Agency giants unite to open $100m 'Big C' ad brief

Working with Cancer, a cross-industry coalition comprising the big four marketing services groups of IPG, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP, along with global PR consultancy Edelman, is opening up a brief to the whole industry to devise an ad campaign to help erase the stigma of cancer in the workplace.

Following a launch at Davos and a mass media global campaign around the Super Bowl, Working with Cancer is entering its third major initiative of the year at this week’s Cannes Lions event.

Participants will compete with the best creative minds of the industry for the opportunity to create a campaign that will run on World Cancer Day 2024, in a global multi-media campaign supported by $100m.

The Working with Cancer brief – entitled ‘The Big C’ – has been published today to create a “culture-defying” campaign for everyone living and working with cancer.

Cannes Lions will facilitate the judging process, with a jury made up of senior creative and strategy leads across the five holding companies that are supporting the initiative. The team of jurors will include: 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).

Participants will be able to enter from July 10, with a submission deadline of September 15. Judging will take place throughout October, with the winner announced at the end of that month.

Working with Cancer aims to completely erase the stigma and insecurity of cancer at work. Initially launched by Publicis Groupe, the initiative is an alliance of major international companies, with over 600 pledging businesses impacting up to 20 million employees, united by the aim to create an open, supportive and recovery-forward culture for cancer sufferers.

The programme is powered by partnerships with key cancer research bodies and influencers, including Dani Trops, The Stroups, CancerChic and Laurie MacCatskill.

Lions CEO Simon Cook said: “We are a proud supporter of the Working with Cancer pledge and happy to lend our judging process to a competition that provides an opportunity for the industry to unite and work towards removing the stigma of cancer in the workplace.

Publicis Groupe global CSO Carla Serrano added: “Since launching Working with Cancer at the start of this year, we have had an overwhelming response from our peers and clients.

“The programme has evolved into a true cross industry coalition and today, alongside Edelman, IPG, Omnicom and WPP, we invite the industry to step up to arguably one of the most worthwhile and high-profile creative challenges they will ever work on.

“In raising awareness for Working with Cancer and encouraging more pledging companies, we will redefine cancer in the workplace and enable recovery forward environments worldwide.”