Cannes Lions Health puts members from Evoke, FCB on pharma ad judging panel

The juries for the Cannes Lions Health pharma and health and wellness awards are now set. Among the 10 members of the pharma jury are two U.S. representatives: Emily Spilko, executive creative director at Evoke, and Kathleen Nanda, executive vice president and group creative director at FCB Health. The pharma jury president, Robin Shapiro, global president of TBWA\WorldHealth in New York, was named in December.

The pharma team will meet up in Cannes, France, for the Lions Health festival and awards on June 17 and 18. This is the sixth year for the international pharma and healthcare advertising creativity confab, and its second year running during the same days as the broader consumer brand-oriented Cannes International Festival of Creativity.

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For two days, pharma and healthcare advertisers and agencies will share case studies, best practices and future looks at creative communications, capped at the end of Day 2 by the awarding of the Lions Health prizes for the best global work in both industries for 2018. Pharma Lions specifically celebrates the creative work in the regulated side of the industry in medicine and therapeutic care.

Spilko, a first-time judge at the festival, said in an email interview that she is looking forward to “being inspired by all of the great talent and work I’m sure I’ll see, collaborating with my fellow jurors (and) using my expertise in a way I never have before." She noted that although pharma forces creatives to work harder with its unique restrictions, her experience has shown “creatives who always find a way—through grit and tenacity and, mostly, compassion—to tell meaningful stories no matter what they’re up against. I know I’ll see a lot of that thinking at Cannes.”

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The health and wellness jury lineup was announced 10 days ago and also includes two U.S. judges: Augé Reichenberg, executive VP  and chief creative officer at Havas Health, and Bernardo Romero, executive creative director for healthcare & wellness at Grey. The Health & Wellness Lions evaluate work that was "created specifically for or by a health and personal wellbeing related" brand or service.