India opens Cannes 2025 with 8 Lions, led by FCB's Gold for Indian Railways

India started off strong on the first day of Cannes International Festival of Creativity, touted as the Oscars of the ad-world, with one Gold, four Silvers and three Bronze Lions.

FCB India, one of the big winners of the night, brought home a Gold and a Bronze Lion for its 'Lucky Yatra' campaign for the Indian Railways in the Outdoor Lions category. It won a Silver Lion for Too Yumm! in the same category too.

"Winning at Cannes is always special - it means your work has cut through on the world's biggest creative stage. What makes these wins even more meaningful is that they span businesses and categories - a true reflection of the creative momentum we're building across the board. It's not just about individual campaigns; it's about a culture of creativity that encourages bold thinking and real impact," said Dheeraj Sinha, group CEO, FCB India and South Asia, on the triple win.


Interestingly, 'Lucky Yatra' is also the only Indian entry to make it to the Titanium Lions shortlist.

Silver streak

India particularly shone in the Outdoor category, converting 13 shortlists into two Silver and three Bronze Lions. In addition to FCB's Silver and Bronze, Talented also picked up a Silver Lion for its 'Nature Shapes Britannia' campaign for Britannia Industries.

The other two Bronze Lions were picked up by Ogilvy Mumbai for 'Chai Bansuri - The tea Flute' for Brooke Bond Taj Mahal and 'VI Guardian Beads' for Vodafone Idea India also scored a Silver Lion in the Health and Wellness category (Godrej Creative Labs's 'Naga Saint Eye Test') and one in Pharma (Lowe Lintas's 'Dawai Reader').

"The Dawai Reader is what you get when you combine cutting edge AI, domain specific data and real world problems. The win is a nod to the impact that decoding doctor's handwriting is having on health outcomes, and also to the power of collaboration. Huge credit to Alkem Laboratories for backing such a deceptively simple idea, to Doceree for bringing in crucial domain expertise and being our partners in crime, and to Digital Rhetoric for bringing the tech to life," said Prateek Bhardwaj, CCO, Lowe Lintas.

Day 1's tally gives hope that Indian agencies could cross last year's total haul of 18 metals -- 2 golds, 7 silvers and 9 bronzes.

On the docket

On Tuesday, juries will deliberate over the entries for the Industry Craft Lions, Digital Craft Lions, Film Craft Lions, Design Lions, Entertainment Lions, Entertainment Lions for Gaming, Entertainment Lions for Music and Entertainment Lions for Sport. India has a total of 17 shortlists in these categories.

Arnab Ray, executive creative director, Landor India, who was part of the shortlisting jury for the Industry Craft Lions, says this year's entries underscored the notion that craft still needs a human lens and decision making with fresh perspectives. "Analogous, detail-oriented work and simple clarity of thought is what stood out," he said.