From Cannes to Campaigns: A Push for Women's Health

As the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity approaches, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment to reflect on the progress The Weber Shandwick Collective has made in elevating women to the forefront of health communications.

Healthcare has a hidden communication problem. Even well-intentioned health campaigns are often powered by unconscious gender biases. Reporting on “women’s health,” for example, overwhelmingly focuses on breast cancer and reproductive health. Many women are unaware that, in their 60s, they are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease as breast cancer or that nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. And despite cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death in women, life-saving knowledge related to heart attack symptoms is distorted. The familiar “left-arm pain” signal of a heart attack is a male symptom – women experience shortness of breath and nausea.

Since the launch of our women’s health offer in 2023 we have brought over 300 like-minded influential women in health marketing and communications together across the world for conversation, networking and exchange to help move women to the heart of health. 

2025 marks our third curated Salon-on-the-Sea conversation at Cannes, a gathering of passionate leaders committed to crafting purposeful strategies for women's health. Our conversations validate that patients are not a monolithic group; health experiences and responses vary widely between genders, necessitating tailored creative campaigns that address specific health issues faced by women. The Salon buzzes with exchanges on personal experiences, professional goals, and the latest data from our Women’s Health Indicator, including this year’s focus on severe mental illness in women. We celebrate our strides but remain acutely aware of the challenges ahead.

This year, we arrive at Cannes with pride, having moved from dialogue to actionable creativity. Our campaigns reflect tangible shifts toward addressing women’s health needs. A prime example is the "Fatal Searches" campaign by Global Heart Hub and Croí Heart & Stroke Charity, which tackled gender disparities in heart disease awareness by highlighting how women's heart attack symptoms differ from men's. Developed by the Women’s Health Collective with a diverse European team, the campaign uniquely showcased these overlooked symptoms through the lens of a woman's phone data. It reached over 34 million people without media spend, significantly raising symptom awareness and inspiring behaviour change.

Similarly impactful, MSI Reproductive Choices launched the "Vagina Privacy Network" to empower American women in protecting their reproductive rights amid challenging times. This initiative provided a secure online tool to ensure privacy, amplified during women’s marches with burner phones in key states and attention-grabbing billboards.

The campaign reached over 231 million impressions, secured significant media coverage, and resulted in a 107 per cent increase in donations.

At a macro level, advancements are evident: Europe’s inaugural women's health research tissue bank symbolizes progress in bridging historical data gaps, alongside the mainstreaming of menopause awareness and the rise of femtech innovations committed to women’s health.

Despite these strides, the journey to gender parity in healthcare is ongoing. Our Salon-on-the-Sea discussions will acknowledge triumphs while confronting enduring issues such as patriarchal structures, AI biases in health data, and the severe underrepresentation of women in clinical trials.

Our vision for the Cannes Festival extends beyond recognition – we aim to actively honour and elevate campaigns that spotlight underrepresented women's health issues, urging the industry to prioritise these vital conversations.

Here's to a future of inclusive health.

Rachael Pay, is President Health EMEA at Weber Shandwick.