As our conceptions of identity and gender evolve, so too does the dialogue around health and healthcare. But right now, that dialogue is not moving fast enough. 

“Healthcare is not keeping pace with societal changes,” pulmonary critical care physician Cedric “Jamie” Rutland said in a panel hosted at the Infillion Café at this year’s Cannes Lions, hosted by Havas Health Network. “People are feeling marginalized, and the overall quality of care has diminished. The issues will only become more complex over time.” According to Genesis Research Group, 41% of non-binary adults report poor health, while 64% worry about negative judgment and being treated poorly by the health care system. 

As the healthcare industry – and the companies that support it – increasingly move to digital and always-on, how can this problem be addressed? Rutland was joined on the Havas-hosted panel by Amanda Ralston, founder of NonBinary Solutions and Oodaye Shukla, Chief Data Officer at Havas Health Network, moderated by Brian Robinson, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Havas Health Network.  These industry experts dug into what the intersection of tech, culture, and health looks like, offering insights into why a non-binary approach is imperative for the future of healthcare and the well-being of patients.  

Binary Thinking: A Barrier to Comprehensive Care

The panel unanimously agreed that traditional binary thinking—viewing issues in black-and-white terms—is inadequate for any aspect of today’s diverse society. “Generally, binary thinking is the notion that there are only two sides to some issue and that you have to pick one,” said Amanda Ralston. “But there are shades of gray; Binary thinking restricts our ability to see the full spectrum of an individual’s identity. For instance, Ralston added, “People on the autism spectrum are six times more likely to not identify with the gender they were assigned to birth.” 

Jamie Rutland emphasized the practical consequences of such limited perspectives, highlighting the reluctance of non-binary individuals to seek care for fear of judgment. He highlighted the necessity for training healthcare providers to understand and communicate effectively about the complexities of human health.

The repercussions over the fear of being judged, Rutland added, is that there may be fewer options for care because patients will avoid certain clinics. “It’s clear that a lot of physicians are not comfortable caring for that group, and the population actually feels this.”  

“We have to be more non-binary because when you actually look at medicine as a whole or even disease as a whole, disease is just as gray…we have to be able to spend the time talking to people, understanding where they’re coming from so that we can better understand their environment, which is really what impacts their risk of developing certain conditions.” 

Part of the solution is learning how to communicate – and that onus is on healthcare marketers, not just physicians. They have to know who they’re talking to, and reach them in a way that’s meaningful and builds trust. That’s where data comes in.  

The Crucial Role of Purposeful Data 

While there is considerable data about patients and physicians available to healthcare providers and marketers, the question is, is it purposefully collected? Why is the data collected, how is it collected, and what is it used for? Oodaye Shukla, Chief Data Officer at Havas Health Network, emphasized this and reminded the audience “The challenge is not just collecting data, but ensuring it represents all demographics equitably.”  In the U.S., for instance, healthcare data is often collected for claims to get healthcare providers paid, while in Europe the data is used to diagnose conditions or diseases. Those nuances can mean discrepancies from one region to the next. This means that data must be viewed through the correct lens to be truly valuable.  

“We are in the midst of one of the most significant periods of scientific advancement – more data and more innovation from a healthcare perspective than we have ever seen, and it’s only accelerating,” Shukla explained. However, he cautioned that without careful consideration, this could result in bad data building on more bad data, ultimately undermining the potential benefits of these advancements.

AI and Healthcare: A Double-Edged Sword  

While AI holds the potential to ingest an enormous amount of scientific or health-related content, and produce actionable analyses in record time, biases still exist. Training data must be used to create unbiased and purposeful data to guide language models. The data must be curated and reviewed, rather than attempting to train a model on mass amounts of information that aren’t all relevant to the situation at hand. Moreover, a company’s AI advisory council should be composed of members from a diverse set of backgrounds to avoid bias. In addition, an independent body should review these models, understanding what’s in the data and how it’s being used.

“AI can be transformative if trained on unbiased, comprehensive data sets,” said Rutland. However, he warned: “Without careful oversight, AI might reinforce existing prejudices rather than eliminate them.”

Shukla added, “Today, training data is gold. You have to be able to create really unbiased, valued, purposeful training data to train your large language models, then they become useful.” 

