Toby Pickford’s Cannes Diary #2

Toby Pickford, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Health is representing Australia on the Health & Wellness Lions jury at Cannes Health Lions. Pickford, along with most of the other Australian and NZ jurors writes exclusively for CB.

In the Lab

So, its white coats on* and down to business. We were given the rundown and the objectives from the official Lions team. Our leader, Shaheed, gave a rousing kick off speech and reminded us that even though we are far away from our families, we will be like one big family here. I hope he doesn’t mean we’ll be fighting over dinner. Anyway, it was heads down and into the lab for some serious investigation.

Thankfully we have all done some of the hard yards at home, sifting through 418 studies each. But that doesn’t make this job any easier as we need to create a long shortlist from over 1000 entries before the debates start on Friday.

In our controlled environment and with closer examination, we have found some patterns.

Product innovation seems to be bubbling to the surface, and there was one film entry that made a few of us cry. One thing is for sure, health & wellness is certainly fertile ground for creativity.

As the day progressed, I am wondering if we will see another Grand Prix winning entry like Corazon this year? Let’s find out in the next few days.

*We didn’t actually have to wear white coats, just the lab metaphor I am trying to stick to, but it may wear a bit thin day by day.