Creative Strategy Lions

All fast-moving and durable consumer goods, including but not limited to food and beverages, toiletries, cleaning products, other household goods, other FMCGs, clothing and accessories, furniture, and consumer electronics.

All fast food entries should be entered into A04. Travel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains.

Pharma, OTC drugs, wellness.

If the work has been created for a Charity/NFP then this should be entered into A07.

Vehicles, other automobiles.

All transport- and travel-related services, including public transport and tourism boards. All entertainment- and leisure-related services, including museums, festivals and gyms. All shops, including online shopping, opticians, hairdressers and estate agents. All restaurants and fast food chains, including cafés and bars.

Music, film, television, publications and media, books, news, digital platforms and other media.

All commercial public services, legal, financial, B2B technology, consultancies and professional services, other business services, internal and corporate communications.

Government, public information, NGOs, military, charities, non-profit organisations. All corporate social responsibility work should be entered in the relevant sector and/or C05. Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility category in section C. Challenges & Breakthroughs.

Strategy inspired by insightful analysis and interpretation of data, revealing a clear business problem/opportunity. This may include but is not limited to the use of data science, commissioned research, online behavioural data, statistical analysis, sales information, consumer first party data, etc.

How deep understanding of the audience/consumers has created a transformative effect on the business. Work that demonstrates the application of behavioural science in relation to building and creating the audience profile. This may include but isn't limited to behavioural economics, consumer insight, social listening, cultural trends, ethnography, experience mapping, neuroscience, etc.

Celebrating brands that have creatively adapted their approach in response to competitor pressure by challenging the status quo to create game-changing work that uses progressive thinking and innovative creativity. The work should demonstrate the core strategic thought and its positive effect on brand value by challenging the dominant narrative conventions in their category.

Creative use of modest budgets and/or resources in relation to the market and/or industry to create maximum impact. The work should demonstrate how fresh insight, smart spending and compelling strategic thinking solved a business problem despite limited resources.

Successful translation and integration of strategy across multiple markets. Entrants should demonstrate how a global strategy was applied to specific markets in order to drive tangible business results, or achieve a brand's purpose.

Entries should identify a minimum of three countries/regions the strategy was applied to.

Celebrating the creativity of long-term strategy. The work should demonstrate how a long-running strategy was instrumental to achieving a brand's purpose, driving engagement and shaping brand identity.

There is an increased eligibility for this category of 5 years: 06 February 2021 – 09 April 2026

Purpose-driven work/brand activism that addresses social, ethical and environmental issues. The work should demonstrate how the brand’s purpose has created value and affected communities by connecting customers to culture.

All not-for-profit, charity or government work should be entered in the relevant sector and/or A07. Not-for-profit / Charity / Government category in section A. Creative Strategy: Sectors.

Brands that have creatively adapted their strategy in response to local / regional / global issues, embracing new ways of delivering their brand while showing consideration for the consumer.

Work that honours marketers who craft strategic solutions rooted in the lived experiences of culturally grounded communities. This approach reflects and translates the nuances of customs, behaviours, and traditions that shape foundational perspectives on identity (e.g. disability, gender, race, orientation, age). Such insights reveal how diverse audiences choose brands and media experiences, driving growth and impact.

Rewarding outstanding brand bravery including progressive thinking relating to a brief. The work should demonstrate risk-taking that produced tangible results for the brand.

Celebrating the intersection between creative agency and/or media and/or brand. The work should demonstrate the focus on the existence of a deep shared understanding of the brand and a unified working relationship to achieve the best possible results.

Integration of a new or developed product/services to solve a problem, evolve the business, enhance the user experience, or grow the customer base. Entrants should give a breakdown of how the product/services was conceived, implemented and provide analysis of its ultimate impact.

Creative customer experience initiatives that strengthen relationships with customers by creating seamless journeys across digital and physical touchpoints and/or offer new routes of engagement between brand and consumer.

Rewarding the core, strategic positioning of a brand. The work should demonstrate how the value proposition, mission, narrative and brand positioning was achieved, and ultimately led to renewed interest, higher brand affinity and commercial success.

Work that strategically harness retailer-owned channels (such as websites, apps and in-store displays) to deliver compelling creative strategies at crucial decision-making moments, using targeted insights to enhance brand storytelling and drive measurable business outcomes through innovative creative approaches that resonate with shoppers in retail environments.

The word limit for this section is 100 words.

This question is compulsory.

Please provide any brand and cultural context that would help the jury understand any cultural, national or regional nuances applicable to this work.

You should outline why this piece of work was created for this particular brand, in this market, at this particular moment in time, with all of the cultural and market conditions.

The word limit for this section is 250 words.

This question is compulsory.

