Cannes Contenders 2026: Cannes For Good

Campaigns for Good is arguably the most hotly contested category in every award show. And looking at the current state of the world it’s arguably the most important. 

For work to win a Lion in this category it needs to be flawless. The sort of work that makes creatives across the world think, “I wish I’d made that”. To even make it onto the shortlist, work needs to be crafted to within an inch of its life and have actual tangible results, that's a given. 

More than that, campaigns that pick up in this category at Cannes tend to blend activism with entertainment. Many of them also use humour, because making a sad charity ad is way too easy. They also need to be authentic to the community or culture they’re trying to reach. Most of all, to win in this category the work simply should not feel like a charity ad. 

I’m looking forward to seeing more creative ideas from around the world that are actually changing the world. In the meantime here are my picks for metal.

New Zealand Herpes Foundation - The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes

Instead of educating people through fear, sympathy, or medical seriousness, the campaign reframed herpes stigma as a national pride problem. Clever.

The answer to this problem was making reducing herpes stigma a patriotic mission. And because we’re talking about New Zealand patriotism, the tone absolutely had to lean into dry New Zealand humour and wit. 

Borrowing the language and feel of a tourism ad, the campaign is jammed full of famous sports legends, comedians, former public health leaders and respected Kiwi personalities. It’s also packed with in-jokes that stay authentic to the audience it was trying to reach. 

It’s educational, funny and in my opinion flawless. Definitely a contender for gold and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Kiwi. 

Channel 4 - Fountain of Filth

I still remember the unbearable pang of jealousy that I had when a still of this first hit my feed. The idea: a fountain of people vomiting up raw sewage. Inspired. 

The fountain was created to raise awareness of a Channel 4 drama Dirty Business, exposing the sick truth being Britain's sewage scandal. But what the idea did incredibly well was to, like the show itself, raise awareness of the actual problem itself. Dare I say, maybe even more so than the show itself.

People I know actually made plans to go down and visit the sculpture which is testament to how well it worked. Definitely gold-worthy. 

SickKids Foundation - The Count

This ad could have easily gone down the path of tugging on heartstrings by showing weak, sickly and frail kids, but they didn’t. Instead, they portrayed the strength and resilience that treatment for a serious illness takes. 

The film shows children all fighting for their next birthday by training through treatment. The ups, the downs and the sheer grit and determination that goes into making it through every single day to get to their next birthday. Emotional oof!

Throughout the film they switch between birthday settings, athletic metaphors and surrealistic worlds, countered by hard hitting treatment shots.  They cast real sick kids being treated at the hospital who deliver flawless performances. This makes the final outcome even more impressive.

The best bit is that this work actually worked with over $3M raised for the hospital, 128% of their revenue goal.  

International Committee of the Red Cross - Not A Target

This is the latest iteration of a long running campaign designed to highlight war crimes in different ways. 

Firstly, they spoke directly to world leaders by putting their message onto the rooftop hospitals, ambulances and schools they are trying to protect. This thereby turned live drone feeds which these leaders would be watching, into a powerful media space. 

It’s a smart way of targeting an incredibly hard-to-get demographic directly and helping to protect people doing important humanitarian work at the same time. Bravo! 

Another part of the campaign highlighted war crimes that have become normalised by news coverage by turning bombed buildings into media.

The team worked with Lebanese muralist and calligrapher Ghaleb Hawila to inscribe excerpts from the Geneva Convention across destroyed public buildings including hospitals. Sobering, powerful and memorable. 

Women’s Aid - Hear Them or Grieve Them

Full transparency and completely unashamedly I have to declare that my agency worked on this piece. But because I’m not on a Lions jury and no one said I couldn’t, I’m putting this one into the mix here. 

The context for this film is that Family Courts in the UK have long prioritised parental contact over child safety, even in cases involving abuse. This led to 19 child deaths that could have been prevented, had the children been heard. 

We decided to give them a voice in the form of a children's choir that sang in protest outside parliament.  

The bit that does it for me is the results. The campaign became a national conversation, generating media attention that added extra pressure to years of campaigning by Women’s Aid. 

Soon after the stunt happened, the UK Government announced plans to change the law, a historic step towards protecting future generations of children. Proud.