But it’s crucial to also keep the human – the patient – centered at all times. When you look at medicine and the way medicine is developed, it’s traditionally done with clinical trials. And clinical trials tend to be extremely binary, said Jamie Rutland. Practitioners themselves often think more broadly, though.”We still think gray when you read our notes. Our notes have a paragraph of what the patient is going through and why the patient’s going through this and what we believe instead of being binary. And I think we’re moving towards that.” Procedure and treatment codes add another layer of data complexity.  

How to Drive Change with Culture & Technology 

The consensus among the panelists was that healthcare needs a significant cultural and technological overhaul to truly serve a diverse population. “We must challenge the outdated methods that still define much of our medical practices,” Ralston urged.

Medicine and care of patients has been defined by processes that were developed 50 to 70 years ago. As discussed during the panel, the medical and scientific community needs to reconsider not only these processes, but also its ingrained biases that are negatively impacting patients, especially those from marginalized communities. But this change can happen where a diverse understanding of human cultures and backgrounds is met with the unprecedented power of data and AI. Without seeing the “gray” of people’s lives, the medical and scientific community will continue to be limited by binary limitations and perceptions. As society continues to evolve, so too must our healthcare systems, ensuring that every individual is seen, understood, and cared for—not as a category, but as a spectrum of unique identities.

Loneliness and isolation have become prevalent issues in the workplace, affecting 80% of women — especially those under 35 and women of color – according to research from women’s leadership group TheLi.st in partnership with creative agency Berlin Cameron. This epidemic spills over into women’s personal lives, impacting their well-being and performance. At Cannes Lions 2024, TheLi.st and Little Words Project hosted a panel at the Infillion Café, “Dismantling the Loneliness Epidemic for Women at Work,” that highlighted the critical need to address this issue. Moderated by TheLi.st CEO Ann Shoket, the discussion shed insights into creating sustainable environments for women in leadership roles.

The Power of Cultivators and Togetherness

Transparency, visibility, and togetherness are key elements for combating workplace loneliness. In other words: People need to talk to each other. Shoket honed in on the phenomenon of “cultivators,” people who possess the seemingly magic ability to deepen relationships within teams, fostering support and connection. Identifying cultivators within the workplace is key, because by spending just 10 minutes a day intentionally building networks, the loneliness gap could significantly decrease. “If we all spent 10 minutes intentionally building our networks every day, we would decrease that loneliness gap by 50%,” Shoket said. 

Fostering Genuine Connections Through Small Gestures

Adriana Carrig, CEO of accessories company Little Words Project (famous for its viral friendship bracelets), shared her journey of building a brand focused on creating connections through personalized jewelry. Wearers of Little Words Project’s friendship bracelets are encouraged to pass on their bracelets – and the accompanying positive messaging – to others in a small but meaningful gesture of compassion. This ethos connects to how she runs her company and envisions the working world more broadly. “What do I want to see in the workplace?” Carrig said. “Interactions where people feel connected and have a safe place for connection, kindness, and self-love. I’d love to see a world that feels more connected and less lonely.”

By passing on bracelets with meaningful words, Adriana aims to create a sense of community and support both internally with her team and externally among customers. “We need to nurture our teams and invest in their well-being,” she said. “Offering support and creating a culture of transparency and connection can significantly reduce feelings of loneliness.”

Building Community Through Media and Connectivity

The need for deep connections with the audience in media platforms and the impact of community support in entrepreneurial endeavors cannot be understated. Rhonesha Byng, founder of Her Agenda, emphasized the importance of community as a tool for change and fuel for motivation. “Community to me is a tool for change but also fuel for me because I remember a time when I started my company… Having somebody that you can bounce those ideas off of really makes a difference to help you keep going,” said Byng. She encouraged intentional moments of connectivity, mentorship, and intergenerational relationships to foster meaningful connections.

Prioritizing Wellness and Connection in the Workplace

A corporate culture in promoting transparency, collaboration, and gratitude is essential. Hillary Batsel, VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, emphasized the value of nurturing connections, prioritizing wellness, and fostering a culture of togetherness within teams. This means taking care of your relationship with yourself first. “If I am responsible for creating energy, which I believe is very much part of our leadership responsibilities, I can’t do that if I myself don’t have energy to do so,” said Batsel. She highlighted the importance of deliberate efforts to maintain connections, especially in a remote work environment.

