Australia’s Telstra has emerged as a significant winner in Day 2 of the 72nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, landing a Grand Prix for ‘Better on a Better Network Campaign‘ for claymation plus two Gold Lions, a Silver and Bronze in the Film Craft category.

The Film Craft category was one of four Craft category awarded overnight, alongside the Design, Digital Craft, and Industry Craft Lions. The Entertainment categories, including Entertainment, Entertainment Lions for Gaming, Entertainment Lions for Music and Entertainment Lions for Sport were also awarded. They follow the first round of trophies in Classic and Health categories on Monday.

Telstra’s Grand Prix-winning campaign was created together with indie creative shop Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, with production from Biscuit Filmworks and Revolver. It included 26 individual spots, each representing lesser-known regional towns and remote areas that benefit from a better network.

President of the Film Craft Jury and Co-Founder and Film Director at Good People Films, Ali Ali, said: “Before we could vote, the Grand Prix revealed itself slowly, like great work often does. In a year dominated by AI and digital gloss, Telstra’s Better on a Better Network felt like a breath of fresh air. Tactile, intimate, and deeply human. It reminded us why we fell in love with this industry. Fifty-six unique puppets animating 42 voices from regional Australians, across 26 stop-motion gems. All simple, all funny, all full of soul. Measured writing, inspired characters – and yes, a bird flying backwards. In a fast-content era, ‘Better on a Better Network’ felt like a warm, slow-cooked meal.”

All five of Telstra’s shortlisted entries in the category took home metal in the category, with Better on a Better Network also nabbing a Gold, along with the Gold and Silver awarded to the 2024 Christmas spot ‘Donkey‘ and a Bronze for ‘The Shoemaker‘.

Other Gold Lion winners in the Film Craft category included Squarespace’s Barry Keogh-starring brand film, which took a Gold for Direction, and Chanel 4’s Paris Paralympics campaign Considering What.

The Industry Craft category was topped by Brazil’s Idomed with its Nigrum Corpus campaign, created by Artplan. Six Gold Lions were awarded in total, with three going to Australia’s 1001 Optometry across three executions of its Hidden Eye Test, worked on by VML Sydney. The category’s remaining Gold Lion went to Nikka Whiskey’s No Labels, Banco De Chile’s Project 4270 and Nike’s Winning Isn’t Comfortable.

In Digital Craft, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences won the Grand Prix for its Caption with Intention campaign for its closed captioning service. The work, developed with FCB Chicago, also picked up one of three Gold Lions awarded, in recognition of its Innovative Use of Technology.

The category’s jury handed out another two Gold Lions, both for Hyundai’s Tree Correspondents, from FCB New York.

Design saw another Grand Prix win for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science’s Caption with Intention, under Inclusive Design. Idomed’s Nigrum Corpus took home a Gold accolade, as did Apple’s Airpods Pro 2 hearing aid feature, Carrfoursa’s Ghost Town, Spotify’s Spreadbeats and Oka Biotech’s Plastic Blood.

Two Australian campaigns took home metal in the Design category as well, with Samsung Australia and Clemenger BBDO nabbing a Bronze Lion for the Packed Full of History campaign and Volkswagen and DDB Sydney adding a Bronze to their day one takings for the Roobadge campaign.

Onto the Entertainment category, and Hyundai’s Night Fishing film for the South Korean market was the big winner. The work, created by Innocean Seoul, beat out Gold-winning entries from Loreal, Clash of Clans, Hasbro, Tide and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science’s Caption with Intention work.

The Grand Prix in the Entertainment Lions for Gaming went to Argentine e-commerce marketplace Mercado Livre’s Call of Discounts, created by Gut in Sao Paulo. Just two Gold Lions were awarded, going to Burger King’s Burger to King work in Belgium and to US anti-gun violence social change group Chang The Ref for its campaign, The Final Exam.

The Grand Prix in The Entertainment Lions for Music was handed to Puerto Rican independent record label Rimas Music for the Tracking Bad Bunny work with DDB Latina. Gold winners were A$AP Rocky’s Tailor Swif music video, Adidas’ Hey Jude ad, and Mastercard’s Lady Gaga dance contest, Abracadabra: From Fan to Feature.

Clash of Clans won the Grand Prix in The Entertainment Lions for Sport, with its Haaland Payback Time campaign created with David New York. Gold Lions went to Gavio Kyikatej Football Club’s ‘Kyikatej’ campaign, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, Fanatics’ Signed by Fanatics, The Ring’s The 4th Judge, and Riyadh Season’s Obsession.