Animeta Brandstar‘s collaboration with Publicis Groupe on the “Bassi vs Garnier Men Facewash” campaign has amassed over 400 million views across Instagram and YouTube channels and secured a “Bronze Lion” at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, per Silicon India. 

The campaign originated when comedian Anubhav Singh Bassi posted an organic clip critiquing men’s facewash products, which Garnier and its agencies transformed into a strategic marketing opportunity.

Animeta’s contributions included swift onboarding of Bassi and fellow comedian Harsh Gujral, coordinating campaign deliveries with the talent, and facilitating interactions between Bassi, other creators, and brand ambassador John Abraham.

“This win underscores the power of authentic influencer collaboration and agile moment marketing in creating truly memorable and effective advertising,” Vishu Ray, SVP of Branded Content and Creator Strategy at Animeta, said in a statement.

Industry Context

The campaign success comes amid significant investment in creator economy infrastructure. Publicis Groupe has invested approximately $500 million in creator economy acquisitions since early 2025, including U.S.-based Influential, Brazil’s BR Media Group, and technology platform Captiv8.

This strategic focus aligns with broader industry trends, as BCG projects India’s creator economy to exceed $100 billion by 2030. Currently, 70% of brands engaged in influencer marketing expect to increase their creator budgets by 1.5-3x over the next 2-3 years.

The recognition at Cannes Lions 2025, which has officially rebranded its “Social & Influencer Lions” as “Social & Creator Lions,” reflects the growing prominence of creator-driven campaigns in global advertising strategies.