Sam’s Trip To The Cannes Lions Health Awards 2015

Sam jetted off to sunny Cannes last week to attend the Cannes Lions Health Awards 2015, hear what she had to say about the weekend’s events.

What you thought about this year’s entries?

There were far more entries this year than last (an estimated 30% increase from 2014 with 432 Pharma and 1,430 in Health & Wellness entries). The quality was outstanding, with a great campaign from Australia for Breast Cancer awareness; the ‘I Touch Myself’ Project by Cancer Council Nsw, and UK’s Sport England ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, which won Gold for Education and Awareness in Health and Wellness and the Grand Prix For Good.

 The Grand Prix Lions Health Winner was the ‘Take It From a Fish’ campaign by Astrazeneca and DigitasLBi.

What you thought of the venue?

The Final evening on the Majestic Beach for the Gala definitely beats the Dorchester or Grosvenor on a rainy day any day.

 What you thought of the awards ceremony?

This year the awards were done on the Friday night and split with drinks beforehand and after, this meant no food until around 11pm, so the changed format was a bit awkward, maybe better to do awards and Gala on the same night. Also I noticed some delegates went home on the Saturday.

Your thoughts on Cannes?

Cannes is a lovely city, the influx of congress attendees makes it busy and hotel prices increase significantly just for the week of the Festival. It has a beautiful beach and fabulous shops (particularly along Rue d’Antibes).

How did Cannes Lions Health 2015 compare to last year’s awards?

This year was definitely better attended with a packed schedule (last year there was a fairly lengthy lunchbreak but this year it went straight through).

 I particularly enjoyed a presentation by GSK Consumer Health President Emma Walmsley talking about making their brands more lovable.

 I missed the Google talk as I was in the Wunderman presentation, so need to catch up as everyone said that was really good.

 I think an international awards is much needed in this sector and it will inevitably mean some downsizing of the UK based awards (currently we have just too many), it will be interesting to see which one will go by this time next year.

Click here to find out more about the Pharma Winners of Cannes Lions Health 2015.