India had a dream run at the recently concluded Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025. In addition to one Grand Prix and nine Gold awards, the agencies from India shone by winning 13 Bronze medals as well. Let’s explore these bronze-winning campaigns from India.
Amongst the Bronze winners, Ogilvy emerged as the undisputed leader as it snatched six Bronze medals for its four campaigns. Ogilvy won Bronze under the Outdoor category came for its Chai Bansuri campaign made for Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea. The campaign featured a 500-litre, teapot-shaped installation on the banks of the Krishna River in Vijayawada. As tea brewed, its steam passed through a concealed flute, producing live Carnatic music in Raag Hamsadhwani—composed by percussionist Taufiq Qureshi and rendered by flautist Hrishikesh Majumdar.
Conceived over eight months by Hindustan Unilever, Ogilvy India, and Mindshare, the activation blended artistry, engineering and cultural heritage. It continued the brand’s classical-music theme, following the previous Megh Santoor rain-activated installation. Amplification included regional TV placement in a Zee Telugu show and influencer-led digital outreach.
Category: Outdoor
Agency: Ogilvy
Campaign: Chai Bansuri
Client: Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea
Ogilvy's another win was under the PR category for the Box To Beds campaign, it crafted for Amazon. Launched at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, the campaign involved converting 1,000 of Amazon’s used cardboard delivery boxes into sturdy, portable beds.
These upcycled box-beds, sanitised and safety-tested, were distributed free of charge at key locations—such as lost-and-found centres, volunteer hubs, police and hospital stations, and general rest areas—to offer devotees and staff a practical alternative to sleeping on the ground during the 45-day event. The campaign, developed in collaboration with local authorities, focuses on creativity, sustainability, and comfort.
Category: PR
Agency: Ogilvy
Campaign: Box To Beds
Client: Amazon
Under the Outdoor category, Ogilvy won two Bronze medals. The first one came for the Holy Beads campaign created for Vi. Introduced at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, the campaign provided free bracelets crafted from Rudraksh and Tulsi beads, each engraved with a pilgrim’s emergency contact number.
Available at a dedicated Vi booth at the Maha Kumbh venue, the wristbands were meant primarily for elderly visitors, women, and children, groups most vulnerable in the crowd. The bracelets enabled quick identification and reunification of separated individuals, even in the absence of mobile phones or internet access. Complementing the campaign, Vi upgraded its network infrastructure—adding new network sites, small cells, and fibre.
Category: Outdoor
Agency: Ogilvy
Campaign: Holy Beads
Client: Vi
Under the Media category, Ogilvy snatched a Bronze for its Eye Test Menu campaign it crafted for Titan Eyewear. The same campaign also won it a Bronze each under Brand Experience & Activation and Design categories as well. Launched on World Sight Day, the campaign aims to help improve road safety by addressing poor vision among professional drivers. Custom-designed eye-test menus—visually styled like the familiar truck-art menus at dhabas—were placed at roadside eateries, allowing drivers to self-diagnose vision issues simply by ordering food.
Every third truck driver in India requires vision correction, a factor linked to over 25,000 crashes and 10,000 fatalities in 2021–22. Drivers identifying issues received on-the-spot, free eye examinations by optometrists, followed by prescription spectacles delivered to their homes at subsidised rates. By the campaign’s launch, over 7,000 drivers had been screened across more than 900 locations, helping Titan Eye+ and Ogilvy convey their theme, ‘Make Indian Roads Safe’.
Category: Media
Agency: Ogilvy
Campaign: Eye Test Menu
Client: Titan Eyewear
Among the Bronze winners from India, Havas Creative ranked second at the Cannes Lions 2025 festival with two wins for its Ink of Democracy campaign it crafted for The Times of India. The first Bronze for Havas came in under the Direct category, while the second one came under the Media category (for the same campaign). The campaign, created in partnership with the Election Commission of India, aimed to address low voter turnout by repurposing unused purple indelible ink—the dye used for marking voters’ fingers—into a visual metaphor.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, select editions of The Times of India and The Economic Times were printed entirely in purple ink. Each printed page symbolised 132 non-voters, resulting in 22.80 lakh pages and referencing the 7,500 litres of ink that went unused in 2019. The campaign carried the message: ‘Don’t waste a drop of electoral ink. Don’t waste the power of democracy.’
Category: Direct
Agency: Havas Creative
Campaign: Ink of Democracy
Client: The Times of India
Under the Brand Experience & Activation category, Leo won a Bronze award for Tailor Test campaign it created for Acko.
Category: Brand Experience & Activation
Agency: Leo
Campaign: Tailor Test
Client: Acko
Two more Bronze winners from India dominated the Media category this year. Talented won a Bronze for Nature Shapes campaign it created for Britannia.
Category: Media
Agency: Talented
Campaign: Nature Shapes
Client: Britannia
Dentsu Creative won a Bronze medal for Garuda Rakshak campaign made for DSP Mutual Fund under Media category. The campaign carried out in collaboration with Falco Robotics deployed drone-based technology at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj in January 2025. Designed to resolve network congestion issues, the system employed offline, low-frequency GPS communication to quickly locate any missing children.
Festival grounds were divided into four zones, each equipped with drones and lost & found centres. Children and guardians wore wristbands; when separation occurred, guardians activated the system at a kiosk. The drone ascended at high speed (≈80 km/h), identified the child via GPS, and released a distinct sky-visible colour marker to guide rescue teams. Within five minutes, 78% of tracked children were located, and every wrist-banded child was reunited with their families.
Category: Media
Agency: Dentsu Creative
Campaign: Garuda Rakshak
Client: DSP Mutual Fund
Similar to Media, Outdoor was another category that Indian agencies left their mark on. FCB India won a Bronze for its Lucky Yatra campaign it created for the Indian Railways.
Category: Outdoor
Agency: FCB India
Campaign: Lucky Yatra
Client: Indian Railways
Under Social and Creator category, BBH India won a Bronze for its Bassi vs Men’s it made for Garnier Facewash. The campaign flips Anubhav Singh Bassi’s viral stand-up joke mocking face-wash into a playful endorsement of Garnier Men TurboBright Facewash. In the TV and social-first activation, Bassi remains sceptical until brand ambassador John Abraham convinces him to try it live on screen.
Their exchange, laced with Bassi’s comedic rhythm, pokes fun at the product before showcasing its freshness and cooling effects—attributes aligned with the charcoal and menthol ingredients. Developed by BBH India, the campaign engaged over 100 Indian comedians, embracing humour and cultural relevance, and centred on challenging outdated views on men’s grooming.
Category: Social and Creator
Agency: BBH India
Campaign: Bassi vs Men’s
Client: Garnier Facewash
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