Start the change with scalable and tangible solutions

Creatives and marketers shape the thinking of people around the world. They can drive changes in the way humans behave that can have a huge impact on the planet, its people and society. But sometimes, that power can feel a heavy burden or overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to start – and that’s where The Progress Check series of reports aims to support your creativity.

These reports help you break down challenges around topics that the industry says are some of its most important but most difficult, such as sustainability and representation. We want to help agencies and brands use the practical steps and inspiration outlined here to move forward with confidence.

We want to inspire you, as always, by sharing examples of Lion-winning work from across the world that has delivered a real difference. But, as in the case of this report, we also want to give you data, tools and expert advice to make sustainability less daunting.

Please do keep sharing your experiences and innovations with us, whether through completing the data on your 2025 Cannes Lions Awards entries or anecdotally. We can make more effective – and, crucially, quicker – progress when we work together. And it’s clear from many of you that your creativity is making a difference.

As Gustavo Lauria, Co-Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer at We Believers, said, following his Jury Presidency over this year’s Sustainable Development Goals Lions: “We saw great examples of how to address all 17 SDGs. It was very clear how our industry has evolved, not just focusing on specific trends, but creating scalable and tangible solutions for the biggest issues facing humanity.”

He added some advice to agencies: “Clients really appreciate it when you save them money and you bring the same results. Find those solutions to make campaigns work better to bring better results and more revenue for your clients. But at the same time, think about your impact on the environment. That should be part of everything. And make a serious commitment to real solutions. There’s nothing worse than creating fake campaigns for the Sustainability Development Goals when in reality you are just trying to help yourself. Scalability should go hand in hand with long-term commitments from their brands through ideas that also inspire others.”

We hope you find this report helpful. And look out for The Progress Check: DEI, which will be published in February 2025.

About this report

This report is the second edition of The Progress Check: Sustainability. In January 2024, we published the first edition(opens in a new tab), in which we used Ad Net Zero’s five-point framework to help brands and businesses on their sustainability journey. If you’re at the beginning of that journey, we encourage you to refer to that report to help get you started.

We’ve shifted our approach in this report, building on the initial five points from Ad Net Zero to look specifically at how the creative industry is delivering on some of those sustainability ambitions. This report is structured around themes that emerged from this year’s Festival and winning work to provide tangible approaches to building on the momentum many brands and agencies have built up. We hope they’ll help you embed new thinking and practices into your work – regardless of what stage of the sustainability journey you’re at.

Themes from this report