The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has begun well for the region with WPP’s The Classic Partnership, part of the Menacom Group, bagging a Gold and a Silver Lion in the Pharma Lions category in Lions Health. The agency has won the awards for ‘The Nazar Initiative’ that it has conceptualized and executed for Aster Healthcare & Medical Centres. This also marks UAE’s first Lion in the category.
Jury President, Alexandra von Plato, the Group President of Publicis Healthcare Communications Group said that the jury was very enthusiastic about the campaign. In a conversation with Arabian Marketer, she said, “The Nazar Initiative was discussed very often in the jury meet. It is a powerfully human work that offered a solution for a very important problem. It is elegant, well designed and a simple solution that was hidden in plain sight.”
The biggest challenge was most workers in Dubai’s construction industry face are that they uneducated and hence the traditional ‘Snellen Eye Chart’ that uses letters from the English language, is of little use. The agency had to create something that worked as the traditional ‘Snellen Eye Chart’ and delivered the exact same results. The agency created graphics of equipment/tools (hammer, drill, nails etc…) familiar to workers and replaced the letters used in the traditional ‘Snellen Eye Chart’ with these graphics. This was done in consultation with specialists at Aster Hospital and it worked technically as well as the ‘Snellen Eye Chart’.
“We believe we have not only responded to a CSR brief but we have created an all new solution for people in similar circumstances for geographies around the world,” commented Rahul Nagpal, Partner & CEO, The Classic Partnership Advertising.
Winning at Cannes is always special and a lot sweeter if it’s your first. You compete withthe best from around the world and to come out on tops, speaks volume for the agency culture and the creative capabilities of the team.