Looking Towards a Connected Future

As the panelists envisioned the future, they expressed their desire for workplaces where interactions are organic, togetherness is valued, and loneliness is minimized. They emphasized the need for transparency, collaboration, and intentional moments of connectivity to build a culture of support and inclusivity. The goal is to create environments where individuals feel seen, heard, and connected, leading to a sense of belonging and well-being. “In 5 years, I would like everyone to have their 10 minutes a day be part of their regular routine.It becomes like taking vitamins in the morning,” said Shoket. By fostering genuine connections, prioritizing wellness, and building communities, organizations can combat loneliness and empower women in leadership roles to thrive in supportive and connected workplaces.

Smokey Bear, the beloved furry face of wildfire prevention, celebrated his 80th birthday at Cannes Lions this year in grand style. Deployed by the Ad Council just two years after the organization’s own founding, Smokey is now America’s longest-running public service campaign. But this anniversary wasn’t just cause for a party; Smokey’s legacy offered a deep dive into the strategies that have made the bear an enduring icon and a beacon for brands seeking to create impactful, purpose-driven campaigns. With iconic advertising tougher and tougher to create, the whole industry can learn a thing or two from an 80-year-old cartoon bear.

As America’s longest-running public service campaign, Smokey Bear stands as a towering figure in fire prevention, symbolizing vigilance and responsibility for over eight decades. A Cannes panel discussion hosted at the Infillion Café, “Tracing the Legacy and Future of Smokey Bear,” took us on a journey through Smokey’s evolution, from his humble beginnings as a poster bear to his modern-day presence across diverse media channels. Participants included Meredith Brace, CMO of XR Extreme Reach, Laurie Keith of the Ad Council, and Todd Sussman of FCB New York, with moderation by Jamie Madge, co-editor of Shots. Each brought unique insights into Smokey’s evolution, discussing the intersection of tradition and innovation in keeping Smokey relevant.

Laurie Keith kicked off the panel discussion by highlighting Smokey’s remarkable impact. Before Smokey’s inception during WWII, wildfire prevention campaigns were sporadic and lacked the cohesive messaging needed to create mainstream awareness and effect change. Smokey changed that to an extent that still resonates today. “Smokey Bear’s message, ‘Only you can prevent wildfires,’ resonates with 80% of Americans today – a testament to its powerful branding,” she explained. Initially delivered through posters and radio, Smokey now graces everything from social media to animated emojis, ensuring his message meets audiences wherever they are. “Still today, 9 out of 10 unwanted wildfires are caused by humans, which underscores the timeless relevance of Smokey’s message,” Keith added.

Evolving Creative & Media Strategies for a New Era 

In short, Smokey’s simple message works – and continues to work. But keeping Smokey relevant has meant bringing the bear to new platforms. Meredith Brace, CMO of XR Extreme Reach, detailed how XR has helped catapult Smokey into the digital era, ensuring that the campaign’s PSAs are broadcast across diverse media platforms and can reach new audiences. “From traditional TV spots to dynamic online content, our goal is to keep Smokey’s message omnipresent and resonant across all media,” Brace explained.   She also discussed how XR Extreme Reach has helped modernize the delivery of Smokey’s message across various platforms. “We ensure that Smokey’s PSAs are seen and heard across every conceivable medium, from traditional broadcast to cutting-edge digital platforms, maintaining the campaign’s impact regardless of evolving media landscapes.” XR’s expertise in media distribution has ensured that Smokey’s message appears on “2,000 linear television broadcasters and 9,000 radio stations around the nation,” Brace explained, reaching diverse audiences across every screen.

But while the creative execution adapts to the times, Smokey’s message has remained virtually unchanged. As Laurie Keith remarked, “His consistent, simple message, adapted to the digital age, has kept Smokey at the forefront of public consciousness.”

Embracing technology has been crucial to Smokey’s continued success – and it’s going to continue to do so. The panel explored how innovations like virtual reality and augmented reality could further engage audiences. “Imagine interacting with Smokey in a virtual forest, learning fire safety in the most engaging way possible,” Keith suggested.

