I have been part of the gaming world for a long time – from growing up with the NES to now voicing characters in games like Honkai: Star Rail, Mobile Legends, Diablo IV, and Honor of Kings.
I’ve worked on gaming campaigns (Pizza Hut Malaysia X Genshin Impact), built game prototypes at jams, cosplayed Sombra from Overwatch, and spent more hours (than I’d like to admit) farming for materials.
So, when I was invited to join the Cannes Lions jury for Entertainment for Gaming, I felt incredibly honored… and a little bit nervous.
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As a lifelong gamer, I understand just how much this space means to people like me. I wanted to make sure I represented the community with the respect and authenticity it deserves.
So, What Makes a Winner?
As a jury, we were looking for work that struck the right balance between three key criteria:
- Cultural Impact – Did it genuinely understand the gaming community and speak to players in a way that felt authentic?
- Executional Excellence – Was the idea not only smart, but also well-crafted and deeply integrated into the game experience?
- Measurable Results – Did it drive meaningful outcomes? Be that in culture, business, or behavior.
One thing I noticed: great work doesn’t always need to shout. Some entries were beautifully crafted. Others had bold cultural ambition. But the ones that really stuck with us, the ones that took home metal, all found a balance.
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They didn’t just talk to gamers. They understood them.
The Grand Prix? Totally Got It Right.
The Grand Prix this year was a great example of that balance. It took Prop Hunt, a popular game mode on Call of Duty and turned it into a livestream e-commerce experience for Mercado Libre (a leading e-commerce platform in Latin America). It was hilarious, but it was also smart at utilizing existing technology like twitch overlays, plus it genuinely sold household items. All this while staying true to the game and the streaming community.
It was very apparent that brands were using games to connect, provoke, and play with purpose. So here are some of the themes that kept coming up in the work we loved – and why they mattered:
1. Playable Activism & Purpose-Driven Play
Games are being used to drive social change, educate, and empower players to take real-world action.
The Final Exam: A survival game where players navigate a school shooting by finding real-life gun control bills, ultimately helping introduce legislation in the U.S.
The Toxicity Rating: A community-led rating system that exposed racism, sexism, and harassment in online games, pressuring the industry to address toxicity.
New Avatars of Hope: Used character creation tools in games like Starfield and FIFA to recreate missing persons, and raise awareness through livestreams and influencer content.
Why it matters: These campaigns proved that games can be more than entertainment and can be platforms for empathy, education, and civic engagement.
Great work doesn’t always need to shout. Some entries were beautifully crafted. Others had bold cultural ambition. But the ones that really stuck with us, the ones that took home metal, all found a balance.
2. Hijacked In-Game Mechanics
Some of the cleverest ideas didn’t just show up in games – they played within the rules.
Burger to King: Exploited EA Sports FC25’s AI commentary by encouraging players to build teams with real players named “Burger” and “King,” triggering the game to say the brand name.
Call of Discounts: Turned a Twitch livestream of Neymar playing prop hunt game mode into a real-time shopping event, where streamers unlocked product discounts by eliminating him in-game and viewers saw the discounts revealed live through overlays.
Camp IRL: Blocked Fortnite campers by placing branded tents in popular hiding spots, turning a hated tactic into a brand moment.
Avatars of Hope: Leveraged the popularity of avatar customization livestreams to feature real-world missing persons in-game, bringing critical awareness to their stories.
Why it matters: These ideas felt native to the game world. It’s clever, unexpected, and fully integrated into how players already play.
3. Integrated IRL Celebrities or IRL Cultural Moments Seamlessly In-Game
Real-world icons and cultural events were woven into gameplay in ways that felt authentic and timely.
Gordon Comes Clean in Hay Day: Cast Gordon Ramsay as a reformed, peaceful version of himself, using the game’s calm farming mechanics to show his softer side.
Haaland gets payback in Clash of Clans: Made footballer Erling Haaland a playable character and let his haters destroy his in-game village, turning rivalry into engagement.
