Irish agencies were among the award winners at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2025. Dentsu, Droga5 Dublin, Folk VML, Publicis Dublin and Thinkhouse won awards and were shortlisted. Publicis Dublin, Thinkhouse and Dentsu Red Star managed to take home three silver and two bronze Lions for Heineken’s ‘Pub Succession’.
The out of home, brand experience and activation campaign for the Dutch lager launched a global recruitment effort to help one retiring Irish publican keep his family name above his pub door. The work was shortlisted for the coveted Titanium Award which honours groundbreaking work in branded communications.
Droga5 Dublin also won a silver in media and bronze for creative strategy for ‘The 26th Minute’ campaign for Samaritans Ireland. The targeted audio campaign reached potential volunteers — specifically those who could listen for 26 minutes, the average call length — through podcast ads, live events, and sports broadcasts.
Improve
Folk VML were shortlisted in the creative commerce category for its ‘Ecosaver Mortgage’ campaign for Bank of Ireland. It focused around the bank’s energy saving mortgage – the more you improve your BER (Building Energy Rating), the better your interest rate gets. To launch it, the agency team rolled out a disruptive campaign.
Ireland’s global creative influence took centre stage at the festival with the Institute of Advertising Practitioners of Ireland (IAPI) in hosting a panel discussion titled ‘How Irish Talent is Shaping Global Brands from the Inside Out’. The event explored how Irish-born and Ireland-based talent is shaping some of the world’s most iconic brands and campaigns.
Among the panellists was Ronan Nulty, executive creative director at Publicis Dublin, Jennifer English, global brand director for Johnnie Walker at Diageo, Abi Moran, CEO, Folk VML and IAPI president, Mark Shanley, executive creative director, Adam & Eve DDB, and Sinead Gill-Molony, director, PR and media relations, Smurfit Westrock, an IAPI sponsor.
