Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner faces scrutiny over alleged AI-doctored case study

DM9 has admitted there were errors in the case study for its Grand Prix-winning campaign 'Efficient way to pay' after Cannes Lions launched an investigation.

The São Paulo-based agency, part of the Omnicom Group-owned DDB network, won the Creative Data Grand Prix last week at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2025 for its campaign for Consul Appliances. It also won a bronze Lion in the Creative Commerce category. 

The work highlighted how using old household appliances results in higher energy bills, aiming to convince Brazilians to update them. Consul created the “More efficient way to pay” programme, which helped families get new appliances with no upfront payment, with the amount they saved on their bills going toward paying off the new product. 

The campaign has been under investigation by Cannes Lions following allegations that the case study video in the entry was doctored, including using AI and a mock news coverage segment.

A Cannes Lions spokesperson said: "We take all allegations of this nature extremely seriously. We will fully investigate the claims and provide an update on the outcome."

In a LinkedIn post, Pipo Calazans, DM9’s co-president and chief executive, said the team has internally investigated in response to the allegations. “We found that there were a series of errors in the production and delivery of the video case that accompanies one of our award-winning cases at the festival. For this situation, we would like to express our apologies.”

The post highlighted that Consul had no connection with the errors, and that Icaro Doria, co-president and chief creative officer at DM9, took full responsibility for the incident. 

It continued: “We are taking the necessary and proportionate measures, including improving our routines, reinforcing security in the agency's processes and strengthening the guidelines of our code of conduct, a document that guides behaviour on several fronts and expresses our commitment to the highest ethical standards.”

While the agency didn’t acknowledge that AI was used in the case study, it said it will establish an Artificial Intelligence Ethics Committee with the participation of external independent members with the aim to “create guidelines, promote debates and encourage the responsible use of this technology.” 

It concluded that the situation “reinforces not only the importance of deepening the discussion on the application of new technologies, such as the use of AI in the advertising industry, but, above all, it reaffirms our conviction that success is not only the result of talent and creativity, but also a reflection of the way we work and interact, with a solid commitment to ethics and integrity”.

DDB Worldwide won global network of the year at Cannes Lions 2025, with the network winning more than 100 Lions this year. 

Cannes Lions and DM9 have not responded to Campaign’s request for further comment. 

The original story published by Campaign UK has been edited for relevance for Campaign Asia-Pacific's audience.