Holding Companies Unite to Fight Stigma of Cancer in the Workplace

Publicis Groupe is now accepting entries for a brief aimed at combating the stigma of the disease in the workplace.

Creatives from Edelman, IPG, Omnicom, WPP and Publicis discussed “The Big C” brief in Cannes, describing it as “work that will impact the lives of 4 billion people.”

The brief encourages industry creatives to submit a campaign as individuals or pairs (within one agency or across corporate siblings) that would launch on World Cancer Day—Feb. 4, 2024. That global push will be supported by $100 million in donated media.

Judging will be led by creatives from the five holding companies including: 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).

“Jurors will be looking for an ‘ecosystem of solutions,’ with donated media for the effort spanning multi-media,” a Publicis spokesperson tells Muse. “It will be a true co-creation across holding companies, media partners, winners and jurors, and more freeform than picking a winner and putting it on air on World Cancer Day.”

The submission deadline is Sept. 15 and winners will be announced on Oct. 30. Winners will also receive a delegate pass to attend the Cannes Lions festival next year.

Working with Cancer launched a Super Bowl ad in February, spurred by Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun’s 2022 cancer diagnosis.