Accessibility for All: Reaching Diverse Audiences

The panel highlighted the importance of ensuring that Smokey Bear’s message resonates with diverse communities, emphasizing that accessibility goes beyond language translation to include cultural tailoring. This approach ensures that Smokey’s  message is relevant and impactful across various cultural contexts.

Smokey’s message is accessible to all, regardless of sensory ability – everyone, including those who are visually or hearing-impaired, can receive Smokey’s message. All Ad Council campaigns comply with Section 508 standards, ensuring they are accessible by including features such as closed captioning and high-definition images. Meredith Brace shared a finding from a recent XR report which found that around 600 million people worldwide are visually or audibly impaired. “Failing to make Smokey’s messaging inclusive means missing the opportunity to reach a significant portion of the global population,” Brace added.

Todd Sussman of FCB shared insights on engaging younger demographics, emphasizing the long-term impact of educating children about fire prevention. “By engaging children in Smokey’s mission, we ensure his message of prevention is carried to future generations,” he highlighted.

The Future of Smokey: Burning Brightly

At 80, Smokey Bear shows no signs of slowing down. But the bear’s 80th birthday at Cannes wasn’t just a celebration of a beloved icon; it was a masterclass in purpose-driven marketing. By staying true to his core message, embracing innovation, and forging strong partnerships, Smokey continues to blaze a trail for brands seeking to make a difference in the world. Just like preventing wildfires, creating impactful marketing campaigns takes a collective effort, and Smokey Bear’s legacy proves that when brands and purpose-driven organizations work together, they can achieve great things. The Cannes Lions panel underscored Smokey Bear’s adaptability and his campaign’s ongoing commitment to educating the public on wildfire prevention. As technological advancements continue to reshape how we consume media, Smokey’s message remains a constant force, evolving to meet the needs of a diverse global audience.

Thanks to social media, we live in an age of unprecedented exposure to the lives and voices of professional athletes. While soccer legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have over 500 million followers each, perhaps the bigger impact of social media has been that platforms like Instagram and TikTok have made it possible for athletes on the cusp of fame to build an audience and share their stories and passions.

This, of course, makes brands interested. So what’s the playbook for brands when those athletes are motivated – as athletes often are – to use their voices for social change? An illuminating discussion at Cannes Lions 2024 tackled this topic head-on.

“The Power Play: Collaborating with Brands for Social Impact,” an Inclusion Café Conversation sponsored by Infillion in partnership with TheAList, hosted four leading sports and brand executives steering a movement to leverage athletes’ power of persuasion for meaningful social impact.  This lineup of leaders was Elizabeth Campbell, VP Field & Culture Marketing of McDonald’s; Gina Scott, VP Partner Services of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA); Tracy Sturdivant, President of The League; and Navarrow Wright, COO/CTO of Mirror Digital. The conversation was moderated by Marissa Nance, CEO of Native Tongue Communications.

To achieve impactful initiatives with athletes that resonate with consumers and drive social justice, diversity, and inclusion, the panelists highlighted three key components: finding authentic brand affiliation, letting athletes take the lead in messaging, and relevant measurement.

Finding Authentic Brand Affiliation

When athletes represent brands with intentional and organic voices and genuinely believe in the messages and causes they promote, their authenticity helps shape the images and messages internalized by customers. In other words: The brand has to be right for the athlete. Elizabeth Campbell, VP Field & Culture Marketing at McDonald’s, emphasizes the importance of asking questions like, “What is it that’s important to you?” and “How can we support you?” In asking these questions, brands begin to partner with athletes in a way that extends beyond their time on the field, reflecting that (in Campbell’s words) “what they stand for and their values is something that is human in all of us.” In this way, consumers can connect with the brands that athletes genuinely care to publicize. 

One avenue where McDonald’s cultivates this kind of authenticity is the McDonald’s All-American Game,  a high school basketball game with the top 48 players in the United States. As part of this activation, McDonald’s introduces athletes to tangible ways they can support and volunteer within their community. The goal is to expose these young scholar-athletes to conduits they can use to give back on their own, encouraging them to establish patterns in which they can continue to give back as they become professional athletes.

