With less than a month to go for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Manifest continues with its Cannes Contenders series.

Through this, we aim to showcase India's work for the Lions before the festival kicks off, as the country looks to better its 18-Lions haul from 2024.

Here are FCB India's entries.

Indian Railways - Lucky Yatra (shortlisted in the Titanium category) 

The Indian Railways serves 24 million travellers daily. However, the number of people travelling without a ticket has surged significantly, costing the system hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly losses.

Instead of cracking down harder, Indian Railways in Mumbai has found a smarter way to change behaviour by tapping into something India loves luck. While millions of people skip paying for train tickets, India spends over USD 30 billion on lottery tickets annually.

Enter Lucky Yatra, a new initiative from Indian Railways in Mumbai that transforms every train ticket into a lottery ticket. Conceptualised by FCB India, the unique number on every train ticket is now a potential winner, giving passengers an incentive to always travel with a valid ticket. No apps, no changes to behaviour. Just buy a ticket like always, and you could win. What was once a routine, overlooked transaction became a moment of anticipation.

Navneet - Colourblindness Text Books

Navneet Education, one of India’s largest and most trusted schoolbook publishers, has launched an innovative new initiative to address an often-overlooked learning challenge - Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD), commonly known as colour blindness. Children with CVD struggle to cope with the basics of education. They lose confidence and start falling behind in school. The initiative has been conceptualised by FCB India and developed in close collaboration with ophthalmological experts and educators. Since 2022, Navneet Education and FCB India have partnered to bring purposeful innovation to education, crafting impactful ideas rooted in empathy and insight.

The company has designed an early learning book not just to teach—but to detect. The new Colour Blindness Detection Book subtly integrates Ishihara-style colour vision tests into illustrations, enabling teachers and parents to identify potential colour vision deficiencies in children during the foundational years of education and create an environment of inclusive learning.

Navbharat Times - Barabari Ki Bhasha

Language is more than just a tool for communication it shapes culture and reflects societal values. Studies show that representation in language influences societal participation. When professions and roles lack feminine equivalents, fewer women pursue them, reinforcing gender disparities. Barabari Ki Bhasha aims to change this by giving young girls the words to dream, aspire, and achieve because when language acknowledges their ambitions, society follows.

Uber - Uber One

Indian masses have always seen Uber as a foreign brand, never giving the brand true acceptance as their own.

To try to fix this, Uber decided to go hyperlocal. And found a unique phonetic phenomenon found only in India. Millions of Indian names have the sound of 'one' in them. And so does Uber's first-ever loyalty program in India, Uber One.

Enter Takes One to Get One. An audacious plan conceptualised by FCB India to turn these millions of names into free media for Uber. Anyone who has a name with a 'one' in it, gets an Uber One subscription for free.

Turns out, everyone loves free stuff!

Also read: 

Cannes Lions 2025: FCB India opens India's shortlist count