Creativity for Legacy Brands Takeaways
- HEINEKEN won 27 Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025, with 25 award-winning campaigns by LePub.
- Campaigns rooted in local insight — from floating bars to cheeky call-backs — resonated globally without diluting brand voice.
- Legacy brands don’t need to play it safe. Bold storytelling grounded in culture is how they stay relevant and lead.
HEINEKEN is mostly known for letting beer pour freely, but at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, it poured sheer brilliance — 27 Lions worth of it, in fact.
The Dutch brand impressed judges and everyone else in attendance, bagging an impressive four Gold, 10 Silver, and 13 Bronze Lions.
Out of the 27 victories, 25 were awarded to campaigns created in partnership with global creative agency network LePub, cementing the effectiveness of their long-standing creative collaboration.
Standout campaigns came from across HEINEKEN and its subsidiary brands, including Export Ultra, Tecate, and Desperados.
The Tecate Gulf of Mexico (Bar) campaign, centered on a floating marina-bar experience, racked up seven Lions across Outdoor, Brand Experience, Direct, Social and PR categories.
The work turned a physical brand activation into a larger cultural moment, reclaiming the Gulf as a symbol of celebration and pride for Mexican consumers.
Desperados’ “Guao Guao” merged Latin music and craft, grabbing a Gold and Silver in Film Craft.
With vibrant visuals and a high-energy soundtrack, the campaign paid homage to creativity while reinforcing the brand’s party-first personality.
Meanwhile, Heineken® Pub Succession and Streaming Bars were celebrated for their cultural resonance and inventiveness.
In particular, Heineken® Pub Succession, which launched a worldwide recruitment campaign to assist a retiring Irish pub owner find a buyer for his 155-year-old business, blended emotional storytelling with real-world impact.
Finally, Export Ultra from New Zealand also struck gold with its “Cold Call Back Service”, winning accolades in Media and PR for its humour-driven influencer activation.
The idea flipped the script on “cold calling,” inviting consumers to request a cheeky call from a local personality, all while reinforcing the beer’s easygoing charm.
Clearly, each one showcased a distinct voice, but all were built on cultural relevance and sharp storytelling.
That range and resonance were the result of creative consistency, something HEINEKEN Company CCO Bram Westenbrink highlighted as a defining strength of the brand:
“From global icons to beloved local heroes, we were proud to take home awards across multiple HEINEKEN brands, which is a testament to the diverse talent, bold ideas, and shared ambition of our teams worldwide.
From local insights to breakthrough executions, these wins show what’s possible when creativity is embraced as a true business advantage.”
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Bruno Bertelli, global CEO of LePub and CCO of LePub Worldwide, also echoed this belief:
“The diversity of awarded work across brands like Heineken, Tecate, and Desperados is a testament to the power of bold, culturally attuned creativity.
Each campaign reflects a unique voice, grounded in local insights yet universally resonant, showcasing the creative richness and depth of our brand portfolio.”
When a Beer Brand Outdoes the Brief
It’s one thing to show up at Cannes with a few polished case studies. It’s another to walk away with 27 Lions spread across multiple continents, cultures, and creative formats.
HEINEKEN submitted strong work that showed what happens when a brand commits to creativity not as a campaign tactic, but as a business mindset.
From floating bars to humorous call-back services, the work spanned tone, category, and audience — but all of it felt unmistakably human.
“At HEINEKEN, creativity isn’t just part of what we do, it’s at the heart of how we grow. It’s how we stay relevant in an ever-changing world, connect meaningfully with consumers, and build brands that stand out across cultures and markets.
This year’s recognition at Cannes Lions is a powerful reflection of that belief,” Westenbrink said.
In other words, HEINEKEN didn’t just hit the brief. It rewrote what success can look like for a legacy brand in an ever-fragmenting landscape.
Our Take: Authenticity and Smart Storytelling Keep Legacy Brands Ahead
We’re not surprised HEINEKEN made a splash at Cannes. The brand has won Cannes Lions before.
What was impressive, however, was how they did it and the number of awards they won.
The brand didn’t lean on nostalgia marketing or name recognition. Instead, it showed us what happens when legacy meets bold, culturally tuned creativity.
The work was confident, distinctive, and deeply rooted in real audience understanding.
Too often, established brands default to past playbooks or flatten their voice to fit the widest possible audience.
HEINEKEN did the opposite.
It took risks. It trusted the creative process. And it let each brand in its portfolio speak with its own accent, not just a polished corporate tone.
Overall, these wins highlighted the fact that legacy doesn’t have to mean safe. Likewise, consistency doesn’t have to mean formulaic.
As marketers, we talk a lot about "breaking through the noise." HEINEKEN did that not with gimmicks, but with global ideas shaped by local truths — and that’s a marketing strategy we can all learn from.
HEINEKEN and LePub weren't the only ones to win multiple Cannes Lions this year. DDB Worldwide and Publicis Conseil earned numerous Lions on their way to being named "Network of the Year" and "Agency of the Year" respectively.
