Think about the many tropes around healthcare creativity. It’s 20 seconds of stuff, then 40 seconds of disclaimers. The creative is nothing but people hiking or tossing balloons up the air smiling. And, oh wow, the names of some of these drugs.
While some of it rings true, an entire world of healthcare creativity goes deep and stands out in a sea of relative sameness. Toronto-based Klick Health has been on the far end of the healthcare creative spectrum, with interesting work that makes a significant difference.
Rich Levy, CCO at Klick, believes that the agency’s paradigm should be more the rule and less an exception.
“Over the last five to 10 years, what I’d call ‘traditional healthcare marketing’ has stopped working. People see the same types of messages, and it doesn’t connect,” says Levy, referring to TV, the traditionally common platform for healthcare advertising. “You need to show clients and consumers the true insights that move people to action.”
Indeed, as a leader in the category, Klick seeks to find out how to meet people where they are. In one case, the agency took a small biotech firm focused on migraines from zero to number one in the space using social media.
“That’s where the people were,” notes Levy. “That community existed online. We owned that space, let the competition use TV and we overtook them in four to five months. You can’t use the same playbook that traditional healthcare marketers use if you want to succeed. It doesn’t work.”
Award-winning work in action
Klick had an outstanding 2024 Cannes Lions, earning the title of world’s #3 Independent Agency of the Year and ranked second for Healthcare Agency and Network of the Year, winning eight Lions, including an Innovation Grand Prix for Voice2 Diabetes, using an ingenious approach to help screen people for the disease using smartphones and voice technology.
According to Levy, the campaign’s central insight was that hundreds of millions of people globally with diabetes have yet to be diagnosed. Using seven seconds of voice on a smartphone, the technology can determine whether or not someone is at risk.
“This is particularly helpful in parts of the world where glucose blood test affordability is an issue and it’s hard to get access to doctors,” says Levy, who spent a good part of his career in the consumer space before joining Ogilvy Health in 2006. “A few seconds of voice is all that’s needed.”
The second campaign that proved impactful and well-regarded by the Cannes Lions juries was “American Cancer Story” for Change the Ref, which is well-known for its work to stem gun violence in the United States.
Working with Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who lost their son, Joaquin, in the Parkland school shooting, the agency mentioned a CDC stat where gun violence overtook car accidents and cancer as the leading killer of children and teens in America.
“People think about cancer, but people don’t think of gun violence,” says Levy. “We brought them together to make a profound point.”
Indeed, the powerful work is a story of a young girl overcoming cancer only for her to be subjected to gun violence.
On the site, people can donate to 10 cancer-related NGOs. Additionally, gun violence organizations at americancancerstory.com encourage people to use their voices.
Finally, 47 for Café Joyeux came from a place of instant excitement.
“We met the organization’s CEO a little over a year ago and fell in love with their mission” to educate the public about the beauty of people with intellectual and developmental disorders, 80% of whom are unemployed.
With over 20 cafes around the world, the anchor story is about one of the first Café Joyeux employees, Robert, who was hired at the age of 47. The film chronicles Robert’s journey from constant rejection to finding his first job and the joy it brings.
“This was his very first job, at the age of 47,” notes Levy. “It’s not that there was ever anything wrong with him, there was everything wrong with us” in the world, not giving people like Robert a real chance at success and happiness at work.
The value of a Lion, the quest for better creativity in healthcare
While there is often debate about the value of a Lion and awards in general, Levy points to recognition as a meaningful way to reward and retain talent.
“People stay at Klick for a long time,” says Levy. “And our work is creative, effective and gets recognized in the industry.”
But weeks like Cannes point to a much bigger goal and mission: continually improving and setting higher creative standards for healthcare creativity.
“I’d say that 80 to 90% of the industry’s work is average in healthcare, and some of it is mediocre,” says Levy. “If we keep raising the bar and make 80% of that good industry work great, then I feel like we’ve done our part in the industry.”
This drive for excellence was built into Levy from his early career growth. When he got his first job in healthcare, the person sitting across the table from him asked why he wanted to go into this kind of advertising.
“My answer was, ‘because I hate healthcare marketing’,” recalls Levy. “I wanted a job where I had all of my experience in consumer advertising and could bring it to healthcare. I thought ‘we’re not going to do the tired tropes,’ we’re going to do something real that makes a difference.”
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Doug Zanger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Indie Agency News. He is also the founder of the Creative Bohemian consultancy, lives in the Pacific Northwest and is insufferable about it.
