Publicis Joined by Edelman, IPG, Omnicom and WPP in Working With Cancer’s Next Action

There are few things that truly bond our industry. Cannes Lions is one, and helping those in need is another. Those two are coming together in a wide-reaching industry movement started by Publicis and now encompassing numerous networks—Working with Cancer.

Following a launch at Davos and a mass media global campaign around the Super Bowl, Working with Cancer is now at Cannes and will open up a brief to the whole industry to help erase the stigma of cancer in the workplace. The campaign arose from Publicis chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun’s announcement last year that he had a cancerous tumor removed. The original effort just won the Health Grand Prix for Good at Cannes Lions.

“The disparity between the perception around cancer and the reality is staggering. One in two people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and yet nobody talks about it,” said Ari Weiss, global chief creative officer at DDB Worldwide and a Cannes jury president for Brand Experience & Activation.

He went on to say that everyone needs support, especially from co-workers and colleagues.

“When you are diagnosed with cancer, you feel instantly isolated from the rest of the world. Left for dead. When nothing is further from the truth. Not only can you survive cancer, but you can survive with cancer. But you can’t survive it alone. That feeling of community is everything,” added Weiss.

A brief open to everyone

Working with Cancer has rallied the industry around the cause, and now Edelman, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP will come together to invite creatives to join the briefing for this workplace movement. Participants will compete with the best creative minds of the industry for the opportunity to create a campaign that will run on World Cancer Day 2024, in a global multimedia campaign supported by $100 million.

The Working with Cancer brief—”The Big C”—will be given on Thursday, June 22 at 10 a.m. CET in the Lumiere Theatre, Palais I. Entrants will be briefed to create a culture-defying campaign for everyone living and working with cancer. 

Cannes Lions will facilitate the judging process, with a jury made up of senior creative and strategy leads across the five holding companies supporting the initiative. The team of jurors will include: Susan Credle (global chair and global chief creative officer, FCB), Chaka Sobhani (global CCO of Leo Burnett), Luiz Sanches (CCO of BBDO NA), Judy John (global CCO of Edelman) and Debbi Vandeven (global CCO of VMLY&R).

Participants will be able to enter starting Monday, July 10, with a submission deadline of Friday, Sept. 15. Judging will take place throughout October, with the winner announced at the end of that month.

The Working with Cancer team hopes that participants in the brief will solve the problem in multiple ways, from film to digital activations to hacking corporate culture and policy and seeking political change.

“We always wanted this to be more than just a Publicis initiative. Arthur reached out to every holding company—Omnicom was a founding holding company partner of ours,” said Carla Serrano, global CSO of Publicis Groupe.

Serrano said getting Cannes involved seemed like a natural next chapter for the movement, and that helped get more holding companies involved.

“Lions is a proud supporter of the Working with Cancer pledge and happy to lend our world-class judging process to a competition that provides an exciting opportunity for the industry to unite and work toward removing the stigma of cancer in the workplace,” said Simon Cook, CEO at Cannes Lions.

Working with Cancer aims to completely erase the stigma and insecurity of cancer at work. Today, the program is an alliance of major international companies, with more than 600 pledging businesses impacting up to 20 million employees. The program has partnerships with key cancer research bodies and influencers, including Dani Trops, The Stroups, CancerChic and Laurie MacCaskill.

Weiss called this is a perception issue, and those in the industry are in the perception shifting business.

“We need to put our collective minds together to eradicate the stigma associated with this disease. When people feel safe, seen and appreciated, they heal faster. The last thing anyone with cancer needs is to deal with any unnecessary mental stressors,” said Weiss, adding that the open brief will bring brilliant ideas that will change lives today and for generations to come.

“I think that we’ve really touched people’s personal experiences with this. And this is something that our industry actually can do something about,” said Serrano.