Udo Nery, Associate Creative Director at Havas Health & You Brasil, was part of the winning team in this year’s edition of The Brief, an exclusive competition for Cannes Lions Members.
Can you tell us a bit about The Brief competition?
The Brief is a rather new exclusive competition for members of LIONS, Cannes Lions’ digital hub. It resembles Young Lions but without an age limit. To participate, you must be a LIONS Member (either a Lion winner, delegate, or subscriber). It’s a unique opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the wider global creative community across a wide range of disciplines to solve real-world problems through selected pro-bono briefs for not-for-profit causes.
Can you tell us about the concept of AIDolls and what your inspiration was for this project?
AIDolls combined children’s imaginations with microscopic images of cancer cells, and the help of artificial intelligence to create a series of characters that could be auctioned off as artwork, sold as stuffed toys or Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to help raise funds for a new unit of Great Ormond Street Hospital, a leading children’s hospital in the UK and one of the world’s leading children’s research hospitals.
The inspiration came from the team’s Art Director, who found some 3D images of cancer cells that looked like stuffed toys. At first, we wondered if treating cancer like a toy would be a good idea. But with 1.6 billion people estimated to develop cancer at some point in their lives, we decided it was well past time to normalize the disease.
Who did you work with to make this project come to life, and how?
For The Brief #2, 132 professionals from 46 countries came together to create a campaign for GOSH Charity that would have a real, positive impact. We were divided into 26 teams of 4 to 5 people. My wonderful team – which we nicknamed The Fridos, a tribute to Frida Khalo and all the creative women in Latin America – consisted of four professionals. David Pinilla, Associate Creative Director, VMLY&R Commerce, USA; Maria Paz Rodriguez, Associate Consultant, Mastercard, Costa Rica; Valentina Carrete, Creative Director, Alvarado Molina, Mexico; and myself.
We didn’t assign specific roles to each team member; everything flowed naturally. I acted as the Project Manager and shared the copy with Valentina in Mexico. The art direction was handled by David, who works in Chicago, while Maria Paz from Costa Rica supervised and reviewed everything.
Why do you think initiatives such as The Brief are so important in the context of the Cannes Lions?
Initiatives like The Brief are a source of inspiration outside of our daily work. They are important to exercise our creative muscles, to experience working in a global team, and to develop purposeful work.
Any similar projects for the future?
This opportunity given to me by The Cannes Lions Festival and Havas left me full of ideas for future projects. To start, I’ve been invited to participate in The Brief #3 and have already accepted. I’d also like to be a speaker at the 2024 edition.
I’d like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to all Havas colleagues to participate in next year’s edition of The Brief. Next year’s topic will be climate change, an issue that affects us all.