McCann Health's June Laffey on Why Change is Good in Health

Consumers are changing the way they think about health. They’re no longer just doing what they’ve always done, but they’re looking for different ways to get better results. The same can be said about health campaigns. In this changing world where there’s a focus on wellness, not sickness; on prevention, not cure; and improving quality of life in practical ways, there’s never been a better time to work in health. Technology, innovation and/or creative thinking is at the center of all of these campaigns that are impacting behaviors and sometimes even saving lives.

June Laffey is executive creative director at McCann Health in Australia and Southeast Asia and this year’s pharma jury president for the Cannes Lions Health festival.

Company: Sol de Janeiro
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Brasil

I love the thinking behind this campaign, which is an education program designed to teach tattooists to recognize skin cancer. It recruits tattoo artists to the front line of skin cancer screening and education — one of those ideas that seems so obvious it must be genius. Tattoo artists work with skin — it’s their canvas and their livelihood. They are ideally positioned to identify skin problems. And while their clientele may ignore traditional awareness campaigns, they will listen to someone who spends their every waking hour working with skin.

Company: Dot
Agency: Serviceplan Korea/Munich

This is life-changing technology. It’s the first first braille smartwatch, and it allows vision-impaired people to access the functionality of a smartphone we take for granted, with maps, caller ID, and texts. It opens up a whole new world for millions of people. And because it’s been designed as an open system, it provides a platform for ongoing innovation.

Campaign: Second Life Toys
Organization: Green Ribbon Project Committee
Agency: Dentsu Tokyo

Organ donation campaigns have been done to death. Pardon the pun. This is fresh, simple, and engaging. This beautifully crafted campaign, which is designed to raise awareness of childhood organ donation, shows the power of a simple idea to make a huge difference. By asking for people to donate their unwanted plushies to help donate body parts to in-need, much-loved toys, it is a very smart way to raise awareness for childhood organ donation.

Campaign: Parkinsounds
Company: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Agency: Havas Life, Sao Paulo

Healthcare agencies are no longer just about communications. We are in the business of changing lives. In this collaboration with Spotify, Teva and Havas Life developed an app that helps Parkinson’s patients improve their ability to walk. The app was gave freedom and independence to people with Parkinson’s disease. It’s bringing together different disciplines to create incredible results.

Organization: Multiple Sclerosis Waikato
Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland

This is a brilliant print campaign, designed to encourage donations for MS research, that captures the unpredictable nature of MS and its ability to bring a person down. It draws the connection between something we’ve all experienced — the precariousness of Jenga — and what we can only imagine (living with MS).

Campaign: Color for the Colorblind
Company: Valspar, EnChroma
Agency: FCB Chicago

This is a beautiful idea and a beautiful film, a collaboration between paint company Valspar and Enchroma, offering glasses that allow the color blind to experience color. We experience the world of those who are color blind — in which a child’s decision to use different crayons seems baffling. It takes us on their journey as they try on the EnChroma glasses for the first time. I love watching their reactions as they experience color in a new way. It engages and impresses on you how important color is to our world.

From the June 01, 2017 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media