When AbelsonTaylor Senior VP ECD Stephen Neale, now on the French Riviera as a Cannes Lions juror, asked if we’d like to vicariously live the experience through his daily sketches, we jumped at the chance (See the expanding collection below.)
Neale is spending a full week of nine-hour days reviewing and analyzing work for the Lions Health Awards June 19-20, a major component of the Cannes Festival of Creativity, June 21-27.
Since their introduction last year, the Pharma and Health & Wellness Lions have stirred up more than the typical amount of passion and debate associated with the festival’s judging process. Besides representing two completely new categories, they market a form of commerce that is regulated quite differently throughout the world.
“Pharmaceutical adversisements have to comply with a lot of legal requirements, which can affect creativity,” Neale explains. “In print ads, for example, the safety information can take up as much as a page! But ads in other countries are not required to print the safety information in large size.”
It begs the question: Since ads in the US have to spend so much space satisfying the needs of the FDA, do they compromise the creativity of the agencies that make them?
No doubt, Neale and the jury will discuss the issue at length.
AbelsonTaylor, based in Chicago, has been honored as Agency of the Year three times and most creative agency eleven times by MedAdNews. When AT’s work comes up for review at Cannes this year, Neale will recuse himself and, we hope, find time for a little fun.
AbelsonTaylor is located at 33 W Monroe, 312 894 5500, www.abelsontaylor.com
