Hyundai Motor Wins Grand Prix and Two Gold Lions at Cannes Lions with ‘Night Fishing’ and ‘Tree Correspondents’
- Hyundai Motor landed Grand Prix for its lauded short film, ‘Night Fishing’, highlighting the brand’s innovation and creative excellence
- ‘Night Fishing’ marks Hyundai Motor’s first Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival
- Hyundai Motor also won two Gold Lions and one Silver Lion for its ‘Tree Correspondents’, an AI-driven CSR marketing campaign for the ‘IONIQ Forest’ global tree-planting initiative
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Hyundai Motor Company netted a Grand Prix, two Gold Lions, and a Silver Lion at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for its acclaimed short film project, ‘Night Fishing,’ and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven CSR marketing campaign, ‘Tree Correspondents’. These prestigious accolades highlight the brand’s innovation and creative excellence in brand storytelling.
Winning four awards, including the Grand Prix, at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a testament to Hyundai Motor’s consistent efforts to build an innovative brand identity through creative storytelling. It also reflects the global resonance of our content marketing approach. We will continue to explore distinctive ways to engage with customers across the evolving media and market landscape.
‘Night Fishing’ wins Grand Prix in the Entertainment – Branded Content category
‘Night Fishing,’ a bite-sized thriller or ‘snack movie’, was awarded the Grand Prix in the Entertainment – Branded Content category. Its recognition marks a rare achievement for a Korean automotive brand, highlighting the campaign’s creativity and engaging storytelling on the global stage. This represents Hyundai Motor’s first-ever Grand Prix win at the Cannes Lions Festival.
‘Night Fishing’ is a collaborative film by Innocean, a global brand communications company, director Moon Byounggon and famous Korean actor Son Sukku. The film breaks away from traditional advertising by offering a cinematic narrative free of explicit promotional elements. Filmed entirely from the viewpoints of seven fixed cameras on a car, this project establishes Hyundai Motor as a pioneer in brand storytelling.
Beyond its creative execution, the campaign made a real cultural impact, capturing attention not only as an outstanding piece of branded content but also as a conversation-driving work that challenged the boundaries of how brands can engage with culture.
I’m delighted that ‘Night Fishing’, our collaborative campaign with Hyundai Motor’s Brand Marketing Division, demonstrated the power of authentic content to build meaningful connections between the brand and its consumers. It’s even more rewarding to see that this resonated on a global stage and led to the honor of receiving the Grand Prix. We are deeply grateful for the enthusiastic support of audiences and cheer for this new format of film – 'snack movie'.
I’m truly honored and thrilled to receive the Grand Prix at the world’s most prestigious advertising festival, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity,” said Director Moon. “I would like to thank Hyundai Motor, Innocean, and everyone who supported and believed in the unconventional yet innovative vision of ‘Night Fishing’.
‘Tree Correspondents’ wins two Gold Lions and one Silver Lion
Hyundai Motor also won two Gold Lions and one Silver Lion in the Digital Craft category for its ‘Tree Correspondents’, the company’s first brand campaign on the ‘IONIQ Forest’, a decade-long CSR project dedicated to conserving biodiversity and acting against climate change.
Set to launch in July, the campaign uses AI to analyze ecological data from global IONIQ Forests, providing insights into forest health and biodiversity through innovative storytelling. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the ‘IONIQ Forest’ program, and in July, it will reach the milestone of planting a million trees across 13 regions worldwide.
By combining AI technology with storytelling, ‘Tree Correspondents’ shifts the perspective to let trees tell their own stories about the importance of forest conservation and creates a new kind of engagement around climate impact. Unlike conventional AI-driven marketing, it maximizes the core strengths of AI, such as data analysis, summarization, and natural language generation (NLG), in a creative way rather than diminishing the role of human creators or serving merely as a marketing tool.
In addition to the accolades, Hyundai Motor will further distinguish itself with participation in an exclusive, invitation-only Cannes Stage session, highlighting the company’s influential presence in the global creative arena while spotlighting ‘Night Fishing’ as breakthrough branded content.
Since its June 2024 debut, ‘Night Fishing’ has received numerous accolades at esteemed festivals. Notably, it secured the Grand Prize in the Branded Entertainment & Content category at the Clio Awards, recognized as one of the world's top three advertising festivals along with the Cannes Lions Festival. The film also claimed the Grand Prix in the Entertainment category at Spikes Asia, a Yellow Pencil at D&AD, a Gold Award at ADFEST, and the Best Editing award at the Fantasia International Film Festival, among others.
Founded in 1954, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is a prestigious five-day event showcasing global excellence in advertising and communications across 30 categories, with nearly 200 featured sessions. Now in its 72nd year, this annual festival attracts over 25,000 entries and 13,000 participants from over 100 countries. The official seminars and award ceremonies are particularly captivating for global marketers due to the intense competition among multinational corporations.
Pictured above: (from left) Jung A Kim, CCO of Innocean; Sungwon Jee, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Hyundai Motor Company; and Yongwoo Lee, CEO of Innocean
Contacts
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Adriana Cerami
Head of Corporate & Brand PR
acerami@hyundai-europe.comElvira Vella-Herrera
Executive & Internal Communications Senior Expert
eherrera@hyundai-europe.comMaria Bricio
Corporate & Brand Communications Expert
mbricio@hyundai-europe.comPatricia Lammers
Corporate Communications Expert
patricia.lammers@hyundai-europe.comConor Twomey
Head of Product PR
conor.twomey@hyundai-europe.comAdrian Péré
Product PR Manager
apere@hyundai-europe.comKatharina Kupper
Hyundai Newsroom Lead
