging celebrity partnerships to stay culturally relevant. Instead of following the trend, we created an original cultural moment, 'The Last Timbit', a musical based on the real events that happened in southern Ontario during 2010, when a massive snowstorm left thousands of people stranded, with many choosing to seek refuge at a Tim Hortons. The production featured top theatre talent and was made accessible to Canadians both at the Elgin Theatre and through streaming.
Hard Work Club
DoorDash Canada - Your Door to More
Leo Toronto
Pizza Hut Canada - Cheat on your Cheeseburger
Chief creative officer Angus Tucker: 'Cheat on your Cheeseburger' giving any McDonald's, Burger King or Wendy's employee a free burger by showing up at Pizza Hut in their working uniforms was a very sneaky troll. We sincerely hope no one got fired for doing so.
Smucker Foods of Canada Corp. - Text Peanut 1,300 Times Case Study
Chief creative officer Angus Tucker: This idea is not curing the world of sexism, ageism, racism, or any of the other isms, but it did get a lot of people to text the word 'peanut' 1,300 times – one for every peanut in every jar of Jif peanut butter. Simple, smart... and might give you carpal tunnel syndrome.
LG2
CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation - The Orange
Partner and chief creative officer Josh Stein: 'The Orange' – a heartwarming film that is impossible to watch without tearing up – is as much about Juliette's relationship with her grandmother as it is about the advanced technology and equipment that the hospital depends on. I love how it finds a really simple way of tackling a very complex problem.
SAAQ - No Need for Speed
Partner and chief creative officer Josh Stein: Like 'The Orange', 'No Need for Speed' is all about a straightforward solution to a big problem. By simply hijacking the moment when gamers are encouraged to speed up – and instead having them slow down – we began a conversation about the real world dangers of excess speed.
Lifelong Crush
Kicking Horse Coffee - Kickstart Your Heart
McCann Canada
KIND Snacks Canada - Packed with Nuts
Creative director Benjamin Playford: This is my favourite kind of advertising: silly, irreverent, and visually engaging. But, it’s harder to pull off these days, when anyone can make a silly image with AI. Figuring out how to do this 'for real' was a fun challenge, and we think that fun comes through in the final image. So, we hope it resonates at Cannes.
Creative director Athina Lalljee: It's packed with all the best things about great advertising: simplicity, joy, craft, and a little twist. What's not to love?
Mekanism
Boston Pizza - Team Up for the Cup
StopGap - Inaccessible Font
No Fixed Address
DOKI DOKI - Posters You Can Hear
Co-chief creative officer Kelsey Horne: 'Doki Doki' is a love letter to sound, emotion, and the thrill of gaming. Built from our childhood nostalgia, it’s one of the most expressive and intentional design-driven campaigns we’ve ever made.
Greenfield Natural Meat Co. - Bacon Is Rain
Co-chief creative officer Alexis Bronstorph: 'Bacon Is Rain' and the 'Bacon Sizzle Board' show how purpose and play can live in the same pan. It’s weirdly soothing, quietly subversive, and proof that sustainability messaging doesn’t have it be boring; it can entertain and spark joy too.
Ogilvy Toronto
Dove Canada - Most Likely To
Vaseline - Screen Block
ONE23WEST
Breast Cancer Canada - The Metastasizing Chair
British Columbia Securities Commission - We're All F**ked
Publicis Canada
Mattie’s Place - Pet-ition
Rethink
Heinz x Marvel - Can't Unsee It
When you get a summer brief for ketchup, you could do a campaign about hot dogs. Or, you could become a part of the biggest R-rated film release in history. The trouble was, a million other brands wanted in on it too.
So… how do you create an ad that stands out? Well, maybe you don't make an ad at all. Maybe you launch an idea that makes everyone think of Heinz every time they see Deadpool and Wolverine.
Fact is, the characters’ colours are nearly identical to the Heinz ketchup red and mustard yellow. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. We didn't launch an ad, Marvel launched an official trailer for the film, that was secretly the campaign.
