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Doom and gloom is out. Happiness and hope is in.
That was the consensus from the Health & Wellness jury after reviewing more than 1,200 submissions – only 33 of which earned a sought-after Lion, just seven having struck Gold.
SickKids Foundation was among the golden victors for the FCB-created “The Count” film – a predictable feat for an organization that, nearly a decade ago, broke away from the non-profit playbook of sorrowful storytelling when it launched its category-defying “VS” platform. Back then, SickKids and then-AOR Cossette reimagined illness not as a tragedy but as a battle worth fighting. So while many charities were casting a shadow over the present, SickKids was shining a light on the future. And this year, that hopeful tone is echoing across much of the category.
“In a post-COVID era, we look at the world through the lens of our own health, our families’ health, and our communities’ health,” said Eric Weisberg, the global CCO at Havas Health Network, and Health & Wellness Lions Jury president to a room of journalists in Cannes. “And what we see is a world where health is on fire. Well-being is on fire. We see a growing health inequity gap. We see food deserts. We see a world where too many women, in too many places, lack access to care – and where the stigma around improving their health is growing, not shrinking. The work that won a Lion met this moment with existential urgency.”
The idea that “joy is an act of rebellion against fear, stigma and shame” – as one juror put it – was a throughline in the top campaigns this year. The panel wasn’t just looking to reward emotional storytelling. Instead, they looked for work that demonstrated where the industry needs to go next.
The winners the jury chose also stood for creative evolution. As Weisberg explained, the best work wasn’t “good for health” it was “good for the industry, and good for humanity.” The jury discounted work that he called “health-washing,” with the winning pieces going beyond simply checking a purpose box, Weisberg said.
In fact, four themes emerged from the jury’s deliberations, according to Weisberg: “Awareness alone is dead” – meaning, the best work didn’t just educate consumers about the brand’s existence, it also gave them the means to improve their health; “Joy is the best medicine” – once again, pointing to campaigns that inspired hope instead of simply spotlighting problems; “Meeting people where they are” – especially as trust in institutions fades, with brands playing a role in providing credible, accessible health information; and, finally, “Entertainment is the new advertising,” where winning ideas don’t interrupt, but add to consumer’s lives.
It’s a playbook SickKids certainly helped pioneer and now it seems the rest of the industry is catching up. As Weisberg put it: “We didn’t just want to define the best of today, we wanted work people could take into the boardroom and say, ‘This is what we should be doing in the future.'”
Health & Wellness (1 Gold)
Gold: “The Count” for SickKids Foundation by FCB
“The Count” is a two-minute film created to mark SickKids Foundation’s 150th anniversary, and a new chapter in the long-running SickKids “VS” platform. Featuring real patients, the spot uses a simple but powerful device – a child’s voice counting each year of their life – to show the emotional and physical toll of the fight against childhood cancer. Set within the hospital, it highlights the resilience of patients and families while sharing the campaign’s core message: the fight for the chance to celebrate another year, another birthday.