Michael Bolton’s song in Clash Royale: Reimagined a game character as a heartbroken romantic and launched a music video with Michael Bolton to win back lapsed players.
Clash of Clans hijacking House of Dragons: Responded to fan disappointment in House of the Dragon by launching a dragon-filled in-game event, giving players what the show didn’t.
Why it matters: These campaigns didn’t just feature celebrities; they made them part of the game’s emotional arc, humor, or cultural relevance, creating moments that felt native to both the game and the audience.
4. Fan Empowerment & Community Co-Creation
Campaigns that invited players to co-create and saw deeper engagement and cultural relevance.
Project: Memory Card: Fans shared their favorite gaming memories, which inspired a song by YOASOBI and an animated film starring gaming influencers.
Lag or Bad: Gamers submitted clips blaming lag; pro players judged whether it was real or just bad gameplay, turning complaints into content.
The Toxicity Rating: Let players rate games based on their experiences with online toxicity, creating a crowdsourced accountability system.
Why it matters: When players are part of the process, they become advocates – not just audiences.
5. Gaming as Commerce, Recruitment & Utility
Games are being used not just for play, but for shopping, hiring, and convention visibility.
Call of Discounts: Turned a Twitch stream into a live e-commerce event where gameplay unlocked real product discounts.
The Co-Worker: Created a virtual IKEA store in Roblox where players could apply for real jobs and earn actual salaries.
WhatsApp Saga: Turned a WhatsApp chatbot into a playable RPG to drive visibility for BIS’s Comic Con Sponsorship.
Why it matters: Games are becoming transactional spaces where entertainment meets utility.
6. Humor & Subversion
Gaming humor is its own language, and the best brands spoke it fluently.
The Cheeky Controller: Created a Deadpool-themed controller shaped like his butt, blending product design with irreverent fandom.
Barbolitan: Turned a Clash Royale character into a lovesick crooner, complete with a 90s-style music video based on a Michael Bolton song, the king of romance.
Gordon Comes Clean: Played against Gordon Ramsay’s angry persona by showing him finding peace through farming.
Doom Mowers: Made the classic game DOOM playable on robotic lawnmowers, tapping into gamer humor with absurd commitment.
Original Fake Games: Turned the frustration of fake mobile game ads into a playful twist by creating real versions of the games players were promised, using humor to delight the gaming community.
Why it matters: When brands laugh with gamers and not at them, they earn trust and affection.
7. Seamless Brand × Game × Community Fit
When brand, game, and player behavior align, the result feels effortless and authentic.
Clash of Commuters: Built a custom Fortnite map based on Australia’s chaotic public transport system to showcase Samsung’s gaming phone causing buzz amongst Aussie gamers.
Play the Dew: Turned Mountain Dew’s nickname into a playful beatboxed sound effect that mimicked in-game audio, cleverly integrating the brand into popular game genres in a way that entertained gamers.
Fizooka: Turned the classic Coke and Mentos explosive experiment into a branded Fortnite weapon that felt native to gameplay.
Why it matters: When it fits, it doesn’t feel like marketing, it feels like part of the game.
8. Emotions Beyond Fun
Gaming can make us laugh.but it can also make us feel.
The Final Exam: Delivered horror, urgency, and civic outrage through a survival experience grounded in real data.
Project: Memory Card: Stirred nostalgia and joy by celebrating 30 years of shared gaming memories.
Great In-Game Wedding: Showed that gaming can be a space for real love and connection, not just competition.
Why it matters: Emotional storytelling in games is growing and it’s powerful.
Final Thoughts
Being part of this jury was a huge privilege… and a big responsibility. I came in wanting to make sure the work honored the gaming community and I left feeling inspired by how many brands are starting to get it.
And if I had to be the one in the jury room asking the tough questions to make sure we stayed true to gamers? I was happy to play that role.
Now, please wish me luck as I try to gacha Phainon in Honkai: Star Rail!
Su Ling is Senior Vice President – Group Strategy at IPG Mediabrands Malaysia.
