Cannes Lions 2025 Contenders: BBDO India

BBDO India has highlighted their top contenders for next week’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

1. Brand: Candid
Campaign Name: Scratch Music
Categories Entered In: Health & Wellness
With a tropical and changing climate, Indians are particularly at higher risk of skin infections. The itching and irritation leads to irresistable urge to scratch the skin infection.There’s an irresistible urge to scratch skin infections. But it only increases the risk of spreading it. As a market leader in a stagnant category, it was up to Candid Dusting Powder to move the needle.

Candid manifested the irresistible urge to scratch the itch with Indian classical melody, reminding people that while it feels tempting, one should not scratch their skin infection, and choose trusted Candid Dusting Powder instead.

In the brand film, the protagonist blissfully sings, oblivious to onlookers, as he gives into the involuntary need to scratch – slowly transitioning into an unsettling singing when the rash is finally revealed.

2. Brand: WhatsApp
Campaign Name: Oye Lucky ft. Abhay Deol
Categories Entered In: Entertainment
WhatsApp launched a music video as part of its privacy campaign to enhance user safety. The video, featuring actor Abhay Deol, is a reimagined version of the classic track “Oye Lucky Lucky Oye” and aims to educate users on how to protect themselves from scams on the platform. The campaign was created in collaboration with BBDO India and uses nostalgia to highlight the importance of scam awareness and the utilization of WhatsApp’s privacy features and safety tools.

This campaign follows WhatsApp’s privacy initiative launched in July, which focused on promoting user safety and equipping people with the tools and knowledge to protect their online presence.

The video presents common online scams such as fake job offers, impersonation fraud, and OTP scams in relatable scenarios. It emphasises the need for caution before taking any action and educates users on WhatsApp’s multiple layers of protection.

3. Brand: Ariel
Campaign Name: #ShareTheLoad (10 years)
Categories Entered In: Creative Effectiveness
Ariel #ShareTheLoad is the longest-running social movement by a brand, against gender inequality at home.

In 2015, Ariel addressed the condition, with a pertinent question, “ls laundry only a woman’s job?” In 2016, they addressed the deep-rooted conditioning, with a heart-felt apology letter from a father to his daughter. In 2018, they asked, ‘ Are we teaching our sons what we are teaching our daughters?’. In 2020, they addressed the impact of this inequality on women’s health, rallying for Equal Sleep for women. In 2022, they made the whole nation talk about the hidden bias, “If men can share household work with other men, then why not with their wives?”. In 2023, they addressed the emotional distance that creeps into marriage due to unequal distribution of household chores with Silent Separation.

In 2024, they addressed the mental load of household chores that is holding women back. 57% of women declined work-related travel opportunities due to household chores. They rewrote them rules with a new focus on household dynamics. They asked, “How strong is your home team?”

Year after year, we spread the message of #ShareTheLoad through unique touchpoints: Wash Care Label, Comic Books, Name Change Pack and Home Map. The movement was covered by over 1900+ publications across 40 countries and even discussed at the World Economic Forum.

4. Brand: Tata Ultra Marathon
Campaign Name: Feet Of Glory
Categories Entered In: Media
In India, millions of children lack access to proper running shoes. India’s running culture still struggles to find inclusivity, accessibility, and something as basic as running shoes, especially among underprivileged kids. For generations, pledges have always been made with hands. The pledge to love, to lead, to protect, to change. But never has a pledge been made with feet.

The Tata Ultra Marathon Feet of Glory! For the first time in the history of pledges, we got runners to pledge using their feet. We invited runners to make a pledge by dipping their feet in vibrant colours, creating colourful footprints. Each footprint became a pledge for Tata to donate a pair of running shoes to underprivileged children across India.