PM Society celebrates 30 years of healthcare advertising

The PM Society marked 30 years of its annual advertising awards by looking back over the very best campaigns in pharma and healthcare.

The awards, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, mark the start of the UK pharma industry's year with a review of the best campaigns from the previous 12 months.

Alongside awards for the best campaigns of 2015, a 'Winner of Winners' craft award for the most popular primary care advertisement since 1990 was also announced. This special prize was won by the 'butter' ad for Roche's weight-loss treatment Xenical from 2006. Frank Walters, from the original team, collected this special award.

Other finalists included 'house' and 'chest' adverts for Janssen's schizophrenia treatment Risperdal from 1998 and 2004, the 'whale' and 'walrus' ads for Sanofi's blood pressure treatment Tritace from 2002 and 2003, the advert for Schwarz Pharma's laxative Idrolax from 2005 and the Xenical ads remembered as 'cheese' and 'curry' from 2007 and 2008.

Finalists were voted for by an online poll and the winner chosen at the Grosvenor House Hotel by a text poll of the attendees. On stage Frank Walters commented, "It's great to see good creative is still alive and kicking."

In the awards for 2015, Teva was the most successful pharma company, scooping six awards, two of them Gold. Allergan also took two Golds as well as a Bronze and AstraZeneca received two Silvers and a Bronze in addition to its Gold.

On the agency side, Saatchi & Saatchi took home the most Golds – Craft awards for best Ad Campaign and best Secondary Care Campaign, and an award for the best film. It was another successful year for VCCP Health, which received 10 awards, including Golds for best Direct Mail and Craft award for best Secondary Care Ad. McCann Manchester and Lime were also awarded two Golds each.

The PM Awards recognise creativity, impact and innovation across pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising and communications. They include five Target awards that are judged by nationwide online surveys of healthcare professionals or pharmaceutical executives – the 'targets' of the work.

This year saw the appointment of a head judge, Richard Rayment of inVentiv Health, who remarked: "It's been a pleasure to head the judging this year and I'm extremely grateful to the judges for their commitment and diligence. Judging is more complex now, with the inclusion of digital alongside print entries in the same category. However, I'm pleased with how we've evolved the judging process and criteria to enhance standards as well as consistency. And I'm delighted that some very worthy winners have been celebrated at the awards today."

Neil Smith, the PM Society Awards chairman, and man behind the event for the past 16 years, said, "It was hugely rewarding in our 30th year to welcome so many new and familiar faces to Grosvenor House to see for themselves the quantity and quality of work our excellent healthcare agencies can produce."

For the first time the awards exhibition included interactive screens, allowing attendees to browse digital entries alongside panels of print materials, reflecting the multi-media nature of today's pharma communications.

PM Society Advertising Awards 2015: Full list of category Gold winners

Read more about the awards and the PM Society here.