CANNES, France—No one travels to an industry gathering without expectations. For some people, those hopes may be as simple as rosé on a terrace, but at the Cannes Lions Health Festival, attendees set some pretty lofty goals.
Some said they wanted to be inspired and surprised. Others said they wanted to absorb some of the creativity floating around the Grand Palais, whether from fellow pharma and agency types or one of the artists, actors, astronauts, architects or astrophysicists interviewed onstage.
Still others wanted even more: They were looking for ideas that might change the world, or at least the world of pharma and healthcare.
FiercePharma persuaded some festivalgoers to put their goals on record.
Rachel McCready, creative strategist, Klick Health
Shradha Agarwal, co-founder, Outcome Health
“This is the first year that Outcome Health has participated in Cannes Lions Health, and I’m looking forward to learning from the global minds that are the best minds in the creative world, but also finding ourselves having really great conversations throughout about bringing technology and its potential together with creative and the unique opportunity for messaging with relevancy, with applicability and with the right context.”
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Robert Zirkelbach, executive VP of public affairs, PhRMA
“More than anything I’m looking forward to hearing from the smartest, most creative people in the business. We just launched a new campaign called Go Boldly, and we’re always looking for new and different ways to tell the story of what this industry does. It’s great to be able to come here and be challenged by different ideas and different perspectives and learn where the trends are heading so we can be able to insert that kind of stuff into our new campaign.”
Leerom Segal, co-founder and CEO, Klick Health
“I’m looking forward to seeing a tremendous amount of creativity and innovation, which is really what Cannes Lions is all about. Probably the talk that I’m looking most forward to is Platon, an artist who’s been a source of inspiration for me and I love the fact that he’s really been able to capture these unbelievable moments in minutes. To have mastered your craft to that degree is phenomenal. I’m also looking forward to hearing Bjarke Ingalls. I think some of the architecture he’s done bringing in nature and these incredible ecosystems has a lot of applications in healthcare. Think of the hospital as a healing environment and you contrast that with some of the incredible architecture he’s built and I think we as an industry can learn a lot from that.”
David Hunt, European CEO, Havas Lynx
“I work in this industry to drive positive change and use creative to break through. I’m really excited to see the most innovative work and how it’s driving improvements in people’s lives.”
This year's Cannes Lions Health coverage is brought to you by Klick Health. All editorial content is written and produced independently of our sponsor.