As athletes change and grow, so do their brands. Campbell shared that as athletes evolve, brands must ask how they can grow with them. When McDonald’s-sponsored athlete Bubba Wallace had his first child, for example, Campbell and her team worked to understand how to continue to cultivate his brand while building in his new goals and values as a parent.

Letting Athletes Take the Lead

Even if a brand partner is a great fit for an athlete, that doesn’t guarantee an authentic message. Gina Scott of NFLPA emphasized the importance for brands to treat athletes as partners, allowing them to create their platform and express the messaging they feel is important and true to them – rather than putting words in the athletes’ mouths. Their loyal fans, after all, can tell when a message is authentic or inauthentic. 

To amplify impact, Tracy Sturdivant, President of The League, shared that her “north star” is the athlete’s lived experience. Messaging is shaped and driven by athletes’ experience and words and is maintained by authenticity. The League is actively championing civic engagement among its athlete partners, investigating what issues are overlooked and how to bring a lived narrative to uplift them.

With the NFLPA, Gina Scott works with 2,300 athletes and their families to support individual goals to make a difference. That enormous breadth of athletes brings a proportional scope of opinions and intentions, so Scott offers the athletes a chance to be heard, and given the capacity, support, and resources, to direct their efforts for good on their own terms. Reaffirmed by moderator Marissa Nance was the importance for brands to understand what the athletes do, what they want and why. Being in sync with the motivations behind athletes’ intentions and values is paramount to transitioning their talent to a partnership and ultimately into the message they want to convey. 

Measuring Success

A standard digital advertising campaign would never be deployed without an effective way to measure success – and neither should a collaboration with an athlete. “Measurements and mechanisms exist to align success,” explained Navarrow Wright, COO/CTO of Mirror Digital. He also shared that, historically, multicultural athletes have achieved higher organic engagement on social media. But that impact has longevity, too. Metrics from a campaign that Mirror Digital worked on and released six months ago revealed that the content in question is still receiving interactions and comments to this day. Having these insights is key both for the brands and for the athletes themselves.

 Wright’s goal is to help athletes understand their power to cultivate authentic engagement and amplify messaging to the widest possible audience.  Mirror Digital takes note of specific comments, and interactions, that elucidate how the brand resonates with consumers – and uses them to shape future strategies for success. 

Through innovative collaborations, athlete-brand partnerships offer the opportunity to drive positive change and create a sustainable, lasting impact by harnessing the collective influence of an athlete’s fan base. But brands, athletes, and social leaders all have a stake in cultivating authentic narratives. This stimulating discussion at Cannes Lions offered evidence-based insight and inspiration about how to harness this power to drive tangible, positive change. 

Amid the social upheaval of 2020, brands and ad agencies made lofty commitments in the name of racial justice: They’d invest more of their media spend in publishers owned by members of groups that were historically underrepresented in the ad industry, particularly Black-owned publishers. Four years later, it’s still not clear how much lasting change those promises have effected. 

The Standard Media Index found that while spending with Black-owned media has tripled since 2020, it’s still sitting at just 1.6% of all agency spend. And, in fact, there’s been negative progress in some ways. A much-publicized backlash to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives combined with economic challenges for the ad industry has meant that some of the executives who were tasked with multicultural and diverse outreach have found their resources slashed or even their jobs eliminated.

Dealing with this reality – and ensuring that the ad industry can live up to its promises – was the subject matter of an eye-opening panel at Cannes Lions co-hosted by Infillion and diverse publisher and creator network Mirror Digital, “What Does The Ad Industry Really Owe Diverse-Owned Media?” Moderated by Infillion chief revenue officer and CMO Laurel Rossi, the conversation was unafraid to address what panelists attested is a truly difficult situation.

“I’ve seen a lot of my friends lose jobs. I’ve seen a lot of our partners face really, really tough first halves of the year,” said Sheila Marmon, CEO of Mirror Digital, of the current economic and social climate. “People [are] struggling economically. It’s not a walk in the park from where I’m sitting.”

“At some point, usually if we’re in a recession, tough decisions start being made and the [roles] that start being cut are the multicultural or the diverse-owned,” said Mark Walker, CEO of diverse-focused programmatic ad tech company Direct Digital Holdings.

