Be Inspired by the Winners at Cannes Lions Health

Day one of Cannes Lions kicked off with the Health & Wellness and Pharma Lions.

And it was a hearty start to the week for New York agency JOHN X HANNES, which took the Health & Wellness Lion Grand Prix  for the campaign ‘Corazon – Give Your Heart’. The short film, directed by John Hillcoat and created to run at the Tribeca Film Festival was designed to make New Yorkers register to become organ donors. The movie was backed up by an interactive experience that allowed filmgoers to register to donate their organs by pressing their phone to their heart and interacting with the film’s protagonist in digital signage.

There were also a whopping eight Golds handed out in the category. J. Walter Thompson Bangkok took Gold for its Kleenex Tiny Doll campaign, while Serviceplan’s innovative product the ‘Dot’ for visually impaired people also took Gold.

Marcel Paris’s ‘Black Supermarket’ for Carrefour, Y&R Melbourne’s ‘Sip Safe’ for Monash University, adam&eveDDB’s Project 84 for Calm were other Gold winners. RPA Santa Monica took two Golds for its Imaginary Friend Society campaign for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, while EnergyBBDO Chicago also won Gold for its attempt to tackle the USA’s prescription drug problem, the art project ‘Prescribed to Death'. There were also 12 Silver Lions and 18 Bronze awarded in the category.

It was a bitter pill to swallow in the Pharma Lions as no Grand Prix was announced. While many of the world’s biggest Pharma brands entered, including many of the world’s largest pharma companies, including: Pfizer, BI, Allergan, Novartis, Merck, Bayer, Biogen, Lilly, Grunenthal, Cochlear, AZ, TEVA, Takeda, Roche, GSK, nothing quite reached the Grand Prix standard.

“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 three Gold Lions went to TBWA\India’s ‘Blink to Speak’ project for the Asha Ek Hope Foundation, which helps non-verbal people communicate it (you can read more about that project here), CHE Proximity Melbourne’s ‘Hearing Test in Disguise’ and  the awareness-raising campaign ‘Change Gout’ for Grunenthal. There were 15 Silvers and 9 Bronzes.

The Blink to Speak project also took home the Health Grand Prix for Good. 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.