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The three entriesEvery year, Manifest aims to put Indian agencies that enter the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on the world's radar, even before the festival kicks off with its 'Cannes Contenders' series.
Last year, Indian agencies submitted a total of 982 entries for the festival and won 32 Lions.
We continue this year's series with Leo's entries for the festival. Last year, the agency was third on the Indian tally with a Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Here are this year's entries.
Sting F1 - 'The Unofficial Official Sound of F1'
Leo India was entrusted with the global mandate for Sting – the energy drink, one of the fastest-growing brands in PepsiCo’s portfolio, as it entered a landmark partnership with Formula One. Instead of announcing the alliance through traditional sponsorship tropes, Leo reimagined how a brand could debut inside one of the world’s most iconic sporting platforms.
To bring this partnership to life the agency turned to Formula One’s most visceral and recognisable asset - the engine roar and transformed it into a cultural entry point. The campaign launched with global DJ and producer Armin van Buuren, who shared a provocative discovery: while isolating audio from a race, he claimed to hear the word “Stinggg” embedded within the engine’s sonic build-up. The post ignited curiosity across social media, triggering a wave of replays, remixes, and debates as fans and creators attempted to decode the sound for themselves. Momentum accelerated as F1 World Champion Jenson Button and 2025 F2 Monaco Grand Prix winner Kush Maini joined the conversation, lending credibility and expanding the moment beyond music into motorsport culture. During the Monaco Grand Prix, fans captured live footage, claiming once you hear “Stinggggg” trackside you can’t unhear it, turning speculation into shared experience.
What began as a sonic observation became a global cultural phenomenon spanning the UK, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, proving that when a brand cannot yet be seen, it can still be unmistakably heard.
Budweiser China: 'This Ronaldo is that Ronaldo'
For Budweiser China, the brief was both exciting and challenging: football legend Ronaldo Nazário was arriving in China as ambassador for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 - a tournament Budweiser was sponsoring.
But there was a problem. While Ronaldo remains one of the greatest footballers of all time, in China much of the public memory had reduced him to one instantly recognizable image: his iconic 2002 World Cup haircut – an image he looks nothing like anymore. While the recall of how he looked in 2002 was almost meme-like and our task was to make him relevant again. Instead of fighting the haircut, we embraced it launching a custom filter that let fans instantly update their profile pictures with the famous “R9” look. What began as playful nostalgia became a cultural wave. Millions joined in. The trend shot to the top of Weibo for a full day, far exceeding expectations and putting Budweiser at the heart of football conversation.
The result: major engagement, recognition at the Great China Effies, and a continued partnership into 2026 for the FIFA World Cup. A forgotten haircut became the hook that reignited a legend and amplified a brand.
Mountain Dew: ‘Darescore'
Local mountain economies of Nepal run on mountain tourism. Despite having 8 of the 14 tallest peaks in the world, climbers only visit mount Everest because they believe tallest is toughest- but this isn't true. This misconception is creating an imbalance in local economies and depriving global climbers of adventure. As Nepal's no.1 adventure drink, Mountain Dew stepped in to create a new mountain grading system that factored never-before measured data across 50+ variables to create the world's first mountain grading system that measures true mountain toughness.
This data revealed the potential of lesser-visited peaks to global climbers, thereby increasing visits to these peaks and fueling the local economy.
We partnered with Nepal Tourism Board and Discovery Channel to create awareness and help adventure enthusiasts with a roadmap to conquer both the peaks and their fears. We aggregated real-time mountaineering data - weather patterns, climbing routes, Sherpa availability, terrain complexity and translated it into a Fear Score, giving each peak a quantifiable identity based on challenge and intensity.
We then packaged this information in an immersive experience - accessible by scanning the Mountain Dew bottle turning it into a platform where adventure-seekers can learn, plan, and prepare for their next big climb. It’s adventure, algorithmically decoded.
Also read:
Cannes Contenders 2026: Havas Creative India
