Cannes Young Lions winners from FCB launch Parkinson’s campaign in Val Morgan cinemas

Following their success winning the Cannes Young Lion Film Award hosted by Val Morgan, FCB New Zealand young creative team Lennie Galloway and Thomas Gledhill see their chilling campaign launch this Thursday 29th for Parkinson’s Awareness Week.

The 45 second commercial, titled “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, provides an insight into the day to day struggles of a person dealing with progressive Parkinson’s.

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Out of the [25] Cannes Young Lions entrants nationwide, Galloway and Gledhill won the opportunity to compete on the world stage against the best young Creatives from 75 countries at the Young Lions Competition, held in Cannes earlier this year.

Suzie Lamborn, sales director at Val Morgan, says the competition exemplified the high calibre of young creative talent prevalent in New Zealand, particularly when dealing with a subject as multi-faceted and sensitive as Parkinson’s.

Says Lamborn: “The Parkinson’s brief is not an easy brief to uncover and distil because it is a difficult condition to grab hold of and understand.

“The extraordinary thing about the Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Ad, for me, is that it really nails that feeling of disconnect – exactly the way that the condition works. The depth and the quality of thinking there really stood out against the others.”

The ad took a fresh and understated approach to the brief, depicting the excruciating struggle of a middle aged man’s inability to perform even the simplest of tasks like making a cup of tea.

To make the ad relatable, Galloway and Gledhill chose a surprisingly simple and raw execution to illustrate the degenerative nature of the condition and visually explain the frustrating disconnect between the brain and body.

Says Galloway: “We wanted to change the perception that Parkinson’s is just ‘that thing’ that causes you to shake. It’s a much more intense condition which can cause a disconnection. We wanted people to know this, so they’d feel inclined to help people living with Parkinson’s get support.”

Val Morgan approached FCB and Parkinson’s NZ, offering the opportunity to recreate the ad and screen it in cinema nationwide throughout Parkinson’s Awareness Week, which kicks off this Thursday 29th October to Wednesday 4th November.

Says Lamborn: “The 45 second ad has the potential to reach around 300,000-350,000 New Zealanders as part of the road block campaign, which will play on every cinema screen, in every cinema and before every movie over the Awareness Week.”

Executive Creative Director: Tony Clewett

Parkinson’s Ambassador and Artist: Jordan Luck