Please select the objective(s) that were most important when creating this work – what the work set out to achieve.

For the jury to accurately assess the work, it must first establish its objectives. As you progress through the entry system, you must link your results back to each objective selected.

• Overachieve on brand metrics (e.g. awareness, engagement)
• Change consumer behaviour (e.g. attitudes, frequency, penetration)
• Create short-term sales growth (e.g. sales, promotions, discounts)
• Improve brand health (e.g. consideration, preference)
• Create sustained sales success (e.g. profit, sales)
• Create long-term brand and sales growth (e.g. shareholder value, retention, loyalty)

There is no word limit for this section.

This question is compulsory.

Please provide a summary of your entry.

• Describe the background and context behind the work
• What creative challenges did the work face.

This should be an overview of the work and an analysis of its effectiveness. You should describe how the objectives of the campaign have been successfully met.

The word limit for this section is 300 words.

This question is compulsory.

Explain clearly how you came to understand the brand’s challenge/objective:

• The business challenge the brand was facing
• Interpretation of the client needs and brand values
• Industry/target market
• The desired outcome

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory.

Explain clearly the creative use of research, data or resources that lead to an original and compelling strategy:

• Outline the strategic process used to tackle the problem
• How did you arrive at the insight? Details here could include research, workshops, collaboration, data, audience / consumer / culture, etc.
• Internal/external challenges faced and how they were overcome
• The breakthrough moment

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory.

Consider the following when describing the creative idea:

• Does the work cross boundaries/have the ability to think beyond conventional boundaries or categories?
• Does the work evoke surprise/have the power to continue captivating attention?
• Does the work transcend the original challenge?
• Does the work incorporate breakthrough thinking?
• How the creative strategy directly influenced the creative execution?

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory.

Please refer back to the objectives selected when answering this question. Consider:

• performance against brand metrics (e.g. awareness, engagement)
• change in consumer behaviour (e.g. attitudes, frequency, penetration)
• indications of short-, medium- or long-term sales success (e.g. shareholder value, profit, revenue, ROI, sales, share)
• brand health improvement (e.g. consideration, preference)
• potential changes in government regulations or societal/economic events (e.g. changes in economic, political, social factors)
• the achievement against the original challenge/client satisfaction
• the impact on the industry/culture.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory.

If yes, you must disclose how it was used, considering the following:

• What AI tools were used?
• What was the extent of AI use in the final work?
• What were the data sources or inputs for any AI-generated elements, and where did they originate?

For guidance on acceptable AI usage please refer to the LIONS Integrity Handbook. Misrepresentation or wilful omission may result in your entry being withdrawn.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory.

As a member of AdNet Zero, we believe in the collective responsibility to reduce the carbon impact of developing, producing and running advertising to achieve real net zero. Please outline how this piece of work aligns with the brand's sustainability strategy and consider the following:

• Environmental cost: What steps were taken to measure, reduce and manage the environmental footprint of the work across its life cycle?
• Meaningful claims: What evidence can you provide to support any sustainability related claims made in the work, ensuring they are credible and meaningful?
• Long-term commitments: How do the sustainability-related claims reflect the brand's broader strategy and focus on relevant issues?

Please provide details of the benchmarks used to measure the success of this work's contribution to the overall strategy. This could include but is not limited to targets related to advertising business operations - advertising production - media planning and buying.

There is no word limit for this section.

This question is optional.

Based on the brief, what consideration was given to representation and diversity of the team(s) involved?

What consideration was given to accessibility in the work and what role did DEI thinking play throughout the development of the work?

There is no word limit for this section.

This question is optional.

If there are additional results you wish to disclose to the Jury but prefer to keep confidential, please enter them below.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is optional.

Please tell us how the work challenged or was different from the brand's competitors.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C01.

Budget details.

Please provide budget details that show how the campaign achieved breakthrough results on a limited budget. Consider:

• the overall budget
• the breakdown of costs
• how the campaign maximised reach vs expenditure
• the significant impact this adjustment had on the campaign's effectiveness.

We recommend providing as much context as possible to understand the budget spend. However, we understand that different cases will have different types of results.

*(Any confidential information should be entered in the confidential information field)

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C02.

Please tell us how the work was designed/adapted for multiple countries / regions / markets.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C03.

Please tell us about the long-term strategic planning.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C04.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work.

• Explain how the purpose is ingrained in the core values and mission of the brand’s DNA.
• Discuss the impact of these initiatives on communities, society, or the environment.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C05.

Please tell us how market disruption inspired the work.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C06.

Please tell us about the specific cultural insight that drove the nuanced engagement behind this work.

The word limit for this section is 150 words.

This question is compulsory for C07.