Hyundai Motor Wins Two Awards at Cannes Lions 2026, Including Grand Prix

Hyundai Motor has demonstrated its creative leadership by making its presence felt at the international advertising festival “Cannes Lions 2026” for the second consecutive year.

Hyundai Motor announced on Sunday (the 28th) that its “Coquí Alarmed” campaign, which reinterprets noise as culture, won the Grand Prix in the Audio & Radio category at Cannes Lions 2026, and its global marine forest conservation campaign “Forests Without Names” won a Bronze Lion in the Creative Data category.

Now in its 73rd year since its inception in 1954, Cannes Lions is a festival where over 25,000 works from around the world are submitted each year, drawing the attention of consumers and the marketing industry.

“Coquí Alarmed,” which won the Grand Prix in the Audio & Radio category this year, is a hyper-local brand campaign conducted by Hyundai Motor in Puerto Rico.

Hyundai Motor Puerto Rico responded nimbly to the social issue of tourists feeling uncomfortable with the sound of the coquí frog—a symbolic presence of the region—and the backlash from locals, reinterpreting the nation’s identity and charm. By applying the actual sound of the coquí frog to the door-lock alert sound of Hyundai rental cars operating locally, the campaign reinforced Puerto Rico’s cultural pride.

By setting the alert sound of rental cars frequently used by visitors to the coquí frog’s call, the campaign helped tourists naturally encounter Puerto Rico’s iconic culture, and in particular, it received positive acclaim for reinterpreting the region’s unique natural sounds as a brand experience, eliciting cultural empathy from both tourists and local residents alike.

Meanwhile, “Forests Without Names,” selected as a winner in the Creative Data category, is a social contribution campaign that gives place names to marine forests—which, unlike terrestrial forests, have received little attention—and reflects them in map services.

The core of this campaign lies in naming marine ecosystems that fall into the blind spots of legal and institutional protection, thereby transforming invisible environmental issues into relatable stories.

The global marine forest map built through the campaign contains the names and location information of newly named marine forests. It also includes satellite-based seaweed distribution and marine environment data, as well as management information such as whether protected area status has been designated, enabling an understanding of the status of marine forests worldwide.

In addition to the Creative Data category in which it won, “Forests Without Names” also advanced to the finals in five categories, including Design and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), drawing intense attention from the global advertising community. It garnered praise for going beyond simply delivering a message to expanding the need for marine forest conservation into social discourse, laying the groundwork for mid-to-long-term dialogue formation.