McCann & Medulla give India a boost in Lions Health awards

Medulla Communications won two silver Lions and was ranked second in the of Health awards

The Lions Health Awards, an event held on Saturday and Sunday at the French resort town of Cannes, venue for the annual global advertising festival that begins from Monday, saw agencies McCann Worldgroup India and Medulla Communications win for the country.
 
McCann Worldgroup won a total of nine metals — four gold, four silver and a bronze Lion. And, a Grand Prix for 'Immunity Charm', a campaign for Afghanistan’s ministry of public health, aimed at promoting vaccination and children's health.
 
Mumbai-based Medulla Communications won two silver Lions and was ranked second in the list of 'Healthcare Agency of the Year'. This was the third time the agency had figured in the top three in the past three years.
 
Taproot and Ogilvy completed the list of Indian winners at the Lions Health Awards over the weekend, with a bronze each for 'Adidas Odds' and Savlon's 'Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks', respectively.
 

"Since 2015 we've consistently figured in the top three health care agency list at the Lions Health. Which makes us feel happy that we are on the right track in our work. The silver Lions we won were for 'Palliative Care', which focuses on care for the terminally ill. It also got us the Grand Prix last year. This year, the work that won was called 'Last Laugh'," said Praful Akali, founder and managing director of Medulla, over telephone from Cannes.
 
Prasoon Joshi, chairman, McCann Asia-Pacific and chief executive & chief creative officer, McCann Worldgroup India, said: "The idea of an immunity charm was rooted in the local culture of Afghanistan. Parents put a lucky charm in the form of a bracelet on the wrists of children. We used this to help doctors interpret whether children had been vaccinated or not." Basically, children who had been vaccinated had beads of a specific colour on their wrist band, he explained. The ones who weren’t vaccinated had beads that did not carry that colour. 
 
Indian agencies have made the cut in terms of shortlists across categories such as outdoor, print and publishing, promo and activation, PR and Glass Lions. Awards for these categories will be declared from Monday, which is when the mainline ad festival begins. 
 
A total of 41 entries from Indian agencies such as McCann Worldgroup, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, BBDO, Medulla Communications and Taproot, among others, have figured in the shortlists this year.