Ogilvy's Renata Florio on the Youngest Donor Campaign and Elevating Health Creative

Renata Florio is executive creative lead on the Nestlé portfolio at Ogilvy, working closely with Nestlé brands on wellness and well-being. She took that role in January after two years as chief creative officer of Ogilvy Health, overseeing creative for all offices in North America. Prior to that, she was global creative lead at the agency, working on SC Johnson and Unilever.

Her recent work in the space includes the Worldwide Immunization Week campaign for the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a campaign that reminds the world of the importance of vaccines.

Renata was born in Brazil to an Italian father and a Brazilian mother. She started her career in São Paulo, worked in Italy and the U.K., and has called New York home for over a decade.

We spoke with Renata for our series Checkup, where we chat with leaders in the healthcare marketing space.

Renata, tell us…

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

I grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. Daughter of a Brazilian mother and an Italian father, I grew up among lots of people talking, lots of pasta and many trips to Italy. I ended up living in Italy after college as well, but my home is New York City, where I live with my husband, children and dog. (Children are already off to college, but the dog is sticking with us.)

How you first got into healthcare marketing, and what attracted you to it.

I got into healthcare because of the potential of the space. I understood that it is all about taking care of the human being. The business of advertising is a people business, so I just got interested in promoting the health and wellness of everyone. It also helped that I did a good job leading and winning healthcare brand pitches.

Something people might not know about the healthcare industry.

I’m not sure if people don’t know about this, but we could be exploring it better—the opportunity to use the industry to create change in the way people take care of their health. The healthcare industry is a huge platform where brands can leverage their potential to do better.

A recent project you’re proud of.

I’m very proud of a project we did for the Parent Guide to Cord Blood. We worked with them to raise awareness to how cord blood is rich in stem cells and how to bank them and help save lives. We created a campaign called the Youngest Donor, with multiple assets, including a beautiful film about the donation process and lives saved.
 

Someone else’s project in healthcare that you were impressed by recently.

The documentary Lenox Hill on Netflix. It puts doctors, patients and the whole healthcare system in its rightful place, which is the center of the narrative. What a beautiful content, branding and advertising piece. I wish I had done it.

A major challenge facing healthcare advertisers today.

Ironically enough, the pandemic. The priorities change overnight, so companies are struggling. Luckily, empathy and humanity are big strengths of this industry, as well as resilience, so things keep improving.

One thing about how healthcare is evolving that you’re excited about.

There’s more fluidity between healthcare and other industries. Every brand is interested in offering a product or a service or a solution to make life and health better. It is a whole world of opportunity for all the products on the planet. It goes back to your question about “one thing people might not know about healthcare,” which is the power of a healthy community, how much more we can accomplish if we use brands to help people live better and longer.

How healthcare can attract more creative talent.

We must keep pushing for better and greater creative work. The better the work, the better the talent it will attract.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in healthcare marketing?

I just took a step further into the wellness space, so I can’t think of anything else I would want to be doing right now. But If I were to stop working in marketing and advertising, I’d still be working in the creative industry as a writer. I used to write mystery short stories under a pseudonym when I was in college.