The expert juries of BalCannes, the regional creativity competition, have recognized those who stood out with their creative achievements and granted them finalist status!
Who made it to the finals? From March 10, 2025, new finalist projects will be revealed daily – Monday to Friday – on the Media Marketing portal and BalCannes’ Facebook page, continuing until April! Since much of our lives have moved online, this year’s BalCannes project showcase will also take place on social media – leading up to our gathering at the Days of Communication.
Please note that finalists will be announced in alphabetical order by project name, so don’t miss the daily updates!
• PROJECT NAME: Layers Slayers
ENTRANT: Studio Sonda
CLIENT: LEDO plus, FRIKOM
COUNTRY: Croatia
CATEGORY: II. Design Mosaic: High-Volume Packaging Design (≥ 10.000 komada)
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: King is a premium ice cream brand, positioned as a market leader in the form of stick and cone. But still has to find its way to fight global leaders in CUP format. There is only one way to fight the competition: innovation in the form of LAYERS. So, for the elevated escape from the ordinary, in 2024. a King cup in 6 different layers has been created. And such innovation required packaging design that supports it!
The solution: Each cup visually communicates the richness of flavours through the design of the ingredients, and graphic elements have been added to emphasise the existence of different layers. Finally, to demonstrate the real benefit of the new technology, we literally added a window to showcase distinct levels of indulgence.
Results: +11% Net Sales Vs plan 24 & King Obsession – Bestselling cup in category 3 months after launch
• PROJECT NAME: Let’s Open Up #OpenUp | #НаправиМесто
ENTRANT: Saatchi & Saatchi Skopje
CLIENT: Makedonski Telekom
COUNTRY: North Macedonia
CATEGORY: I. Market Mosaic: 4. Telecommunications
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Telekom is the #1 Telco brand in the country.
As a brand with higher purpose, we believe that we can inspire real connection, not just connectivity. To foster mutual understanding, empathy and openness as the only way forward.
To address this, we found the right person.
Goran Stefanovski, a Macedonian writer, whose life work is centered around societal, generational and political tensions.
We decided to use our network to spread his mission and address the nation.
We went through thousands of pages of his work. From this we excerpt the most powerful and influential words, that helped us to craft a new message for connection.
125 % brand fit TA
+4% increased brand performance
+25% brand i would pay more
+26% eye to eye
+24% increased brand affinity over competition
1,5 million video views from 2 million population
2 minutes video view duration which is 85% view completion rate
20x increase in shares
16x increase in comments
+54% more video views
100% audience reach
60+ media outlets
100+ influencers talking about it
• PROJECT NAME: Let’s Open Up #OpenUp | #НаправиМесто
ENTRANT: Saatchi & Saatchi Skopje
CLIENT: Makedonski Telekom
COUNTRY: North Macedonia
CATEGORY: II. Market Mosaic: 4. Telecommunications
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Telekom is the number one brand in the telecommunications industry in the country.
As a brand with a higher purpose, we believe we can inspire true connection—not just connectivity. To promote mutual understanding, empathy, and openness as the only way forward.
To achieve this, we found the right person.
Goran Stefanovski, a Macedonian writer whose life’s work focused on social, generational, and political tensions.
We decided to use our network to spread his mission and address the nation.
We went through thousands of pages of his work. From them, we selected the most powerful and influential words that helped us craft a new message of connection.
- 125% brand alignment with the target audience
- +4% increase in brand performance
- +25% more people willing to pay more for the brand
- +26% “face-to-face” connection with the brand
- +24% higher brand favorability compared to the competition
- 1.5 million video views in a population of 2 million
- Average view duration of 2 minutes (85% video completion rate)
- 20x increase in content sharing
- 16x more comments
- +54% more video views
- 100% audience reach
- 60+ media outlets reported on the campaign
- 100+ influencers talked about it
• PROJECT NAME: Litle Chief Slovenia
ENTRANT: Luna \TBWA
CLIENT: Mercator
COUNTRY: Slovenia
CATEGORY: I. Market Mosaic: 1. Food
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Since 2019, Mercator has stirred up family fun in the kitchen, teaching kids the recipe for confidence, creativity, and balanced nutrition. Through the TV show Little Chef Slovenia (which won Albert award for sustainable production), each season, eight young culinary duos from elementary schools across the country brought the heat in a 10-episode showdown, contributing to their schools with their cooking skills.
Suppliers joined the mix, featuring their products in recipes, challenges, and the voting process. Customers got a slice of the action by purchasing showcased items and earning codes to vote for their favorite schools.
The result? A piping-hot €180,000 in school donations awarded over six seasons!
The proof was in the pudding: parental involvement in kids’ cooking soared from 74% in 2019 to a sizzling 91% by 2024. Cooking together wasn’t just fun—it turned out to be the secret ingredient for stronger families and healthier habits.
Watch the video summaries of past finalists here: #godinazanama; #starifrendovi; A soup to remember; Barcaffè; Bjana Quatro; Booktiga – “Prihvati poziv”; BUDI HRABAR, BUDI ZDRAV; Cast light on workers rights. Sa radničkim pravima na sunce. Z delavskimi pravicami na sonce; Connecting Family platform; Control Yourself; Croatia 2074 – A Glimpse into the Future; Dan koji je promenio sve; Dealio; Don’t close your eyes!; Everything tastes better with Vegeta; Grand kafa – Hajde da imamo vremena; Guarana Azijana; Halk EZ Branding; Here for the Competition; INA BOLJE STATI NEGO ZASPATI; Izvandredno skockana; Jaffa card; Javi se za *eks.
Congratulations to the finalists! Only the very best among them will earn the BalCannes awards and will be announced at the grand award ceremony during the new edition of the Days of Communication, taking place from May 15 to 18, 2025. See you in Rovinj!
