CANNES, FRANCE – As Jury President of the Creative Business Transformation category at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Publicis Groupe APAC CEO Jane Lin-Baden led a diverse jury of clients, strategists as well as business and creative leaders. Together, they identified three themes shaping the future of our industry:
The evolution of purpose
There are brands that attach themselves to a purpose as an accessory, or add-on, to drive awareness of a cause. And then there are brands that weave purpose into the very core of their organization. Brands are moving beyond tokenistic nods to social good towards truly impactful platforms that integrate purpose into every aspect of their organization and operations, and as a result, deliver true commercial impact over a sustained period of time.
Suncorp’s “Building a More Resilient Australia” is a good example — it won Silver in this category. Suncorp is a purpose-driven organization but its resilience initiatives deliver value to its customers, and as a result, value back to the business. By embedding purpose at the core of its organization, Suncorp has increased market share, consideration uplifts, and customer lifetime value.
From ads to ecosystems
Today’s most transformative creative ideas extend far beyond advertising. They impact everything from commercial models to supply chains, legal contracts, suppliers, patents and stakeholders — in other words, the entire ecosystem that supports products and services.
Two examples include AXA’s “Three Words” campaign, which won the Grand Prix, and Heineken’s “Backing the Bars,” which won Bronze. Changing AXA’s most popular home insurance product meant engaging its legal department, overhauling its commercial model, aligning internal stakeholders, assessing liability risk. It represents a system overhaul that sets the benchmark for organizational change. As for “Backing the Bars,” this idea secures Heineken’s customer base by supporting the stakeholders and bar owners who stock their product — in other words, it’s a platform that caters to the entire ecosystem that supports Heineken products with campaigns like “Shutter Ads” and “Starring Bars.”
Driving category reinvention
This year’s most transformative ideas didn’t just grow brands; they redefined entire categories. By reframing consumer expectations and changing the rules of engagement, brands are emerging as leaders in the categories they are redefining.
A good example is Renault’s “Long-Term.” As a pioneer of EVs, Renault set out to grow the market by removing every mental barrier to EV adoption. This five-year evolution is so much more than a brand platform — it’s a reconfiguration of Renault’s brand and business ecosystem towards inclusion, with creativity driving both market expansion and social value, benefiting not only Renault, but the entire category.
About the Writer
Jane oversees Publicis Groupe’s P&L and operations across 15 markets in Asia Pacific. She steers the company’s growth including M&A, develops transformation-led capabilities and creates a thriving culture for talent. Under her leadership, Publicis Groupe Asia Pacific has demonstrated that it is the fastest growing network in the region and was awarded by Campaign Asia for having the Best Culture in Asia Pacific.
She has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship and in the communications industry. Jane received the CBN Weekly’s top 50 Business Innovators Award, AdAge’s Women to Watch award and China 4A’s Fastest Growing Agency CEO of the Year award. Apart from being on the jury for Creative Effective Awards, Jane also appeared twice on the jury for Cannes Lions Titanium.
Jane holds an MBA from The Wharton Business School, USA and a Master’s in History of Contemporary Art from the University of London, UK. She is also a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network of the Aspen Institute, USA.
