2024 PM Society Awards – Winners Announced
The PM Society’s 38th annual awards was held on 15 March 2024 at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London. The industry came together to celebrate the best creative communications in pharma and healthcare. PM Society Chair Dom Marchant kicked off the afternoon, introducing the PM Society’s own Perseverance Matters campaign. Then charity CATS took the stage to ask for support for those living with Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease. Over 900 people enjoyed a three-course lunch followed by an awards ceremony hosted by Alex Horne and the Horne Section, with entertainment from comedian Zoe Lyons.
PM Society 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.”
Chair Dom Marchant said: “Personally, the Creativity for Good competition, now in its fourth year, has been a highlight. Over 13 agencies participated in this pro bono initiative – the most we’ve ever had – and the quality of the entries was exceptional. And, ultimately, the winning agency produced a campaign that delivered above and beyond for the CATS Foundation.”
The agency at the top of the leaderboard was Havas Lynx, who 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, chosen by Head Judge Khalid Latif, Global Executive Creative Director (Europe), 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 Oncology Marketing at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and David Lyons, Patient Lead at Chiesi. The judges were impressed with David’s “unwavering dedication to integrating the patient voice throughout Chiesi”; of Mark 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. A 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.
Creativity for Good is an annual initiative run by the PM Society which aims to find a pro bono agency partner for a charity, which this year was CATS. The winning agency, with their highly creative and successful campaign was Verve and Four.
The PM Society Awards continues to provide a popular forum for celebrating creativity, impact and innovation in creative communications in the pharma and healthcare sectors. The PM Society would like to thank all its sponsors for their support, the judges for their hard work and all those involved in making these awards happen.
The full PM Society Awards 2024 results can be viewed here.
