Four years running – The Weber Shandwick Collective leaves Cannes as its most awarded PR agency

For an unprecedented fourth consecutive year, The Weber Shandwick Collective (TWSC) has been named the most recognized PR agency at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Proving once again that earned-first creativity is the most powerful driver of cultural and business impact, TWSC took home a staggering 25 Lions – including 1 Grand Prix credit, 2 Gold, 7 Silver, and 14 Bronze. The network’s breadth of excellence was further cemented by 70 shortlists across a diverse range of categories.

Most notably, the agency continued to flex its muscles not just as a PR partner, but as a premier earned-first creative lead. TWSC secured 1 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze and 6 shortlists credited as the lead Idea agency, reinforcing our position as a powerhouse of original, earned-at-the-core storytelling.

Our US Young Lions team June Hernandez (Senior Art Director) and Valiant Freeman (Senior Copywriter) represented us with pride on the global stage, while Jean Paoli (Executive Creative Director) and Louisa Hager (West Coast Creative Lead) helped set the global standard for excellence as members of this year’s Cannes Lions juries.

Creativity that captured culture and commanded attention

One of this year’s top-honored campaigns, “The Swedish Prescription” from Prime Weber Shandwick and Visit Sweden, earned a Gold Creative Lion, a Silver PR Lion and a Bronze Health & Wellness Lion. The breadth of categories underscores the huge reason behind the success of the work – as it managed to break through by breaking beyond one space to push visibility for the country of Sweden by positioning it uniquely as a wellness alternative.

Winning a Gold and Silver Lion in Direct, alongside three Bronze Lions (Brand Experience & Activation, Design, Outdoor) and four additional shortlists, Corona’s “Lime Guides” from ABInBev, brilliantly created a solution for a universal frustration by using food-safe laser technology to etch the perfect cutting guide directly onto limes. The campaign, developed by GREY with PR support from 3PM/Weber Shandwick New York, perfected Corona’s iconic lime ritual and made it easier than ever to get the perfect lime slice — turning an everyday pain point into the first step of relaxation. The campaign solved a real consumer tension while driving significant business impact and social conversation for Corona globally.

Current Global Dubai and FP7 McCann Dubai earned Silver (Media) and three Bronze Lions (Creative Strategy, Glass: The Lion for Change, Media) for “Recipe for Change” for Puck, a leading dairy brand in MENAT. When war disrupted supply chains, Puck turned displaced Lebanese mothers’ family recipes into intellectual property. Licensed to global restaurants on a 50-50 revenue share, this world-first model restored economic dignity and delivered profound human impact.

Additional wins included:

Abbott Voodoo Dolls with Weber Shandwick Geneva earned a shortlist in Pharma for Product or Service Promotion as a lead Idea agency. The campaign sparked global conversations and captured the jury’s attention for its bold approach to health communications, proving the impact of addressing fragmented care in an emotionally gripping way.

Wikifarmer The Wedding Rice with McCann Athens and Weber Shandwick Kifisia won a Grand Prix in Creative Business Transformation in Brand Purpose and Impact. 

Michelob Ultra Run Back the Miracle with WIEDEN+KENNEDY and 3PM/Weber Shandwick New York won two Bronzes in Brand Experience & Activation (Live Brand Experience or Activation) and Digital Craft (Personalized Storytelling & Experience). 

Skittles Gaming Flute with TBWA\CHIAT\DAY Chicago and Weber Shandwick Chicago won a Silver in Entertainment Lions for Gaming for Use of Humor and a Bronze in Brand Experience & Activation in Tech-Led Brand Experience. 

Equality Health Foundation The Zip Code Exam with AREA 23 and Weber Shandwick New York won a Silver in Creative Strategy for Data & Analytics and a Bronze in Design for Design-Driven Effectiveness. 

Stella Artois Dressed for Wimbledon with GUT and 3PM/Weber Shandwick London won a Silver and Bronze in Design for IP-Led Brand Identity and Packaging Design, respectively. 

Knorr Serving Singles with Frank and Weber Shandwick London won a Silver in Media for Audience Insights. 

M&M’s RickTok with BBDO Chicago and Weber Shandwick Chicago won a Bronze in Social & Creator for Brand Storytelling. 

L’ORÉAL Paris Missing Letters of Worth with FP7 McCann Dubai and Current Global Dubai won Bronze in PR for Cultural Engagement. 

Leading conversations on the ground

• ADWEEK House: Partnership is the New Power Move: Weber Shandwick Global President and Incoming CEO Karen Pugliese unpacked why moving from transactional relationships to deep, strategic brand-agency integration is the ultimate power move for driving mutual growth in today’s complex media landscape.
  
  
• AI Responsibility Meets Business Pragmatism: A breakfast roundtable hosted by Sheila Mulligan (President, Central Region & Corporate Advisory) and Stephanie Mehta (CEO, Mansueto Ventures), this roundtable tackled the reality of AI implementation. With the hype cycle fading, leaders agreed that strategy beats tools and bridging the leadership “say-do” gap is the real predictor of success. Ultimately, AI hasn’t reduced the need for human storytelling – it’s fueled it – positioning communicators as the architects of enterprise trust across both human and algorithmic systems.
  
  
• She Runs It x Adweek: Best of the Badass Bosses™: Sheila Mulligan joined top industry leaders for a candid discussion on the moments and philosophies that shape leadership, emphasizing mentorship as our most critical industry investment.
  
  
• Building a Creative-First Marketing Culture in Pharma with MM+M: Current Group CEO Mike Rosich joined MM+M to discuss dismantling traditionally safe corporate structures in pharma, championing bold, patient-centric storytelling as a strategic necessity rather than a compliance risk.
  
  
• Inside the Jury Room: PR: Executive Creative Director and PR Lions Juror Jean Paoli offered an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the judging process, revealing how juries evaluate the cultural resonance and earned impact required to win.
  
  
• A Conversation in Cannes: Shifting Women’s Health from Niche to Center Stage: In this 4th annual session with Creative Salon, President – Health, EMEA, Rachael Pay; Kathleen Hunter – EVP, Client Experience; and Hugh Taggart – CEO, EMEA, discussed the power of women-led communities, tackling social media censorship and the need for uncompromised creativity to shatter stigmas and drive real health outcomes.
  
  
• PRovoke Media Roundtables: In PRovoke’s annual CEO Roundtable, Karen Pugliese reinforced that human insights remain our irreplaceable heritage amidst technological shifts. Meanwhile, Robyn Adelson (Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Creativity, North America), in PRovoke’s annual Roundtable on Creativity highlighted how brands must navigate culture: by building “creative operating systems” for intense moments, integrating purpose into actual brand behavior, and embracing the reality that true “credibility sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from control.” 

With this year’s monumental showing, TWSC’s historic total now surpasses 270 Cannes Lions. Yet, these wins represent far more than industry hardware – they are a testament to the undeniable power of earned-first creativity to drive real business and cultural impact. A massive congratulations to our brilliant teams, agency partners, and fearless clients around the world who continue to set the standard for what communications can achieve.