Brazil Brings its Creativity and Culture to Cannes Lions

Each year, the industry descends on the South of France to celebrate the year’s best creativity at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. In 2024, the Film Lions winners were more international than the prior year – 73% of awarded film ads in 2024 came from outside the US and UK, compared to 51% in 2023. Also in 2024, Brazil earned 92 wins in categories such as Audio & Radio, Outdoor, Print & Publishing, Creative B2B, Film Craft and more.

And 2025 is the biggest celebration of Brazil’s creativity yet. This year, Cannes Lions announced that the first ever Creative Country of the Year accolade would be bestowed upon Brazil. As we at System1 know well, consistency is one of the most important keys to marketing success, and Brazil has regularly produced the best work in the world.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the 2025 winning campaigns and celebrate the incredible talent behind the brand and agency teams that have taken home Gold, Silver, Bronze.

It is also the second time that our LATAM Ad Of The Month/Ad Of The Week feature has celebrated a Cannes Lions winner ahead of the Festival, showcasing that the Lions judges are selecting campaigns that also resonate with consumers. System1 previously celebrated VW’s campaign which took home 5 Lions in 2024.

Additionally, Brazil won its first-ever Grand Prix for the Sustainable Development Goals category, with Natura and agency Africa awarded for The Amazon Greenventory. Natura, one of the most sustainable companies in the world, embarked on an innovative project that leveraged a drone and AI to map Amazon tree species and share this information with local communities so they know where to harvest various nuts, fruit and other resources that can be used for the production of cosmetics. These harvesters earn a continuous income from the fruits, rather than a one-time profit from cutting down trees. It’s a win-win for the environment and the locals and their families who depend on the income that the rainforest provides.

And it’s yet another example of purpose-driven work that has it’s well-deserved moment in the spotlight at Cannes!

Outstanding Outdoor Advertising

Numerous campaigns from Brazil were honored with Outdoor Lions, including Mercado Libre/GUT, Itaú Unibanco/Africa Creative DDB and New Balance/LePub.

In an effort to get around online scalpers, New Balance brought São Paulo FC merch directly to the most loyal fans with its Followers Store campaign. They created a new limited-edition jersey and turned the team bus into a moving e-commerce channel and OOH, with push notifications sent out to fans within a defined perimeter so only they would have access to the merch. A creative campaign that knows its target audience!

Film Puts the Focus on Brazil

This year, Brazil earned 2 Bronze in the Film category.

Perhaps the most emotional is a campaign from Reckitt’s Vanish, “Invisible Stain” which stands up against bullying. The animated short is full of storytelling, characters and craft, applying many of the right-brained creative features that our very own Orlando Wood advocates for to make entertaining work. There’s knowing glances and interactions among the characters, creating a sense of between-ness, a soundtrack to carry the story and the message and scenes progressively unfolding to provide an emotional journey and resolution for the audience. This is what showmanship advertising is all about, and it’s made even better by the fact that it’s grounded in purpose.

The First Creative Country of the Year 

Throughout the week, Cannes Lions curated sessions with Brazilian speakers and companies, putting Brazil in the spotlight. From Mercado Libre to Heineken Brazil to GUT and Grey Brazil, there were executives from both the brand and agency sides sharing insights and inspiration for global marketers to apply.

And of course there is the award itself: Creative Country of the Year.

This is the first year of the accolade, with Lions CEO Simon Cook confirming that it will be an annual award recognizing “countries that have demonstrated consistent success at the Festival,” while also noting that Brazil is “a nation that has creativity ingrained in its culture.”

With creativity at its heart, it’s no wonder that Brazil has a long track record at Cannes Lions.  The country took home its first Lions at the 1971 Festival and had 1,911 Lions heading into the 2025 Festival. It has also been regularly recognized with the prestigious Grand Prix.

Highlights include:

• Diageo Brasil’s 2024 Grand Prix for Johnnie Walker’s ‘Errata at 88’ campaign
• 2023’s Digital Craft Grand Prix from Nike and AKQA’s São Paulo, Australia and Portland studios
• Mercado Libre’s “Feed Parade” Grand Prix in 2021
• The Glass Grand Prix for Starbucks and VMLY&R Brazil in 2021

There is no doubt that while we’ve seen greatness from Brazil already, there is much more to come!

Create with Confidence 

The most effective ads are those that emotionally resonate with consumers. By stirring an emotional response, they drive short-term effects and support lasting profit gain and market share growth. And even better if they are also acclaimed by the Cannes Lions judges!

Want to Create with Confidence? System1 can help you predict and improve the commercial impact of your advertising with our Test Your Ad platform. Test from early stage through to finished film and work closely with our team to further optimize the creative elements that will have the biggest impact with your audience.