For Cannes Lions 2025, LePub São Paulo entered 'Followers Store', a campaign for New Balance and São Paulo FC: geo-targeted push notifications around the team bus offered fans exclusive jerseys, and the case film claimed the stunt drew 45,000 presales in a single day, with wide media coverage. It won a Bronze Lion in Brand Experience & Activation.
Then Brazilian journalist Demétrio Vecchioli checked the numbers: no evidence the presale ever happened, some outlets cited by the case had never covered the campaign or no longer existed, and influencer footage appeared edited. New Balance said it had never approved the submission. LePub's own investigation confirmed the worst: 'misleading and unverified results', no client approval, below the agency's standards.
The agency announced disciplinary action against those responsible; Felipe Cury — head of creative, co-president and co-founder of the São Paulo office — departed in July 2025, reportedly dismissed immediately after the announcement, and removed the work from his LinkedIn. The Bronze Lion was kept. A trophy on a shelf, a client in retreat, and a case study nobody would stand behind.
The agency kept the Bronze but lost its CCO: the case film's numbers failed an outside check, and the client publicly disowned the entry.
Award entries are claims like any ad: the numbers in a case film must survive an outside check, not just a jury's viewing.
Client approval is part of a submission's legitimacy — New Balance publicly said it never authorised the entry.
A journalist's audit found what the jury could not see: presales that left no trace, coverage that never existed.
An award entry is a claim like any other ad — the numbers must survive scrutiny, the client must have approved them. A trophy built on an unaudited case study ends up costing the people who made it.
The Bronze Lion stayed with LePub, which declined to say whether it would return it; Felipe Cury, co-founder of the São Paulo office, left in July 2025. In the wider awards world, 'Followers Store' joined DM9's revoked Grand Prix as the reason Cannes rewrote its entry rules with verification standards.
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