• by Steve McClellan , Staff Writer, June 20, 2016

CANNES, FRANCE -- Ogilvy & Mather London won the Pharma Lions Grand Prix for its “Breathless Choir” campaign for Philips, while FCB Inferno took the Health & Wellness Grand Prix for “Project Literacy” a global literacy project from publisher Pearson. 

“Breathless Choir” featured choir master Gareth Malone helping a group of breathing-impaired singing enthusiasts prepare for a performance at the Apollo Theater. Philips has a line of medicines and devices to help breathing although the video with Malone focused entirely on the choir members, their stories and Malone’s effort to help them prepare for their big performance. 

Jury President Alexandra von Plato, group president of Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, described the campaign as one that challenges the traditional ‘product as hero’ approach to focus on ‘patient as hero.’ “It’s a stunning example of cinematic storytelling in the medical devices industry and clearly breaks the mold,” she said. 

The idea behind the Project Literacy campaign was to illustrate how using the building blocks of reading and writing, the 26 letters of the alphabet could demonstrate the link between illiteracy and 26 major problems facing the world today. 

Commenting on the campaign Jury President, Joshua Prince, CMO of Omnicom Health Group, said: “The campaign is devastatingly good at showing the real costs of illiteracy and shows that before we even get to health, we have to start with people's fundamental ability to understand.” 

The winner of the Young Lions Health Award, in partnership with UNICEF, was also presented during the Lions Health awards ceremony over the weekend. The jury, including UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Shakira, chose Eleanor Howe and Lina Benmansour of DigitasLBi France for their "UNICEF Brain Food" effort. Their idea: Using everyday objects to stimulate play, and providing creative ways for caregivers to interact with children. It will be used as part of UNICEF’s overall communication outreach on Early Childhood Development. 

Special Awards were also announced, including the Grand Prix for Good which went to “Manboobs” by Argentinian agency DAVID Buenos Aires for MACMA, focused on breast cancer awareness.

The Healthcare Agency of the Year was awarded to Medulla Communications, Mumbai. Second place went to Langland, Windsor and third to McCann Health, Hong Kong. And Healthcare Network of the Year went to McCann Health, with the number two spot going to Publicis Healthcare Communications Group and third to Ogilvy Commonhealth Worldwide.