How Programmatic Can Solve the Problems It’s Created

Today, 90% of all display impressions are bought programmatically, and programmatic’s share of video advertising is growing fast. This isn’t always going over well with diverse-owned publishers. “Not everyone in our collective wants to participate in programmatic,” said Cavel Khan, chief growth officer of Group Black. “There’s a sense that it’s a race to the bottom, that it’s a commoditized version of the value they tried to create for their audiences.”

One of the most recent areas for concern in the ad industry has been the rise of made-for-advertising sites – low-quality pages designed for little more than to be stuffed with ads. In 2023, a report from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) found that over 20% of programmatic ad impressions were going to sites designated as MFAs.

Advertisers swiftly pulled back on MFA spend, as an updated ANA report released during Cannes revealed. But this has had a disproportionate and undue impact on diverse-owned publishers, many of whom found themselves grouped among MFAs by accident. 

“Diverse-owned media often does not have the traffic scale to make their publishing work, and so they buy traffic from other publishers like Facebook in order to get more traffic to their sites,” explained Lori Goode, chief marketing officer of supply-side platform Index Exchange and board member of industry DEI advocacy group BRIDGE. This is legitimate traffic to legitimate publications…[and the fear about] MFAs put them at a disadvantage.”

It’s up to programmatic technology companies themselves to right the ship. “We need to get transparency right, we need to get clear expectations, and we need to make programmatic well-lit and efficient,” Goode said.

Addressing the Scale Problem

The other challenge that diverse-owned publishers face with the rise of programmatic ad tech is that many programmatic processes are designed to reward the biggest media buys and audiences possible – which is inherently impossible for many diverse-owned publishers.

“When you have scale, you have economies of scale, and you can have your CPM go down for $10 billion more so that makes it easy,” Cavel Khan said. “The companies that we represent, they can’t do that. If you get that margin too low, they go out of business.”

Kimberly Jones, CEO of independent agency Butler/Till, described the agency’s ongoing commitment to reach a total of 10% of its total spend on diverse-owned media. The scale issue can get in the way of client thinking on this, too. “We do a lot of work in the pharma space, [where] you are looking for a particular patient population and so you need that extra data layer,” she explained, “but you can’t create scale and you can’t create efficiencies if you’re trying to curate marketplaces that are both diverse and are trying to meet certain patient populations.”

The paradigm has to shift here in the minds of media buyers. The numbers may look different, as may the metrics of success. “Let’s invest and let’s learn,” said Sheila Marmon. “And know that we may not get to incremental lift, we may not even get to the same KPIs as the rest of the campaign, but this is a moment to learn.”

Multicultural Ads – and Audiences – Aren’t a Novelty

Committing to diverse-owned publishers and their audiences isn’t a PR stunt, nor is it a short-term commitment. And the mainstream consumer base isn’t getting any less diverse. But all too often, multicultural advertising is seen as a test. This poses two problems: One, test spend is often the first to get cut in a downturn. Two, if a test doesn’t work, agencies and brands often see it (inaccurately) as representative of the whole sector, and assume multicultural advertising doesn’t work.

Advertisers who want results need to be willing to devote their spend to more than a standalone test. “If you’re not going to commit to a multi-year program, we’re not doing this,” said Cavel Khan.

“I think it all starts with a test budget, but a test budget with a commitment,” Direct Digital Holdings’ Mark Walker said.

Mirror Digital’s Sheila Marmon gave a nod to General Motors, one of the advertisers that she says is doubling down on multicultural and diverse-owned media authentically, and its media agency Carat. “They have been a partner, they have been willing to listen and learn and really understand our challenges, and respond not only with a direct investment in terms of our products and services but also really supporting the ecosystem with their investment fund,” Marmon said. GM is also “solving some of the larger ecosystem issues that are more difficult for one publisher, [especially] for one smaller-scale publisher, to solve on their own.”

These are the brands that will end up winning, the panelists emphasized. Social backlashes end. So do recessions. But consumers’ insistence that advertising speak to them authentically is unstoppable.

“I’m grateful that even with all that there are still champions you can find across certain brands and across certain agencies, and the initiatives haven’t all gone away,” Cavel Khan said. “It’s not going away because the population is not changing, and that’s where we have hope. Because culture is demanding it.”

Diversity in production and creative leadership is crucial, too – read more about it here in the recap of another panel we hosted at Cannes.