The WARC Awards 2025

Global Grand Prix Winners Unpacked

The WARC Awards are back for 2025, and as ever, they’re a barometer for what’s working in global marketing today – a kind of Cannes Lions with a PowerPoint. This year’s Global Grand Prix winners aren’t just creative standouts – they’re commercial powerhouses, too. They’ve each managed to deliver clever strategies, strong brand impact, and measurable results.

Let’s break down what marketers can learn from this year’s elite five.

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Magnum – “Find Your Summer”

  • Brand: Magnum

  • Advertiser: Unilever

  • Agency: Unilever Rotterdam / Lola MullenLowe, Madrid

  • Market: United Kingdom

Ice cream in winter? It’s a bit like selling sun cream in Aberdeen. But Magnum challenged the core assumption that ice cream is only a summer indulgence. The brand launched “Find Your Summer”, a clever campaign that reframed ice cream as a source of warmth and joy even during the UK’s greyest months.

At its heart was a moody black-and-white film portraying quiet, cosy moments of pleasure with a Magnum. Think rooftops in scarves, bus stops in mist, and a little indulgence cutting through the cold. But this wasn’t just a filmic flight of fancy – the brand also provided real-time data on sunlight levels and the nearest available stores stocking Magnum, creating a clever bridge between emotional resonance and actual availability.

The results? A staggering 38.9% sales uplift during winter, the brand’s best-ever off-season performance. Magnum also saw a measurable lift in brand power and purpose perception – a key goal for Unilever’s sustainability-first positioning.

Uber Eats – “Horror Codes”

  • Brand: Uber Eats

  • Advertiser: Uber Technologies

  • Agency: Uber Technologies New York / Rethink, New York

  • Market: United States

Halloween and home delivery might not be a classic pairing, but Uber Eats saw a chance to broaden the perception of its brand beyond takeaway. “Horror Codes” turned promo codes into an interactive game, where users had to correctly finish iconic horror movie quotes to unlock discounts on Halloween candy.

It was part marketing, part gamification, and completely viral. The campaign tapped into pop culture and seasonal behaviours to drive awareness of Uber Eats’ grocery and convenience verticals – services often overshadowed by restaurant deliveries.

The campaign saw over 2 million promo code redemptions, a 20% jump in convenience orders, and an 18% rise in grocery deliveries. Users who engaged had 65% larger basket sizes, suggesting not just awareness, but real habit change. A scary-good campaign, indeed.

CeraVe – “Michael CeraVe”

  • Brand: CeraVe

  • Advertiser: L’Oréal USA

  • Agency: Ogilvy, New York

  • Market: United States

The Super Bowl has long been the high altar of adland, and this year, CeraVe nailed it. The brand capitalised on a quirky cultural coincidence – the similarity between its name and that of actor Michael Cera – and leaned into the online conspiracy theory that Michael himself was the brains behind the skincare brand.

The campaign unfolded in multiple stages. First, cryptic teasers and influencer hints stoked curiosity. Then came a full-blown Super Bowl ad, in which Michael Cera wandered through a lab, smearing moisturiser on test subjects and declaring himself the product’s inventor.

What might have been a throwaway joke became a masterclass in multi-platform, culturally intelligent storytelling. CeraVe racked up 30 billion earned impressions, 1.44 billion paid impressions, and a 9% brand lift. More importantly, it saw its best-ever sales week for moisturisers following the campaign – proving that skincare doesn’t have to be serious to be taken seriously.

KPN – “A Piece of Me”

  • Brand: KPN

  • Advertiser: KPN

  • Agency: Dentsu Creative, Amsterdam

  • Market: Netherlands

Dutch telecoms provider KPN tackled a harrowing issue: non-consensual sharing of intimate images, often referred to as digital sexual violence. Through its #BetterInternet platform, the brand commissioned a song called “A Piece of Me” by Dutch artist MEAU, based on real conversations with victims.

The music video aired across TV, YouTube, TikTok, and PR channels – but it wasn’t just a content drop. It spurred dialogue across Dutch media, appeared in academic journals, and was picked up by organisations supporting victims of abuse.

The emotional depth of the campaign gave it viral traction, but it also led to measurable brand impact, with increased brand relevance and a notable rise in KPN’s product sales. Most powerfully, the campaign helped spark national policy debate around online safety laws.

Marketing with purpose isn’t new – but KPN showed how to balance sensitivity, creativity, and commercial effectiveness in a way that builds trust and drives action.

Gatorade – “Turf Finder”

  • Brand: Gatorade

  • Advertiser: PepsiCo

  • Agency: Leo Burnett, Mumbai

  • Market: India

Urban India doesn’t lack sporting spirit – it lacks space. Gatorade addressed this not with an ad, but with infrastructure. The brand analysed 20 years of Google Maps traffic data to identify underused spaces in Indian cities, and then turned them into temporary turf sports zones.

Through modular, pop-up “Turfs” installed in quiet car parks and overlooked corners, young people were invited to play, with over 50,000 participants taking part via targeted local campaigns and influencer shoutouts.

This wasn’t just a brand activation – it was a functional intervention, turning Gatorade from a sideline sponsor into a facilitator of play. The brand saw a 59% growth in sales, a 124% uplift in Mumbai, and a doubling of top-of-mind awareness. It also earned a huge amount of media coverage and goodwill, showing how data-led thinking can deliver real-world change.

TL;DR

  • Magnum defied convention and made winter its strongest season ever with a sensual, data-connected campaign.

  • Uber Eats got spooky with gamified promo codes and proved that non-food deliveries could dominate Halloween.

  • CeraVe leveraged a name-based joke and executed a masterful Super Bowl campaign with real sales results.

  • KPN tackled digital sexual violence with empathy and music, turning a song into social change.

  • Gatorade used traffic data to create urban playgrounds, making the brand part of the solution, not just the story.