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Novartis has a pretty simple methodology for why it’s doubled down on creativity.

“Marketing is marketing. Creativity is creativity. For so long, we fooled ourselves into thinking that marketing and pharma are different, and what we’re trying to show is that marketing principles are the same,” reasoned Jason Young, the brand’s VP, head of marketing for US Pharma. “If you believe that, then creativity is the underpinning of that.”

Novartis made one of the biggest investments in Cannes among pharma companies, sending approximately 20 people from the organization to the creativity festival. They came with multiple goals, including guiding a mindset shift internally, understanding how work can create an impact and bring back all of the learnings to their colleagues stateside. 

“We have an aspiration to be a world-class marketing organization, not just a best-in-pharma marketing organization,” Young told MM+M at IPG Health’s space overlooking the Palais in Cannes. “Over the last 18 months, we have developed a program within our organization to help build the skills and capabilities of our marketers, not only around marketing as a science, but around creativity specifically.”

The investment in creativity led to Novartis making its Super Bowl ad debut earlier this year when it entered its “Your Attention, Please” campaign into the game. The spot featured Wanda Sykes, who is a breast cancer survivor, touting breast cancer awareness. 

Creating East Cannesover

For years, pharma served as the amuse-bouche to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity as the category was celebrated prior to the start of the official festival, but that changed in 2022 when it was finally integrated into the week. 

Before, Young said pharma carried lower expectations, but now he sees the category as emerging and elevating to the standards set across the entire festival.

Walking the work, Young said, “It’s not just good for health care. It’s not just good for pharma. We’re seeing the work is actually good, full stop.”

One of his agency partners, Franklin Williams, EVP, executive experience director for Area 23, served as the Pharma jury president for Cannes. He said the two focused on campaigns like DawAI reader, which uses AI to make doctors’ illegible handwriting readable, and Viatris’ “Make Love Last,” which won the Pharma Grand Prix.

“We also pulled out some of the pieces that just felt like we can absolutely do this in pharma, and make it feel completely consumer,” Williams said.

Evaluating the work, learning from it and distilling those insights to their team members is at the core of Novartis’ event called East Cannesover. The brand is headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, and so its members who attend Cannes debrief with their teams about what they’ve learned. 

“That’s how we use Cannes. It’s for inspiration, it’s for learning, it’s for upskilling, and ultimately, it’s for bringing it back to scale,” Young said. 

Building partnerships rooted in creativity

Pharma marketing’s purpose, at its core, is to get a patient to take action regarding their or a family member’s health. 

“It’s really, really nice to be able to make great art, but we need to make something that moves people,” Williams said, adding he returns from Cannes to show clients examples of problems brands needed to solve, the creative solutions and the insights that got the brand there. Clients can “then understand, ‘Oh, this is how I would try and solve that problem for myself’ or ‘this is how I could adapt it so that ultimately it can fit my needs as well.’”

But those conversations are most effective in person at a festival that celebrates creativity across all corners of marketing. 

“It’s really being able to understand what it is in all categories, not just in pharma, not just in health and wellness,” Williams said. “What is it in all categories that resonates? Because at the end of the day, we’re talking to people, and people gravitate towards the same things across all spaces.”

Williams and Young have built a collaborative partnership — one grounded in mutual respect, shared accountability, and a willingness to lean into discomfort in service of bold, meaningful work. 

As Williams put it, “we’re connected and we’re friends,” and that connection is what allows them to push each other creatively. Williams appreciates that Young doesn’t shy away from probing deeper into Williams’ views on the work: “Wait, let me interrogate that… Wait, tell me why you like that work,” he asks of Williams. That kind of banter, he said, is what allows teams to cut through bureaucracy and get to the game-changing ideas.

Young, for his part, acknowledges how their working model has evolved. “In the past, our marketers would create a brief, and hand it over to Franklin’s team,” he explained. That process often diluted the original intent, losing something essential in translation. Now, however, “we do that together.” By co-owning the brief and digging deeply into the platform and the idea, the teams are creating stronger foundations that lead to better creative outcomes.

Both agree that success requires tension — and a willingness to be pushed outside of comfort zones. “If I’m not uncomfortable, we’re probably not leaning in enough,” Young said, emphasizing that in pharma, real impact comes not from educating patients, but from motivating them. Williams echoed this spirit, celebrating Novartis’ desire to “do something differently,” and its belief that “change is real and possible.”