Sharon Howard-Butler | Creative Partner, Omnicom Health Oceania
Sitting in the Spikes Asia jury room this year, I was struck by how healthcare creativity has evolved, and how high the creative bar has been raised. Over the past decade, healthcare has become one of the most creatively ambitious and prestigious categories at industry award shows, with the best healthcare work increasingly also recognised across non-healthcare categories. The most outstanding ideas go well beyond simplifying science or building memorable brand campaigns. At their best, they connect emotionally, culturally, and socially, making a genuine difference in people’s lives.
This was powerfully reinforced by the work that rose to the top at Spikes Asia.
One standout example was the Healthcare Grand Prix winner Vaseline Verified, created by Ogilvy Singapore for Unilever. The work tackled one of healthcare’s most pressing challenges, misinformation, and did so with fun, joy, and participation. It turned trust and science into something people could actively engage with and share, extending credibility and reach for both the brand and its creator partners. By inviting people in rather than speaking at them, the idea reshaped how audiences engage with scientifically verified truth. Vaseline Verified went on to win Grand Prix awards in three additional categories: Creative Commerce, PR, and Social & Creator.
Vaseline Verified on LIONS’ The Work, video here.
The Gold Medal winners Dawai Reader and Life-Saving Receipt further demonstrated how creative innovation can directly improve health outcomes, each in very different ways.
Dawai Reader, developed by Akhem Laboratories and MullenLowe Lintas Group, is a product innovation designed to decode doctors’ notoriously illegible handwriting. Using AI to interpret and clarify prescriptions, it reduces the risk of potentially harmful dispensing errors, particularly in underserved rural communities across India. Importantly, we learned through jury discussions that while pharmacists are formally qualified in India, those dispensing medication are often untrained or informally trained. The work is already helping to increase confidence and reduce health risks associated with errors. Dawai Reader was also shortlisted in the Creative Data category.
Dawai Reader on LIONS’ The Work, video here.
Where Dawai Reader improved outcomes through product innovation, Life-Saving Receipt demonstrated how media placement alone can save lives.
Created by Chorogusan and Dminusone in South Korea, the initiative transforms everyday grocery receipts into vital healthcare communications. When migrant families purchase baby products, vaccination and medical information is printed in parents’ native languages directly onto their receipts—ensuring the message reaches the right people at exactly the right moment. The impact was significant, contributing to a 72% increase in childhood vaccination rates. The work also received a Bronze Medal in the Media category.
Life-Saving Receipt on LIONS’ The Work.
A personal highlight of Spikes Asia for me was being there in person for deep, rewarding conversations in the jury room with creative and marketing leaders from across the region. The diversity of perspectives—and the challenging of assumptions, sometimes my own—was invaluable. We worked collaboratively, debating, evaluating, and ranking work with a shared commitment to recognising ideas that were not only original and creative, but genuinely impactful.
In healthcare, we’re all working to create and produce meaningful, culturally relevant, life-changing ideas. The best of those ideas deserve recognition. If you have work you’re proud of, make sure you enter it into the major award shows. The next opportunity is the AWARD Awards, with categories spanning Health & Wellness, Social Impact, Innovation, and a wide range of creative and craft disciplines. Deadline is April 17.