• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 18, 2017

Cannes Lions got quickly down to business Saturday night with the Health Lions awards and the Grand Prix in the Health & Wellness category went to 'Meet Graham' by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Australia, for Transport Accident Commission Victoria.

The campaign, which combines images of graphically violent car accidents and the impact they can have on the body (interactive sculpture techniques were deployed) was designed as a wakeup call to Australians about the horrific impact and toll of traffic accidents. The commission had determined that many Australians had become desensitized to the catastrophic toll that traffic collisions have on individuals and communities.

The work is startling. Take a peek here at a clip about the campaign.

Yeah, health & wellness, that’s a growth category alright—increased billions are being poured into it every year as result of all those increasingly aging boomers in need of more and more care. And oodles of agencies around the world realize that and are trying to get noticed for their work in the sector. This year there were over 2,200 entries with just 65 Lions awarded.

And no Grand Prix this year in the Pharma category. And that’s too bad, because that’s a category that really could use a creative pop. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but in the U.S. most of the pharma ads are mind-numbingly indecipherable. First of all it’s hard to tell most of the time what disease the ads are talking about that the advertised drug is designed to address because the marketers use jargon to describe it, not the fully spelled out name of the ailment. That would take up half the spot in some cases. And of course the other half they have to reserve to call out all the side effects, which ends up sounding like John Moschitta in those fast-talking FedEx commercials from way back when. And the side effects often sound worse than any disease (like death for example).

Separately The Lions Health Grand Prix for Good was also awarded Saturday night. It went to 'Immunity Charm' by McCann Health, New Delhi / McCann Worldgroup India, Mumbai, for Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Check out the Cannes Lions website for more details if you want them.