AREA 23’s Creative Director Danielle Decatur and McCann Health China’s Executive Creative Director Pierre Loo sat down with MM+M while on the ground at Cannes Lions to share their experience as Health & Wellness and Pharma Jurors, respectively.
Pierre said a focus on human stories and connection to humanity was a trend he observed as part of the Pharma Jury. He also highlighted how the use of AI has evolved from previous years. This year, he said AI has shifted from being the center of the creative concept to the “backbone," and more often used to support the creative concept.
On the Health and Wellness side, Danielle said many of the pieces the jury evaluated had cultural nuances to them, and emphasized that background and demographics of the jurors themselves was very diverse.
“We were able to really evaluate the work through our different perspectives and I think that’s what led to some of the really great conversations and also what led to some of our top selections in terms of what we said good creativity looks like,” Danielle said.
Danielle looks forward to bringing inspiration she gained from the creative work at this year’s festival back to her own work.
“What I really loved seeing this year in particular was just the ambition to reach out to communities that the healthcare space has maybe failed or overlooked and I think that gives me a lot of inspiration to think about how we can go to those communities that really do have real problems to solve and use creativity to do it," she said.
Pierre also said this year’s creative work inspired him to think about solving problems from different angles and perspectives.
“I’m going to be questioning and challenging my team or myself to really look at a problem itself over again and to look for a solution. Not for the normal one, but an extraordinary one,” he said.
