Publicis Groupe’s Jason Williams reveals Cannes contenders that capture APAC’s creative diversity
Jason Williams, Head of Creative Excellence at Publicis Groupe APAC, shares 10 Cannes contenders that reflect the diversity of the Asia-Pacific region – and explains why each one is unique.
“Predicting what wins at Cannes can sometimes be a bit like betting on the weather. But one way to boost our chances is to make sure we produce smart and culturally relevant work for our clients across the region, at scale. Something we pride ourselves on, in fact, that’s a core strength across all our agency brands. Meaningful creativity, that utilises tech and media to enhance people’s lives and deliver business impact.
The projects below demonstrate long-term thinking, tap human behaviour, explore new tech, and even utilise our client’s production line to react in real-time to culture.”
Haven / Building A More Resilient Australia – Suncorp Insurance
Leo Australia
Forging a creative partnership that lasts over five years and impacts millions is rare, but that’s what Leo Australia and Suncorp have achieved, shifting the national conversation from recovery to resilience. As climate change intensifies, they’ve built a long-term platform focused on resilience. This creative solution extends beyond communication, influencing behaviour, building codes, industry standards, government investment, and in 2025, putting ‘resilience utility’ in the hands of every Aussie with the launch of ‘Haven’.
Trust Bars – Heineken
LePub Singapore
Solving human problems, it’s what we do! When 4am kick-offs left Korean football fans with nowhere to go, LePub Singapore turned the Korean cultural behaviour of ‘trust’ into a brand experience. Heineken launched self-service Trust Bars; staff-free venues powered by civic trust and smart tech. Fans could pour and pay for their own pints via Heineken taps. In the process, LePub created a new late-night commerce system for bar owners, all while deepening fan loyalty for Heineken.
History In the Baking – Oreo
Leo India
We’re also at our ‘innovative best’ when we can work closely with clients to utilise their infrastructure. Sporting history is usually reserved for the cashed-up fans, buying limited edition jerseys, bats, and signed balls. Oreo believes every fan should own a piece of it. So, when cricket history was made during the Cricket World Cup, Oreo instantly baked it onto a cookie. Each milestone turned into collectible fan memorabilia, powered by live data, rapid mould changes, and hundreds of responsive, dedicated Oreo bakers.
Loconomy Burgers – McDonald’s
Leo Korea
Leo Korea partnered with McDonald’s, local governments and farmers to help turn their struggling native farms and crops into the taste of regional Korean pride. Over a 5+ year partnership, McDonald’s utilised native ingredients like green tea pork, garlic, green onions, and peppers in Boseong, Changnyeong, Jindo, and Jinju. Each burger took up to 15 months to develop, blending culinary tradition with regional identity, helping hundreds of farmers remain on the land.
Augmented Reading Lenses – Snap / National Library Board Singapore
LePub Singapore
At Publicis Groupe APAC, early-stage tech partnerships excite us too – as a chance to encourage positive digital behaviours. This Snap/LePub Collab reimagines books for a digital-native generation; blending soundscapes, visuals, and interactivity through AR and Gen-AI to enrich, not replace, the reading experience. Created with the National Library Board, Singapore, it transforms reading into a multi-sensory journey, while preserving its quiet intimacy. It’s a scalable platform reshaping how literature, education, and technology converge.
Gamers On Duty – Lenovo
Leo India
We also pride ourselves on studying cultural behaviour; this time it’s gamers. Many Indian gamers appeared to be camping in-game, but we discovered they were just stuck! With outdated laptops and graphically demanding games, millions had no choice but to hide in-game rather than fight out in the open. When Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launched, Leo India used the new 15-second ‘hostage chat’ to troll campers and pitch Lenovo’s Legion Pro 5i as the way out. They dropped promo codes mid-stream, no media buys required. Just raw, in-game disruption that turned campers into customers.
Night Classroom – McDonald’s
Leo Philippines
Here’s another great example of leveraging client infrastructure to help a societal group; Filipino students. Research shows that distraction-free study spaces significantly boost grades. Many students in the Philippines struggle with cramped living conditions, poor internet, and noisy environments. McDonald’s solved this by introducing 100+ Night Classrooms, converting stores near universities into quiet, well-lit, wi-fi enabled study areas after hours. These spaces were used by over 30,000 students and operated for a whopping 140,000 hours!
Re-righting History – Cathay
Leo Hong Kong
Yes, AI is everywhere, but here, it serves a higher purpose. Over the past four decades, Hong Kong’s Paralympians have won 139 medals, yet many of their achievements went undocumented, their stories untold. To right that historical oversight, Cathay, official partner of the China Hong Kong Paralympic Team, used AI to recreate these lost moments. Drawing from athlete interviews and images, their medal-winning performances were unveiled during the 2024 Paralympics opening ceremony. And we continue to write them back into digital history today. It’s never too late to honour those who pioneered history, despite being forgotten by it.
HiLux Hybrid 3.5 Tonnes Headline – Toyota
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand
Sometimes, there’s nothing more satisfying than a hardworking, entertaining product demo! The Hilux is New Zealand’s most iconic 4WD, famed for its durability. However, the new hybrid faced scepticism from rural communities, who equate hybrids with less power. So, what better way to prove them all wrong than towing a 3.5-tonne steel headline 6,672km across the country? It quickly became a source of social commentary and reassured the fiercely proud (and sceptical) farming community it’s got some serious grunt!
In A Pickle – Toyota HiLux
Saatchi & Saatchi, Australia
To finish: some smart, playful, entertaining storytelling. In Australia, the Toyota HiLux is renowned for its reliability. This story proves just that, with the help of some ‘Duelling Banjos’! The narrative taps a strong off-road insight; that drivers know the embarrassment of needing towing. So, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia pushed this to comedic extremes to demonstrate HiLux’s superior capability. With some classic, quality copywriting to end, “Don’t send a Ute to do a HiLux job”.
Exactly, job done!