Collecting woodcut stamps from travel destinations is a tradition in Japan. Dentsu channeled that custom in a colorful, design-driven 150th-anniversary campaign for Japan Railway that won the Industry Craft Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Tuesday.

The “My Japan Railway” campaign involved creating stamps for every railway station across the country, which had the effect of gamifying travel. People started collecting the stamps, and in the process reconnected with the railway and the destinations it serves. 

The Industry Craft Lions are a media-agnostic category designed to honor “the creative artistry, talent and skill required to deliver a beautifully executed solution and bring a creative idea to life.” 

Yoshihiro Yagi, executive creative director at Dentsu Japan and the jury president this year, instructed the jury to focus on three things in evaluating the work: enrichment over convenience, emotion over function, and dreams over efficiencies. This playful direction was embodied in the winning work.

Yagi was not involved in the Grand Prix discussion, since his agency made the “My Japan Railway” campaign. The final debate didn’t last long.

“This was an absolutely unanimous choice,” said juror Natasha Romariz Maasri, executive creative director, Leo Burnett Middle East and Africa. “It was an easy choice, in many ways, because this work kept rising to the top—from online judging right through to the Grand Prix. There was very little debate, just appreciation for the work.”

McCann New York’s “ADLam” project for Microsoft was a Gold Lion winner and the only other serious contender for the Grand Prix. (It did win a Grand Prix in Design on Tuesday.) The other golds went to “Untangling the Politics of Hair” for Stir magazine by FCB India; the “Lap” campaign for Honda Motor France by DDB Paris; “Phone It In” for Skinny by Colenso BBDO Auckland; and “A British Original” by Uncommon for British Airways. (On Monday, “Phone It In” won Grand Prix in Radio & Audio and “A British Original” snagged Grand Prix in Outdoor.)