Cannes: The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has named WPP as Creative Company of the Year for 2025, honouring the collective creative brilliance of its global agency network and its game-changing campaigns for leading brands. The accolade recognises WPP’s unmatched creative performance and innovation across categories, with agencies under its umbrella taking home a remarkable 168 Lions, including a Titanium Lion, 10 Grand Prix, 23 Gold, 53 Silver, and 81 Bronze Lions.
In addition, Mindshare, a WPP agency, earned the joint highest points tally for Media Network of the Year, with its campaign Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era for Dove winning the Grand Prix for Media.
Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said, “Our success at Cannes Lions is a tribute to the extraordinary talent and passion of our people worldwide, and to the clients who entrust us with their brands. It’s also a powerful statement about the central role of creative and media excellence in building brands, shaping culture and driving growth, a principle at the heart of WPP and one I’m very proud to see recognised today. Winning Creative Company of the Year is always a huge honour, but celebrating this achievement with our brilliant people at my last Cannes as CEO makes it doubly special. Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made it happen.”
Standout campaigns this year showcased WPP’s commitment to cultural relevance, cutting-edge use of AI, and brand storytelling with purpose. Ogilvy’s Vaseline Verified campaign for Unilever earned Singapore its first-ever Titanium Lion, alongside two Grand Prix, for Social & Creator and Health & Wellness, while DAVID’s Haaland Payback Time for Supercell bagged the Grand Prix in Entertainment Lions for Sport.
Other Grand Prix winners included:
- VML’s Preserved Promos for Ziploc (Creative Commerce)
- Ogilvy’s Real Beauty platform for Dove (Creative Strategy and Glass Lion for Change)
- AKQA’s Sounds Right campaign for the UN and Spotify (Innovation)
- VML & OpenMind’s Phone Break for KitKat (Outdoor – Czech Republic’s first-ever Grand Prix)
- Ogilvy’s Make Love Last for Viatris (Pharma)
Rob Reilly, Global Chief Creative Officer of WPP, said: “In a world increasingly shaped by AI, authentic human creativity with integrity commands a growing premium. This year’s winners from across WPP brilliantly showcase how our agencies are owning innovation and technology, not to replace creativity, but to amplify it, solve complex challenges for brands, and connect with audiences in more meaningful ways. Congratulations to all our teams and fearless clients for these outstanding results.”
