Joe Public kickstarts SA’s 2026 campaign

With the first winners announced on Monday evening, 22 June, Joe Public has kickstarted South Africa's Cannes 2026 campaign with a Bronze Lion in the Audio & Radio Lions.
Danette BreitenbachBy Danette Breitenbach
23 Jun 2026
The first Cannes 2026 winners have been announced (Image source: @ union )
The first Cannes 2026 winners have been announced (Image source: @ union Union)

The local independent agency won the Bronze Lion in the Script section for client Hansa Pilsner’s Healing Era campaign.

The brand and agency also received Bronze Lion Campaign for The Hustle and DeLulu is the Solulu.

The Radio & Audio Lions had 506 entries, 34 shortlisted, one Grand Prix, two gold, five Silver and nine Bronze.

The Grand Prix in the Audio & Radio Lions went to BBDO Puerto Rico, Guaynabo and brand Hyundai Puerto Rico for Coqui Alarmed.

See all the winners here

Creative Brand

Creative Brand had 71 Entries, eight shortlisted with one Grand Prix and one Creative Brand.

The Grand Prix went to Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev, Leuven for ABInBev: Creativity at Scale.

The Creative Brand Lion went to Mastercard, New York, for Mastercard.

See all the winners here.

Outdoor

This category had 1,390 entries with 84 shortlisted, one Grand Prix, nine gold, 17 Silver and 24 Bronze.

The Grand Prix went to GUT, Sao Paulo for brand Mercado Livre from Field BarCode.

See all the winners here.

Printing and Publishing

There were 415 entries with 37 shortlisted. The jury awarded one Grand Prix, four Gold, six Silver and eight Bronze.

Rethink Toronto was awarded the Grand Prix for Heinz Ketchup for Look Familiar?.

See all the winners here.

Creative B2B

While there were 353 entries, there were only 26 shortlisted, with one Grand Prix, two gold, four Silver and four Bronze.

The Grand Prix went to Nord, Stockholm and brand SKF for The Faroe Islands Space Program.

See the full list of winners here.

Health

Lions Health Grand Prix for Good went to Differ, Stockholm / Colony, Stockholm for brand Caritas for Vehicle of Hope.

The Health & Wellness Grant Prix went to Smuggler, London / Uncommon Creative Studio, London and brand The Ordinary for The Periodic Fable.

See all the winners here.

The Pharma Grand went to Fallon, Minneapolis Prix went to Novartis for Relax your tight end.

See all the winners here.

For more:

As media partner to the Creative Circle SA, we’re proud to publish exclusive daily snapshot updates from Cannes. Don’t miss the first Diary of Creative Circle at Cannes from the SA cohort on the ground in Cannes, every day from 19-24 June! Also Book Now for The Full Circle event, brought to you by the Creative Circle - an inspiring showcase of the top trends, insights and award winning work from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

About Danette Breitenbach

Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.
View my profile and articles...

 
For more, visit: https://www.bizcommunity.com