Based on research that found surgeons listening to heavy metal music perform more efficiently in operating rooms, Klick Health created Lifesaving Radio, which allows doctors in ORs to customize music playlists based on the type and length of medical procedures.
The creatives at Klick Health never dreamed that rock band AC/DC could be the key to improving outcomes in operating rooms around the world.
But when the agency discovered research that showed the band’s music amped up the performance of surgeons in the OR, they were… thunderstruck.
The insight drove the creation of Lifesaving Radio, an AI-powered Spotify radio station featuring a 30-hour playlist of songs inspired by the band. The work was created for Klick client NextMed Health, a US-based digital health innovation brain trust.
Klick Health made Lady Gaga the face of migraine treatment Nurtec. Described as an actual Nurtec user, she says in a 30-second TV spot: “I know what it’s like to perform through pain.”
Noting that “almost every surgeon in a surgical suite plays music,” Klick CCO Rich Levy says the playlist is customized to the type and length of a medical procedure. Testing has shown that surgeons who listen to Lifesaving Radio perform faster, more efficiently and with higher accuracy.
Thousands of physicians from around the world have now tapped into Lifesaving Radio on Spotify and media coverage has achieved close to one billion earned impressions.
The unlikely pairing of hard rock and surgical procedures is an example of Klick’s 26-year history of refusing to accept the status quo, Levy says.
Klicksters take the Cannes stage in June after winning a Gold Lion for The Congregation.
It all starts with what Klick calls a “provocation brief,” named so because the goal is to provoke an action. “It’s not good enough for people to be aware of a problem. People have to do something about it,” he insists.
All briefs start by asking a question: what is the injustice at hand? Levy says he finds that when you start from that perspective, “all you want to do is find a way to make a difference.”
For U.S. women’s empowerment organization PodHER, Klick created The Congregation, in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cannes Lions-winning campaign includes resources and support for women seeking abortions.
The model may be best illustrated in Klick’s most recent campaign for PodHER, a US-based organization focused on women’s empowerment. The initiative, called The Congregation, is a fictional religion devised in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.
“Many people within Klick stepped forward and said, ‘We need to do something,” recalls Levy. “We needed to figure out a way of letting women know they weren’t alone.”
The Congregation is anchored in a real, bible-like tome called the Book of Beliefs, containing resources for women and their allies, such as maps to medical clinics.
Although the agency was driven to join PodHER’s fight, the advertising community rallied behind the work as well, awarding a 2023 Gold Lion in the Design – Book category.
The trophy is joined in Klick’s case by another Cannes win: The Bridge, an animated short about how a suicidal man and an abandoned dog save one another. It was created for animal advocacy organization PAWS NY.
Klick created The Bridge, a four-minute animation short for animal advocacy organization PAWS NY, that shows the power pets can have on people’s mental health. It went on to win two awards at the 2023 Cannes Lions.
“I’ve watched that piece of work hundreds and hundreds of times,” Levy says, “and every time it just gets to me.”
Apparently juries agreed, because the campaign won a Silver Lion in Digital Craft for Animation and a bronze in Health & Wellness for Animation at the 2023 Cannes Lions.
AI is also playing an increasing role in Klick’s work. It recently launched the KlickRx ChatGPT plugin – an agency first – and developed an algorithm that can forecast the amount of glucose in diabetic patients’ blood 30 minutes into the future.
That’s a big enough window to prompt diabetics to take an insulin dose or adjust their diets based on the information, notes Alfred Whitehead, EVP of data science at Klick.
It’s another example of how Klick can effect real change, and Levy says pharma brands are looking for agencies that can communicate those efforts clearly and creatively.
“Pharmaceutical companies want to talk about their efforts to make a difference in people’s lives,” he says. “That’s why all of them got into the business and I think that we, as communication companies, have to remember that our job is to help them realize that goal.”
Klick is now positioned to bring its strategy worldwide, headquartered in Toronto, with offices in New York, Philadelphia, London, Singapore and Sao Paulo. “People are really getting to see what we can do when we’re firing on all cylinders,” Levy notes with a smile.
CONTACT:
Jennifer White
Global Head of Growth, Klick Health
connect@klick.com
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