Health Track Highlights

“As a Jury, we agreed that science and human emotion are best served together,” said Pharma Lions Jury President Joshua Prince, CEO, Professional Group, Omnicom Health Group. The Grand Prix, an innovation which turned social media scrolling into patient therapy, married the two. “It combined a medical issue – facial masking – with a technology solution that already exists,” said Prince. It tapped into available technology and applied it in a very inventive way.”

Pharma Lions Jury President Joshua Prince, CEO, Professional Group, Omnicom Health Group, highlighted “a rising focus on the quality of access of care by clinicians of diagnosis” among this year’s winners. This piece used storytelling and localised media placement to urge healthcare providers to recognise racial inequalities in breast cancer care. Prince praised the power of the Gold-Lion winning work, saying: “That striking image is almost all the communication that exists on the outdoor work.”

Collaborating with popular detective drama The Brokenwood Mysteries, insurance provider Partners Life transmitted its message through murdered characters brought back from the dead. Health & Wellness Juror Luc Wise, CEO and Co-Founder, The Good Company, praised this Grand Prix winner: “It managed to blend entertainment, product and advertising in such a seamless and simple way.”

Publicis Group’s CEO Arthur Sadoun used his personal journey to encourage companies to challenge the stigma around cancer in the workplace. Jurors were impressed with the measurable impact of the initiative: it will affect more than 13 million people worldwide, as well as its scalability. Health Grand Prix for Good Jury President Sueann Tannis, Senior Communications Director at The United Nations Foundation, said: “We are facing a time of deep crisis. The only way to turn it around is to work together to drive meaningful change.”

Based on academic research revealing that male trees produce allergenic pollen, whereas female trees absorb it, allergy relief brand Claritin planted more female trees across the USA. It’s an example of a brand “advancing in a sincere way,” said Mel Routhier, Chief Creative Officer at VMLY&R Chicago and Jury President, Health & Wellness Lions. “It tries to reduce the cause of what you would need its product for, rather than pump out more medicine.”