CANNES – Cannes Lions opened today against the backdrop of the Côte d’Azur. Lions Health, the specialist two-day event celebrating creativity across pharma and healthcare communications, kicked-off with content exploring life-enhancing innovations and ideas. Sessions included insights from ustwo Health on the global digital health market and a talk exploring patient engagement in the social media era with MyHealthTeams and Biogen.
In an inspirational evening Awards Show, the winners of the Health Track Lions were announced. The Health Track – which encompasses the Health & Wellness Lions and Pharma Lions – celebrates creativity in branded communications that has the unique power to truly change lives.
In the Health & Wellness Lions 1,482 entries were received and 39 Lions were awarded: 8 Gold, 12 Silver and 18 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to ‘Corazón – Give Your Heart’ by JohnXHannes, New York, for Montefiore, USA. Health and Wellness Lions Jury President: R. John Fidelino, Executive Creative Director, InterbrandHealth, said, “We looked for work that fused health and wellness issues into our everyday lives.” R. John Fidelino described the Grand Prix winner as an extremely strong integrated campaign that used various elements and mediums that came together successfully as a whole. ”
The Health & Wellness Lions Jury noted trends across the winning work, including the innovative and effective use of mobile. The winning work also demonstrated that health and wellness doesn’t always have to be serious, emotional and meaningful, the ideas that came through were often cool, clever and funny.
From 376 entries received in the Pharma Lions 27 Lions were awarded: 3 Gold, 15 Silver and 9 Bronze, with no Grand Prix. For the first time, Argentina and Ireland both took Bronze Lions home.
Pharma Lions Jury President Rich Levy, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Health, noted that the shortlist included work from many of the world’s largest pharma companies, including: Pfizer, BI, Allergan, Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Biogen, Lilly, Grunenthal, Cochlear, AZ, TEVA, Takeda, Roche, GSK.
His jury looked for work that was both life-changing and highly creative. “We saw a diversity of ideas that we’d never seen before. There was not a single piece of work that stood out to win the Grand Prix, but many of the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will move the industry forward,” said Levy.
The Lions Health Grand Prix for Good, open to Gold Lion-winning entries ineligible for a Grand Prix in their section, was awarded to ‘Blind to Speak’ for Asha Ek Hope Foundation by TBWA\INDIA, Mumbai. Health Grand Prix for Good Jury President Rajesh Mirchandani, Chief Communications Officer, United Nations Foundation, said, “The award is designed to recognise creative achievements that promote the advance of social good and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To do this, we must come up with ideas that are scalable and reach the furthest left behind. We got chills when we saw ‘Blind to Speak’. We were impressed with its simplicity and its ability to inspire and empower.”
The Healthcare Agency of the Year was awarded to Havas Lynx; second to Area 23, an FCB Health Network Company; and third to Langland.
The Healthcare Network of the Year was awarded to FCB Health; second to Havas Health & You; and third to Publicis Health.
The Young Lions Health winners were also announced during the Awards Show. The winners were: Gerardo Saavedra, Felipa, Mexico and Emiliano Salmon, Felipa, Mexico.
This year, the Festival will reach more people in more places than ever before with the launch of the Digital Pass, offering access to exclusive live broadcast, direct from the Festival. Sessions today included Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House with author Michael Wolff talking to Jeff Goodby and Natasha Jen from Pentagram; and artist Mario Klingemann discussing on creativity and AI.
