How many times have you heard, “Pharma advertising is different”? More than once, I’m sure.
It’s true. It is different. Each day, we get to create work for the cutting-edge, breakthrough treatments that some of the most brilliant minds in the world have come up with to ease the burden of some of the world’s most debilitating human conditions.
If Cannes shows us anything, it reminds us that we need creative that can match and complement that brilliance.
This year, we once again saw examples of that. We saw technology merge with health through See Sound, a remarkable device that turns everyday sounds into text messages, so that the hearing impaired can see the sounds surrounding them. Faucet running in the kitchen? Child crying in the playroom? A text will be sent to their phone, alerting them by using words to describe the sound and its location. Smoke alarm beeping in the basement? There’s a text for that, too. Simply brilliant.
In the Pharma jury room, we saw technology being leveraged for experiences and diagnosis. The Grand Prix winner, Breath of Life, is an elegant mix of art, science and technology thoughtfully created to drive diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, one of the leading causes of death in China. By blending the traditional Chinese art form of blow painting with modern, sharable mobile technology, more patients can be diagnosed, and more lives can be saved.
We also saw a desire to get back to more traditional forms of media. There were radio ads from Brazil for Hermes Pardini that were the envy of every copywriter in the room. There were beautifully crafted, tangible items that you couldn’t help but hold onto, literally and figuratively. Colorful, engaging, hefty paper journals for patients with psoriasis, filled with page after page of distinct illustrations and art direction. Oversized, delightfully designed magazines for patients with macular degeneration. In Toilet Books, even a toilet paper roll became elegant, thanks to thoughtful illustration and the printing of classic novels such as “Alice in Wonderland.”
Craft was on display, and used in artful ways to engage and connect. In One Word, a Gold Lion winner, the viewer follows the perilous journey of a simple word as it struggles to travel through the brain, attempting to make its way to the lips of the patient. So beautifully crafted and riveting, you can’t look away. At the end of the journey, you viscerally understand the burden of disease and are left with profound empathy and understanding for the patient.
Creativity and craft, coming together to improve health. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.
When seeing work like this, it’s clear that the category has come a long way, but there is still work to be done, and we are truly never finished. The shortlist was short. Pharma had only a fraction of the entries that Health & Wellness received. As an industry, we need to keep going deeper and find ways to connect and tell stories, visually, emotionally and audibly. We have so many creative tools at our fingertips, we need to keep pushing so that we can deliver work that’s as innovative and inspiring as the scientific breakthroughs we showcase each day.
Kathleen Nanda is executive creative director at FCB Health New York.
