Advertising world celebrates the Best of Health
pharmafile | July 5, 2007 | News story | Medical Communications |
Glitz, glamour and a certain type of buttoned-down cool came together at the annual Best of Health Awards, which this year saw two agencies take the expanded top prize.
Leading the way was Woolley Pau, which took Best of Show for advertising to consumers for its illustrated book 'How to Pick up People at Parties and Other Tips for Marketing Executives'.
The light-hearted volume with its chapters on 'Discovering your inner party animal' and 'Don't risk the safe option' also won a gold award in the consumer self-promotion category.
The agency's final awards tally included two special awards – Best use of Photography for Schwarz Pharma's hayfever treatment Mizollen and Best use of Copywriting for Stiefel Laboratories' acne gel Duac – as well as 12 silvers and eight bronzes.
The Best of Show for advertising to healthcare professionals went to Paling Walters for the agency's work with cheese – specifically a block of stilton concealing the grim reaper.
It was just one execution in its 'Lethal Obsession' campaign for Xenical, Roche's prescription weight-loss treatment for obese patients, a series of work that consistently combines a gloomy message with black humour to striking effect.
IPA Healthcare Consultant Tracey Brader said: "There was certainly no shortage of creativity in this year's Best of Health. But the Best in Show awards also reflected two basic tenets of advertising which we should all hold dear.
"The Xenical ad is a classic example of how campaigns benefit from longitudinal ideas; by developing and building a campaign over time so, too, is the brand. And 'How to pick up People at Parties and Other Tips for Marketing Executives' perfectly illustrates why you don't need to take yourself too seriously to communicate a serious message. Would that all self-promotion was so entertaining!"
The awards are organised by the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) to reward the best in creativity in healthcare advertising across all media from press to poster, new media to radio.
This year saw the return of gold awards for a small number of agencies, after a noticeable absence at last year's show. In addition to Paling Walters and Woolley Pau, the judges also rewarded Torre Lazur McCann with a gold for their healthcare professional campaign for Janssen-Cilag's schizophrenia treatment Risperdal Consta.
There were 250 entries to this year's awards and they also produced 39 silvers and 95 bronzes.
Dean Woolley, founder of Woolley Pau and convenor of judges said: "All agencies collecting a Best of Health Bronze, Silver or Gold can be justifiably proud of their achievements, as should anyone called up to receive one of the special awards for best of show, copywriting, art direction, illustration or photography."
The ceremony saw pharma marketers and advertising executives alike gather at The Conservatory in the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, to celebrate creativity and relax afterwards at the IPA's Summer Party.
