Having just returned from judging at the inaugural Health-Lions awards in Cannes, I know only too well how demanding it is for award selection. It is an achievement itself to just get short-listed.
So please be under no illusions. It really isn’t that easy to create a gold winning Health-Lion, in fact it is incredibly hard.
It’s hard not just because of regulations or market conditions. It’s not as easy as creating not-for-profit or quasi health work to eek out a shiny gong.
Yes, favourable regulations and pro-bono work will potentially give you a better chance, but have you got the discipline and dogged determination to search for an idea that it is award worthy, and the tenacity, and grit to see it come to life? If yes, there is still one thing you’ll need above all else.
Simplicity. Without question it is the vital ingredient for shiny metal.
When you consider all the work selected there is not one, be it, Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, Bronze or even shortlist that isn’t simple. So simple in fact, it is easy to describe to someone who isn’t familiar with the work.
For example, parents who drink too much look like monsters to their kids or a baby book that physically changes in the same way a pregnant woman’s body does. How about an effective treatment so inconsequential to peoples lives that you can’t notice the treatment being taken during a documented day?
All of these examples are incredibly simple. It is the same for every one of the award winners, be it Health and Wellness or Pharma. Click on the link below to see the work.
Throughout each day and more so the later the evening got there was a rumbling of upset on the Carlton Terrace, you’d hear conversations with the themes, ‘but it’s different for Pharma’, ‘it’s different in the US’. Interestingly, when you consider the winners in the Pharma category it is still the simple ideas that shine – People with MS relying on family to do every day tasks, or the man taking his tablets (meds) seeing his granddaughter taking them in the bathroom mirror. All wonderfully simple. Perhaps, the work that didn’t win wasn’t single minded enough? Perhaps, saying more in the Pharma work actually communicated less?
Each of the awarded pieces are strikingly simple. In fact there were many more pieces of simple work to critique. So why didn’t they win too?
Well, the one thing that is common to all the work celebrated is not just their simplicity of idea but also their execution.
Years ago, I worked for a Creative Director who said, “ make the complex simple, then make the simple look great’. He wasn’t wrong then and he isn’t wrong now.
The thing that differentiates a good idea from a great idea is how well it is realised. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a print ad, TVC, Online film, print, exhibition stand, digital engagement or social campaign, a good simple idea is elevated to greatness with considered craft.
Take ‘Cate’s Story’, ‘Cancer Tweets’, ‘Toothbrush’, ‘Getaroundknee’, ‘The Boy I Used to Know’, ‘I did this with Idis’, ‘Mother Book’ and ‘My Blood is Red and Black’, they are not only wonderfully simple ideas they are beautifully executed and wonderfully presented. Any person who appreciates creativity, in any industry, or sector of the communication industry would appreciate these pieces.
Simplicity is easy to say, yet oh so hard to achieve. Everyone of the awarded agencies and clients have to be congratulated for protecting and nurturing these wonderfully simple ideas from conception to delivery. An heroic performance by all parties.
So, on reflection there are really only few things to ensure success at next year’s Health-Lions – A great idea. Wonderful execution. A client that cares as much as you do. Research to support your idea. Get your message to thrive, within your regulations. Collective enthusiasm. The finances to complete the idea to a high enough standard. A case study that is both easy to understand and engaging enough to maintain the interest of the judges for four days. And a healthy dose of good fortune. Simple.
The Health-Lions are just what the industry needs, a high-end celebration of creativity and I want as many of my colleagues\competitors to enjoy the experience too. Perhaps we’ll be able to get more of our enthusiastic and influential clients to attend as well. Good luck and see you on the La Croisette next June.
Dick Dunford Creative Partner at Loooped.
Inaugural Health-Lions (Health and Wellness) juror, Short-listed in Pharma category and resident in the Gutter Bar every evening from 12am – 2am.
Listen to our exclusive interview podcast with Dick when we met him at Lions Health
