The PM Society’s 38th annual awards were held last week, on Friday 15th March, at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, at which over 900 industry professionals came together to celebrate the best in creative, impactful, and innovative communications in pharma and healthcare.
PM Society chair Dom Marchant kicked off the awards afternoon, introducing the PM Society’s own Perseverance Matters campaign and, additionally, the Creativity for Good competition, which is an annual initiative run by the PM Society, aiming to find a pro bono agency partner for a charity. This year, it was CATS, which took to the stage to ask for support for those living with Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease.
The awards ceremony itself, which included a three-course lunch, was hosted by Alex Horne and the Horne Section, with entertainment from comedian Zoe Lyons.
The PM Society’s director, Rachel Farrow, said: “We saw a real uplift in entries this year and I was again really excited to have been able to support two Diversity & Inclusion focused categories, as well as hosting the Positive Pitch Award for the second year with our partners from the IPA and ISBA. This collaboration continues towards improving the process and experience of pitching across the industry.”
The agency at the top of the leaderboard this year was Havas Lynx, which won three Golds, a Silver, and a Bronze. Other agencies taking two Golds included Langland, VCCP Health, Ogilvy Health UK, and Anthem PR & the Good Ideas Group. The coveted Best in Show award, meanwhile, chosen by head judge Khalid Latif, global executive creative director (Europe) at VML Health, was won by McCann Health London an IPG Health Company, with Golin, for See My Pain for Reckitt. Gold trophies were also taken home by VML Health, Stirred, 21GRAMs, part of Real Chemistry, McCann Health London and Publicis Health (Langland and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness).
There were five people shortlisted for Agency Champion, an award for an individual who has delivered above and beyond; someone who symbolises what good healthcare communications is all about. The winner was Miriam Magni from Verve, with a Highly Commended award for Anushka Kandola from Swordfish Advertising.
The most successful client company was AstraZeneca, for the second year, with three winning trophies; a Gold for Internal Communications, plus Golds for Disease Awareness: HCPs and Best Creative Medical Education, both in partnership with Merck. Astellas, GE Healthcare, and Teva all took two Golds each, while Reckitt took a Gold and the Best in Show.
Other client winners were Europa Donna, Moons, NABS, GSK, and the National Autistic Society. Pharma Marketing Pioneer saw five inspirational finalists who were interviewed by an experienced panel of judges about their achievements, their innovative approaches, and their legacies. After an exceptionally difficult panel discussion, the judges decided there would be two winners, Mark Harrison, associate director of oncology marketing at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and David Lyons, patient lead at Chiesi.
The judges were impressed with Lyon’s “unwavering dedication to integrating the patient voice throughout Chiesi”; of Harrison, they said that “he recognised the possibilities offered by generative AI and embraced innovation by incorporating it into marketing workflows”, and that he was “a true innovator”. Both very worthy winners. The Highly Commended award went to Graham Addison, global head of marketing at AstraZeneca, also someone with incredible achievements.
The Positive Pitch Award went to the ADHD Brand Team at Consilient Health, nominated by Grace Comms. Joyce Kelso, director of agency value at the IPA, presented the award on stage and urged the audience to take a look at the Pitch Positive Pledge to help spread the word.
The PM Society is a not-for-profit organisation, founded over 40 years ago. Today it has over 4,000 active members from over 250 companies and has three aims – to support organisations and people in healthcare, recognise excellence, and promote best practice, as well as provide education and training.
For more information, visit http://www.pmsociety.org.uk/
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