PM Society Awards 2020 Results

Both Edwards Lifesciences and Teva won four Golds and one Silver each, making them joint top of the pharma charts. Roche won two Golds and two Silvers and Reckitt Benckiser (RB) two Golds. Other Gold winners on the client side included ALK, Heart UK, Immunocore, Janssen, Mundipharma, Novo Nordisk and Santen. 

The event is the largest in the industry awards calendar and attracts around 900 people from across pharma companies and agencies to the largest ballroom in Park Lane. The ceremony was skilfully hosted by Claudia Winkleman in combination with comedian Zoe Lyons and everyone’s favourite voice, Alan Dedicoat, the voice of Strictly.  Although the Gold Awards were dominated by Havas Lynx Group and VCCP, there were 21 different agencies and 30 different pharmaceutical or healthcare organisations that received a Gold, Silver or Bronze.

Best of Show this year was chosen by Head Judge Oliver Caporn who selected VCCP’s film ‘Hairspray’ from their ‘Acts of Love’ campaign developed for Teva.  Oliver said of the film; “Although not the most awarded entry in the show it won its own category hands down and has stuck with me since the first time I saw it. An emotional, well written, beautifully cast and directed film, not just for pharma but by any standards.  Clever use of misdirection and humour keep the viewer engaged from the first frame. Then that final twist surprises and delights, and brings a lump to the throat. But the crucial ingredient when judging… it made me wish I had done it.”

There were a number of notable results this year with Havas Lynx Group retaining three of last year’s category wins – Interactive Communications, Disease Awareness – Patients and Best use of Insight. Envision Pharma Group also retained the Events and Exhibition title for another year. 

The PM Society Awards recognise creativity, impact and innovation across pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising and communications. They are still unique in including Target Awards that are judged by nationwide online surveys of healthcare professionals or pharmaceutical executives – the “targets” of the work. Other categories are judged by panels of Creative Directors and industry experts. 

2020 PM Society Gold Awards

·         Craft Award for Sales Aid - McCann Health for Reckitt Benckiser

·         Craft Award for Film & Animation (HCPs) - VCCP Health for Edwards Lifesciences

·         Craft Award for Film & Animation (Patients) - VCCP Health for Teva 

·         Craft Award for Interactive Communications - Havas Lynx Group for Teva 

·         Craft Award for Events and Exhibitions - Envision Pharma Group for Mundipharma with support from woolley pau gyro  

·         Craft Award for Disease Awareness (HCPs)  - Syneos Health Communications for Immunocore 

·         Craft Award for Disease Awareness (Patients) - Havas Lynx Group in partnership with Heart UK 

·         Craft Award for Patient Support - Havas Lynx Group for Roche

·         Target Award for House Promotion - Havas Life Medicom

·         Target Award for Corporate & Internal Communications - VCCP Health for Teva

·         Craft Award for Primary Care Advertisement - Havas Lynx Group for ALK

·         Craft Award for Advertisement Campaign - VCCP Health for Edwards Lifesciences 

·         Craft Award for Secondary Care Advertisement - VCCP Health for Edwards Lifesciences

·         Target Award for Advertisement Campaign - Havas Lynx Group for Novo Nordisk

·         Target Award for Primary Care Advertisement - Verve for RB

·         Target Award for Secondary Care Advertisement - Havas Lynx Group for Janssen

·         Innovation - HealthCircle for Santen

·         Mixed Media - VCCP Health for Edwards Lifesciences

·         Best Use of Insight - Havas Lynx Group for Roche

·         Best of Show - VCCP Health for Teva

The PM Society

The PM Society is a not-for-profit organisation, which was founded over 40 years ago as the Pharmaceutical Marketing Society. Today, it has around 3000 active members from over 250 companies and drives marketing excellence and education across the life sciences sector through a variety of channels, including the PriMe modular training programme developed for the industry by the industry. There are a range of interest groups covering Patient Engagement, Digital, Market Access and Industry-agency relations and a programme of educational events across the year. The current Chairman is Craig Bradley from Takeda who has run the Society for the last three years alongside Directors Rachel Farrow and Carwyn Jones and Executive Committee members Colin Williams, Chris Edmonds, Neil Smith, Jonathan Dancer and Caroline Benson. The incoming Co-chairs from February 2020 are Caroline Benson from Cuttsy+Cuttsy and Colin Williams from GSK. 

For further information please contact: Rachel Farrow , Director, PM Society rachelfarrow@pmsociety.org.uk