Tens of millions of people saw the launch trailer, and they couldn't unsee it. Out-of-home ran seemingly everywhere 'Deadpool & Wolverine' showed up, even getting mentions across the press tour. The campaign broke into fan culture, with people showing up at the premier and Comic-Con dressed in ketchup and mustard cosplay.
IKEA Canada - u up?
IKEA isn't famous for selling mattresses. So, how do we tell people that IKEA has amazing mattresses in an attention-worthy way? We DM people who aren't sleeping in the middle of the night. If they respond back, we give them a deal on a new mattress. Oh, and yes, 'u up?' is a common late night booty call text.
DMs were sent to over three million people, we drove a tonne of consideration for something IKEA isn't famous for, and literally started a 'Mattress War' in Canada, with the top two mattress retailers responding to the campaign. Durex also responded... eww.
Molson Coors Beverage Company - Paid Through Parents
The good news: Molson was the official sponsor of Team Canada for the Paris Olympics. The bad news: it was illegal to use the athletes in any ads, which meant that despite Olympic athletes being wildly underfunded, Molson couldn't give them any money.
So, how did Molson show the athletes and Canada that it supported them, and do it in a way that earned massive attention? Money laundering. OK, well, like, a legal version of money laundering. The brand sponsored the athletes' parents, running an entire campaign with them – film, out-of-home, and even social content during the competition. Through the sponsorship, the parents we paid. But of course, we all knew where the money was going: directly to the athletes who needed it most. Tony Montana would be proud.
Through the campaign, we were able to increase athletes’ pay by 15,000% more than past Olympics.
TBWA\Canada
Liberation 75 - Young Again Never Again
Chief creative officer Adam Reeves: This important piece leverages AI to present Holocaust survivors as their younger selves, making their message more relevant to today's young people. It's been recognised by several shows already, and we hope the streak continues in Cannes.
The Kitchen
Kraft Heinz - KD 2-4
Kraft Heinz - mio Streaming Energy
The Local Collective
Safehaven - One in 100
VML Canada
Egale Canada - See the Person
Executive creative director Allen Kwong: Far too often, trans people are written off as one-dimensional stereotypes based solely on their identity. Anti-trans stories in the news and media play a big part in this.
Working with 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy organisation Egale, we launched this campaign to challenge audiences to see the person, not the label. Print ads that ran in Canada’s largest daily newspaper were designed to be read two different ways, forcing readers to shift their perspective of a trans person. It’s a powerful reminder that you have a choice when meeting anyone who’s different: view them through a one-dimensional lens, or look deeper and see them as a unique person.
The Coca Cola Company - Balikbayan Magic
Executive creative director Frank Macera: Outdoor was an amazing medium for bringing this to life. Coca-Cola got to honour one of the most loved businesses in the Filipino community by transforming it into a giant symbol of giving for the community. The whole execution was a love letter to a beautiful Filipino tradition, and the teams at VML and Coca-Cola were honoured to help celebrate.
Zulu Alpha Kilo
Art Gallery of Ontario - Art Rate Monitor
Chief creative officer Jenny Glover: The 'Art Rate Monitor' is an innovative way to expand the meaning of an art gallery visit. It’s so much more than an experience for your eyeballs – it's felt on a physiological level. It creates understanding on the subjects, themes, history and even mediums on display. We wanted to give people a sense of personal connectedness to the AGO, to make each visit feel unique, because everyone experiences art differently.
Destination BC - Wasche of the Wild
Executive creative director Dean Lee: Bringing this one-of-a-kind immersive car wash to life was a true collaboration between our Vancouver and New York teams. Our goal was to create an experience that felt deeply authentic to Northern BC. Every detail, from the design of the space to each creative element, was carefully considered to craft an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Pizza Pizza - Bipartisan Wings
Chief creative officer Brian Murray: As an agency, it’s exciting working with brave clients. We all knew that it might upset some people when we decided to put left and right wings in the same box. But, Pizza Pizza stands behind its principles, and is willing to take that risk.
