With less than a month to go for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Manifest has started 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's Dentsu Creative India's entries to the festival.

SBI Life - Hug of Life, a Thanks A Dot initiative

Categories applied for: Health & Wellness, Direct, Media, Design and Brand Experience.

In India, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women, yet only 18% have ever performed a self-exam. 

The best time to do a self-breast examination is a week after menstruation because that is when the breast is least dense. Hug of Life, a Thanks A Dot initiative by SBI Life, turned an object commonly used by women during menstruation pain, the hot water bottle, into a tactile guide for self-exams, transforming awareness into action.

Motorola Deep Connect

Categories applied for: Creative b2b, Glass A1 Technology, Creative B2B: CP and SR and Class A2: Product/Service.

Motorola’s Deep Connect addresses a pressing issue in India’s coal mining industry, where over 330,000 workers face life-threatening hazards and lack communication due to explosion risks. The challenge was creating a safe communication solution in an explosion-prone environment. Motorola’s Deep Connect technology leverages existing walkie-talkie infrastructure to link miners with their families via a frequency-based ID system, providing seamless communication without sparking explosions. The solution is affordable at USD 200 per unit, making it accessible for widespread adoption. After a successful pilot with 100% adoption on day one, the project is now on track for national expansion to 227 coal mines, potentially impacting 1.65 million workers and their families. The innovation not only improves safety but also addresses emotional well-being by reconnecting families, making it a groundbreaking solution in industrial B2B communication.

DSP Mutual Fund-Garuda Rakshak

Categories applied for: Brand Experience & Activation, Digital Craft, Direct, Innovation, Media, Outdoor and Titanium.

Garuda Rakshak was a tech-powered act of guardianship that turned DSP Mutual Fund’s purpose — “Invest for Good” — into action. Launched at the 2025 Purna Maha Kumbh, where over 660 million people gathered, it addressed a real crisis: the disappearance of children in the crowd. Traditional tech failed in this congested, chaotic setting.

DSP partnered with Falco Robotics to build drones modeled after the mythological Garuda, operating on 8-bit communication tech from the 1970s. These drones used ultra-low frequency signals from wristbands given to children to track their location — offline and in real time.

The result? Every child wearing a wristband was reunited. 78% of them were traced in under five minutes. The work improved brand health by showing DSP as a protector, not just an investor — using tech with empathy and purpose.

Live Amazing, Do Amazing - Amdocs

Categories applied for Creative Strategy and Entertainment.

India is the birthplace of some of the most revered names in Information Technology, such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro, among others. As India became a hub first for business process outsourcing and software development, these became household names, on account of the huge employment they generated. A job at an IT firm became the new middle-class dream for Indians. A job which promised steady growth, work in a high-tech industry, a chance to travel abroad (and possibly relocate), and a steady, high income. These companies’ equity in Indians’ minds is also enhanced by other factors such as: being some of the biggest wealth creators on India’s stock markets, famous, celebrity founders, presence in locations across the country, pop culture content such as movies and memes which in effect created positive stereotypes of a job there. Amdocs has big ambitions for India as a talent hub, but it was in this competitive landscape that we fight for talent. It must take on not just rival companies, but cultural phenomena. For context, before the campaign, search interest on Amdocs was about 1/25th that of Infosys and 1/43th of TCS. Our challenge wasn’t a challenge in the offering. Because we have amazing work policies, we have global operations, we make the most exciting products. Our challenge is that we’re simply not a national champion and a household name in India.