2025 PM Society Awards – Winners Announced
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21GRAMS and Havas Lynx win big
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AstraZeneca and UCB top client leader board
The 39th PM Society Awards, supported by headline sponsor Avalere Health, were held on 14th March, 2025, at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London. The industry came together for this prestigious annual event to celebrate the best creative work in pharma marketing and healthcare communications.
Current PM Society Chair, Dom Marchant, began the afternoon by remembering Neil Smith, Chair of the Society from 1999 to 2002, who led these awards for 20 years. Sadly, Neil passed away earlier this year and he will be missed by us all.
This year’s charity partner, Acrodysostosis Support & Research, took the stage to ask for support for those living with this rare disease. The ceremony was hosted by Sue Perkins and Alan Dedicoat, with entertainment from comedian Tom Ward.
What a day for 21GRAMS—they took 7 Gold awards as well as seeing Simon Kemp, Group Creative Production Director, take the award for Creative Champion 2025.
A close second on the leader board was Havas Lynx, who took 5 Gold awards as well as winning Agency of the Year (Headcount Over 30), and the highest accolade, the Best in Show award.
Other Gold winners included Atomic Matter, who also won Agency of the Year (Headcount Under 30), CAN Advertising & T&Pm Group, Flipside with Corbin Comms, and McCann Health London, an IPG Health Company.
The most successful client companies were AstraZeneca, with 5 Gold awards, and UCB who won 4 Golds plus Best in Show. Other client winners were Bayer, Cure Usher Syndrome, Genentech, Incyte Biosciences, Karo Healthcare and Roche.
The Agency of the Year categories this year recognised smaller and larger agencies separately. The Agency of the Year (Headcount Under 30) was hotly contested but judges said that “Atomic Matter displayed a winning mix of strategy, creativity, and flawless execution, their polished presentation showing great things really do come in small packages. They are strongly placed for even more success in 2025.” Create Health were Highly Commended and Salt took Commended.
On the winner of the larger agency category, Havas Lynx, judges said “This agency continues to evolve and innovate their business model to meet industry needs, whilst always striving to provide full service for its clients. They showcased wonderful creative work with a sharp focus on impact that matters.” A Highly Commended was awarded to Langland.
Creativity for Good is an annual initiative run by the PM Society which aims to find a pro bono agency partner for that year’s chosen charity. The winning agency, with their highly creative and successful campaign was Syneos Health Communications. Other finalists included Aurora Healthcare Communications, RFA Advertising and Marketing, and Swordfish Advertising supported by xHealthcare. We are so grateful to all agencies that took part in this initiative.
At the end of the afternoon, Louis Paltnoi, Deputy Head Judge, announced Best in Show; The Unbearable Home by Havas Lynx for UCB. “This was not an easy decision. Several entries were strong contenders and the quality of work this year has raised the bar. It’s inspiring to see creativity thriving in healthcare marketing, with boundaries being pushed and imaginations stretched. In an industry increasingly shaped by AI and automation, the best creative work still stands out—because it moves us. It connects. It tells an authentic story that resonates, whether with patients, healthcare professionals, or the wider public. The most powerful campaigns shouldn’t just inform; they need to inspire action and change perspectives, behaviour and mindset. The Unbearable Home was an innovative yet simple concept, beautifully crafted and expertly executed, it demonstrates the extraordinary impact of authentic storytelling, a bold and engaging approach that is deeply emotive and impossible to ignore.”
The Positive Pitch and Partnership Award, now in its third year went to the Takeda Oncology UK team led by Iain Morgan. They were nominated by Salt, Skin & Blister and Treo Strategic Consulting. Judge Lisa Parker said “Takeda took a thoroughly disruptive approach to the pitch process, getting insights from their internal team on what was most important to them and then designing a low burden process that ensured they could pick the right agency partners based on their core needs. They used an innovative approach to creds presentations as well as paid pilot projects to establish whether they could work well together as a team. Truly groundbreaking!” A Commended was awarded to the Chiesi team, nominated by Inizio Evoke.
Winner of Creative Champion, Simon Kemp from 21GRAMS, was praised by judges for his pivotal role in delivering high quality production across a number of impactful campaigns, as they said, “He has been a driving force showing real ambition to push boundaries and deliver stand-out work.” Paul Foster from Atomic Matter was also recognised, being awarded Highly Commended.
Pharma Marketing Pioneer was won by Dr Kishan Rees of Bayer. Judge Mike Orriss said “His approach to challenging the status quo is fundamentally driving greater engagement with his internal customers and achieving some impressive engagement results externally. He is disrupting the global-local model and switching it around to focus on the country’s needs first. Kishan is a pioneer in the true sense of the word.”
Emily Tyndall from Takeda was awarded Highly Commended, with judges saying, “Emily has a pioneering spirit in everything she does, from completely re-inventing a brand detail aid to make it in tune with the customer’s needs, through to running an in-house Dragon’s Den-style competition to encourage and reward an entrepreneurial spirit within Takeda.”
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 our sponsors for their support, the judges for their hard work and all those involved in making these awards happen.
Gold and special award winners, full list:
Sponsors:
Atomic Matter, Avalere Health; CAN Advertising; ConcentricLife; Create Health; Cuttsy+Cuttsy; Dark Horse Agency; Dice Medical Communications; Doceree; Grace Comms; HSJ Information; Life Healthcare Communications; M3; OPEN Health; Publicis Health; Radius Health Creative; Swordfish Advertising; This Is Us; twentyeightc; Verve, Wave Healthcare Communications; Wordbird; xHealthcare
