Today we’re speaking to Olly Caporn, Creative Director at CDM in London:

AH: What are the side-effects of a festival like Lions Health?

OC: Like Wimbledon fortnight, when local public tennis courts are suddenly rammed for two weeks, Cannes has the ability to renew our fervour for great ideas and inspire a broader mind-set. Three years in and it’s still early days for the wider community of clients to fully embrace the festival but that will come and with that hopefully a larger healthcare comms community that can see and embrace the power of creativity. Equally, for every old fart swiping at a tennis ball in his ill-fitting shorts hopefully there’s a Serena or a Venus who can smell fame and glory and wants to contribute to our industry.

AH: What would you say has been the best thing about this year’s festival?

OC: To see agencies from Mumbai winning agency of the year with world-class work has a sobering (but healthy) effect on the larger western based agencies. We all need to up our game to be able to compete. Or move to India I guess.

AH: And the worst?

OC: While socializing at the Gala bash on the Sunday night I lost count of the number of people who suddenly looked revolted at their half eaten BBQ’d chicken leg and declare ‘this chicken isn’t cooked!’. I sometimes wonder if any of them survived.

AH: Did you have a favourite winner this year? If so, what was it?

OC: No one can fail to love the Grand Prix winner ‘Manboobs’ or the ‘Literacy Project’ but leaving them to one side for a second its worth checking out the lesser applauded Bronze winning ad for Fabogesic by JWT Argentina, a really lovely TV spot called MOVING. And the ‘Impossible hands’ campaign for Arthritis awareness by Ogilvy Sao Paulo. That’s four choices, sorry about that.

AH: Did you notice any trends in the type of work that won? (Across both Pharma and Health & Wellness.)

OC: It seems that pharma brands still struggle to excite juries to any great extent. The main trend seems to be the ‘healthification of everything’. Now consumer brands can hitch a ride on the healthcare wagon and win some proper gongs…ahem….I mean….er….help improve the world.

AH: What’s your prognosis for the healthcare industry post Lions Health?

OC: On a creative level its clear that the healthcare advertising industry is considerably more healthy than it was even a few years back and I think Cannes is responsible for much of that. The future is exciting.

But I’d like to see more work doing well that is less of the kind of work ‘that does well at Cannes’, which I accept is a rather complex dilemma.

AH: Thanks Olly, here’s to improving the world again – same time next year.