A week ago it was announced that the Cairns Crocodiles Awards are officially open for entries for 2027.
To celebrate the 239 day lead up to the prestigious Awards ceremony, we will be spotlighting some of the great work that won Awards at this year’s Cairns Crocodiles, as well as extravagant campaigns that caught our eye across the entire APAC region.
This is a great way to see what award-winning work looks like and inspire you to put your own work forward.
If you haven’t already enter the 2027 Cairns Crocodiles Awards now!
There is no greater place to start in our opinion than the 2026 Grand Prix Winner! Without further ado, let’s sink our teeth into Suntory’s ‘Mahjong Coffee’, created by Dentsu, Japan.
The campaign was centred around making vending machines special touchpoints again.
For BOSS canned coffee, vending machines remain vital. This is despite 10 straight years of category decline.
As Mahjong — a traditional, four-player, tile-based game — is popular across generations in Japan. Dentsu reimagined BOSS with a Mahjong-inspired can design, renewing the act of buying coffee from a vending machine and turning quick purchases into playful moments.
Dentsu designed every BOSS can with original Mahjong tile illustrations, randomly distributed and sold nationwide. Pressing the vending-machine button became like drawing a tile — a little moment of luck. Pro players even played real matches with the cans, turning “drawing a BOSS can” into entertainment.
Once you take a look at these results it is easy to see why this work took home the distinguished Grand Prix Award. The campaign achieved 1.95 billion total Impressions and 47,000 total likes. This transferred into sales of the product reaching an exceptional 140 per cent increase.
Has this exceptional campaign motivated you to put your best work forward? Enter the 2027 Cairns Crocodiles Awards now!
