Awards Wrap: SA's Young Lions winners, Inclusive Lens awards spotlight diverse content, Kantar's most effective ads of the year

The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media.

South Africa’s Brightest Young Creative Talent announced as winners of the Cannes Young Lions 2025 Competition

Ster-Kinekor, in partnership with Heineken® South Africa, has announced the two winning teams who will represent South Africa at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025. These exceptional young creatives have earned the opportunity to compete against the best talent from around the world in the highly competitive Young Lions Competition taking place in Cannes, France, from 16 June 2025.

This year marks the first time South Africa has competed in both the Film and Digital categories, reflecting the country’s growth in driving creativity. With only 48 hours to respond to a real-world brief, both teams demonstrated bold thinking, cultural relevance, and world-class storytelling.

Khomotso Lwazi Makoto & Paula Stephanie Andropoulos – TBWA Hunt Lascaris: Their 60-second commercial brought the power of Ster-Kinekor’s Vision Mission to life with a heartfelt narrative that inspired belief in the power of sight. The judges were impressed by the team’s ability to combine empathy, craft, and cinematic clarity in such a short timeframe.

Louise Laas & Khanyisile Modiba – Metropolitan Republic:The winning digital campaign presented a bold and innovative idea for Heineken® 0.0 and Arrive Alive, addressing the issue of drinking and driving through a positive and digitally driven behaviour change solution. Their 5-slide presentation stood out for its creativity, insight, and potential for real-world impact.

“The level of talent in this year’s competition was truly world-class,” said Andrea Quaye, Marketing Director at HEINEKEN Beverages. “This marks the beginning of what we see as a long-term investment in creative excellence. We are committed to nurturing this partnership and supporting young talent in the years to come.”

“The Young Lions Competition continues to be a platform for identifying tomorrow’s creative leaders,” added Lynne Wylie, Chief Marketing Officer at Ster-Kinekor. “We are incredibly proud of these young teams and can’t wait to see them compete on the global stage.”

Inclusive film and television content under the spotlight at FAME Week Africa

After last year’s successful inaugural Inclusive Lens Award, FAME Week Africa (happening in the Host City of Cape Town from 1-6 September 2025) will again put the spotlight on film and TV that explores underrepresented perspectives and a diversity of narratives at the 2025 Inclusive Lens Awards. Submissions are now open.

The Awards will take place on 2 September as part of the MIP Africa programme at FAME Week.

Says FAME Week Africa’s Portfolio Director, Martin Hiller, “The Inclusive Lens Awards are designed to spotlight and reward exceptional efforts in the portrayal and inclusion of diverse narratives and characters. We invite projects with a special focus on LGBTQ+ representation and disability awareness to submit their works for consideration. We will also recognise the depiction of a diversity of themes and characters in children’s content.”

Films and series’ for consideration must have been made between 1 January 2024 and 31 May 2025 and have aired on an accessible linear and/or non-linear platform, had a theatrical release, or screened at a film festival. The submission deadline is 13 June 2025 and the Official Selection will be announced at the end of July.

The Awards celebrate both films and series (scripted and unscripted) that highlight stories from Africa or about its diaspora in the following categories:

Best LGBTQ+ Representation
Best Disability Representation
Best Diversity and Inclusion Representation for Young Audiences

Submissions can be made here.

ME & Africa has 13 finalists in ADC 104th Annual Awards – including South Africa

The One Club for Creativity has announced the global finalists in the ADC 104th Annual Awards, including 13 from Middle East & Africa.

Founded in 1920, the ADC Annual Awards is the world’s longest continuously running awards program recognising global excellence in craft and innovation in all forms of advertising and design.

Finalists in the region are:

South Africa: BCKRDS Johannesburg has one finalist, for 54 Collective “54 Collective Rebrand”. Also with one is Pola Maneli Port Elizabeth for “Narrating Slavery’s Wake” on behalf of The Smithsonian Institute.
Egypt: One finalist each went to Bahia Shehab Cairo for NUART Aberdeen “Bear Witness”, and Islam Hassan Cairo for Odoriko “Odoriko Logo”.
Saudi Arabia: BigTime Creative Shop Riyadh picked up the country’s three finalists, all for the ring magazine “4th Judge”.
Turkey: Both ADC 104th Annual Awards finalists from Turkey went to Sadi Akbudak İstanbul for “TUGFO 24” on behalf of The Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.
United Arab Emirates: Publicis Middle East Dubai has all of the finalists from UAE with four, all for Babyshop “ColourCheck”.

