By Lucia Elliott, Head of Marketing and Communications, Advertising Council Australia
Three years ago, Cannes Lions launched the Creative B2B category and senior marketers at LinkedIn and Salesforce, along with jurors, have acknowledged the new category’s role in B2B’s global shift from perceived underdog to a recognised creative force.
And this year’s Cannes Lions finally put the myth to bed. GoDaddy’s Grand-Prix winning spoof brand, Renault’s open-licence Gold, and Squarespace’s time-bending Silver Lion film together proved B2B advertising can be audacious, paradigm-shifting, cinematic and captivating.
Formally, Creative B2B is judged on the idea, strategy, execution and results; in practice, jurors have also praised the work that brings human insight and humour to business campaigns, with relevance and impact.
Beyond Cannes, Camper’s Return to Sender campaign did just that, treating delivery failure not as a flaw but a plot device. By turning logistics into narrative, and boring into bold, the campaign’s wry humanity reminded decision-makers that B2B is still about people, empathy and story.
As Mike Felix, Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu NZ, 2025 Cannes Lions Film juror and recent Cannes Download Sydney panellist noted: “Business people are still people – just as likely to have a sense of humour, a weakness for chocolate and, statistically, herpes.
“And yet advertisers often treat business clinically and conservatively. I’d love to see more B2B work that goes deeper and acknowledges business as one of the most remarkable, challenging and sometimes ridiculous experiences a person can have.”
Another recent signpost is B2B’s integration locally into AWARD Awards and Effie Awards. With good reason, space is being cleared for B2B creativity to shine.
Supermassive and FINCH’s 36 Months’ plea for ‘36 more months with our kids’ reframed cyber safety as adolescent wellbeing and tapped parents’ protective instinct. Named B2B Campaign of the Year at the recent AWARD Awards, sponsored by LinkedIn, it also won a Cannes Silver Lion for PR Effectiveness in June.
This year also saw structural uplift with the inaugural LIONS B2B Summit. Global business leaders discussed how creativity drives reputation, influence and connection, and why bold storytelling is now a competitive necessity for B2B.
Cannes and other award programs are no longer just celebrations of consumer work, but stages increasingly built for B2B ambition. So if B2B can be this good, should the label exist at all?
Perhaps the real breakthrough is that, ultimately, business campaigns won’t even need a separate category – they’ll simply be recognised as brilliant advertising, full stop.