Globally, Klick Health Toronto has the most finalists with 39, including 18 for Café Joyeux “47”, and 11 for KVI Brave Fund “Voice 2 Diabetes”.

Other top finalists are FCB New York 36, Serviceplan Germany Munich with 29, Apple Cupertino with 22, Rethink Canada with 17, and The New York Times Magazine with 15.

A total of 772 finalists from 40 countries were selected by this year’s esteemed ADC 104th Annual Awards jury. The complete searchable list of this year’s finalists is available here.

All finalists will win a Gold, Silver or Bronze Cube or Merit, to be announced on 14 May 2025. ADC Gold and special award winners will be celebrated that evening at the gala awards ceremony at Gotham Hall during Creative Week in New York.

In addition to the ADC 104th Annual Awards, Creative Week 2025 includes awards ceremonies for the Young Ones Student Awards on May 12, Type Directors Club TDC71 Best of Discipline winners and exhibition on May 13, The One Show 2025 winners on May 16, exclusiveExecutive Creative Summit-New York on May 15-16, and the first-ever Creative Week AI Creative Challenge on May 15.

One Show 2025 finalists announced, 68 from Middle East & Africa

The One Club for Creativity has announced the entries from 49 countries and regions that are finalists for The One Show 2025, including 68 from Middle East & Africa.

Big Time Creative Shop Riyadh has nine finalists, including seven for client General Entertainment Authority: four for “Obsession”, and three for “Everything or Nothing”. The agency also has two finalists for The Ring Magazine “4th Judge”.

Also with nine finalists is Leo Dubai, including eight for NBA India “The Great Indian Dunk” and one for Prototype Studio “Zael – The Disappearing Font”.

FP7 McCann Dubai has eight One Show 2025 finalists, including five for Aria “Selfless Shelves”, two for McDonalds “After Dinner Dinner”, and one for Heinz “Heinz Insurance”.

Joe Public Johannesburg has eight, including five for Nedbank “Youth Honours Board”, and three for AB InBev/Hansa Pilsener “There’s a beer for you”.

Also with eight finalists is Sela X Newcastle United Jeddah, all for Sela “Unsilence the Crowd”.

With four One Show 2025 finalists each are Impact BBDO Dubai, SRMG Labs Riyadh, and TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg.

Two finalists each went to Bananas Johannesburg, Havas Middle East Dubai, Ogilvy Nairobi, Promise Johannesburg, and VML Dubai.

With one finalist each are Carbon Films Cape Town, Enpower Trading Cape Town, GForce Grey Almaty, and VML Riyadh.

The One Show 2025 finalists entries for the region by country are United Arab Emirates with 25, Saudi Arabia with 22, South Africa with 18, Kenya with two, and Kazakhstan with one.

Globally, FCB New York has the most One Show 2025 finalists with 85, including 53 for Spotify “Spreadbeats”, and 31 for “Lap of Legends” on behalf of AB InBev, Michelob ULTRA. “Spreadbeats” is also the entry with the most finalists spots.

Other top finalists are Klick Health Toronto and Serviceplan Germany Munich with 49 each, Area 23 New York with 47, Apple Cupertino with 40, DM9 Saõ Paulo with 37, and Rethink Canada with 32.

This year’s esteemed One Show global jury selected a total of 1,659 finalists from 49 countries. The complete searchable list of finalists for The One Show 2025 is available here.

Coca-Cola, Desperados, Freya’s and Deliveroo take top spots in Kantar’s most creative and effective ads of the year

Kantar has revealed the winners of its annual Creative Effectiveness Awards, showcasing the most effective ads across digital and social, TV, print and outdoor, alongside the best performing ads tested by LINK AI, Kantar’s AI-powered ad testing solution. Ads from Coca-Cola, Deliveroo, Desperados and bread brand Freya’s take the top spots in the print/outdoor, TV, digital/social, and LINK AI-tested categories respectively.

The winners are determined by Kantar’s LINK+ ad testing solution and a qualitative assessment by Kantar’s diverse global creative team. LINK+ is independently validated to predict how an ad will deliver short-term sales and future brand demand, with creatively effective ads proven to be four times more likely to see an increase in sales and return on marketing investment (profit).

The best creative across digital/social, TV, print/outdoor, and LINK AI-tested comes from a diverse range of brands, categories and markets – highlighting the universal power of creativity to bring people together in a polarised world.

Digital/social

	Brand	Title	Agency	Channel	Country
1	Desperados	The Beer With Latin Vibe – Supermarket	LePub Milan	YouTube	Netherlands
2	CeraVe	Grandma	BPCM	TikTok	USA
3	Tourism Australia	Colours of Australia, Taylor’s Version	Tourism Australia Social Media Team	Instagram	USA

	Brand	Title	Agency	Country
1	Deliveroo	Now just got even better – Octoman	Pablo London	Multimarket
2	KitKat	Break Better campaign	VML London	Multimarket
3	Volkswagen	YourWagen 60s TV	adam&eveDDB	UK

Print/outdoor

	Brand	Title	Agency	Country
1	Coca-Cola	Pick up a Coke, light up the dark	Uncommon Creative	Norway
2	Google Pixel	Google Pixel 9 with Gemini \| Contextual DOOH	Anomaly London	UK
3	Goodyear	Feel The Drive Pulse (DE Print)	McCann	Germany

Tested by LINK AI

	Channel	Brand	Title	Agency	Country
1	TV	Freya’s	Variety is Good	DDB NZ	New Zealand
2	TV	Colgate MaxFresh	Doctor Ad 30Sec	Ogilvy	India
3	Digital	Uber	Taxi IMC (60s): Taksi için doğru tercih	BPG & VML Türkiye	Turkey

The winning ads highlight four rising creative trends in the industry, giving marketers inspiration for how to use creativity to connect with audiences and predispose people to their brand:

Relatable Realities: Connecting with people through real moments that reflect their everyday lives. Coca-Cola’s #1 winning print/outdoor ad ‘Pick up a Coke, light up the dark’ lit up the opportunities that hide in the dark for those living in places where the winter months bring long hours of darkness.
Bizarrely Bold: Surreal ideas like exaggerated visuals and fantastical scenarios don’t just grab attention, they differentiate these ads from the crowd. Deliveroo’s TV winner ‘Octoman’ unexpectedly presents Octopus Triton on a date ordering his takeaway to an isolated island, stopping viewers in their tracks.
Roots Reimagined: Brands looking to their past to help connect with people today, whether that’s emphasising the way they’ve always been there for people, or celebrating they ways they’ve changed and grown. The #3 TV winner Volkswagen’s ‘YourWagen’ ad spells out the literal meaning of the brand’s name, ‘people’s car’, and spotlights the personal stories of its owners over time, involving genuine Volkswagen fans in its storytelling.
Trend Tapping: Embedding a brand in the conversations people are already having, through music, sports, or borrowing attention by jumping on viral hype moments and contemporary culture. Tourism Australia did this with its #3 digital/social winner ‘Colours of Australia, Taylor’s Version’, released just as Taylor Swift arrived to tour the country.

Gerety Announces Humour Jury in partnership with Funny Women

Funny Women is a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering women from all walks of life using comedy and humour to build confidence, explore creativity and have a voice. Founded in 2002, Funny Women promotes equal rights and opportunities for all; showcasing female-identifying voices, and contributing to gender parity in the industry and beyond.

The annual Funny Women Awards were founded in 2003 and have recently launched for 2025 sponsored by BBC Studios’ Funny Parts.

Named for Frances Gerety, the copywriter who in 1948 coined the slogan “A diamond is forever”. The Gerety Awards brings together a jury to select the best in advertising from a powerful perspective, and gives a business case for good advertising, Gerety celebrates campaigns that are not only award-worthy but ones that resonate with the world’s most powerful consumers.

The Humour cut at Gerety celebrates the very best of funny advertising, it describes making other people laugh is one of the most refined arts in entertainment. The votes of the Funny Women jury will be included in that of the global executive jury that chooses the shortlist that will be announced at the beginning of June.

Gerety co-founder Lucía Ongay said, “The humour category is an important part of the Gerety winners showcase, and we have seen some fabulous winners in this category over the years, as humour takes back its prominent place in advertising. We are extremely excited to partner with Funny Women for this unique jury and also sharing the winners with their audience ”

Commenting on the partnership Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women and leader of the humour jury, said “This is a fantastic opportunity for our extended team of brilliant female comedy producers and collaborators from around the world to participate in the amazing Gerety Awards. Comedy is integral to memorable advertising and over the years we have discovered some incredibly talented performers, writers and creators who have gone on to work in the wider creative industries. I can’t wait to see what this year brings!”

This year’s jury includes a record 245 judges from 50 different countries. The only judging criteria is originality of the idea and creativity in its execution.

The Final deadline for entries is 9 May.