Regina Maria, McCann PR & McCann Bucharest win Silver award at Cannes Lions 2019

The “Internet’s residency exam”, the Regina Maria Health Network’s campaign created along with McCann PR and McCann Worldgroup, has won a Silver award in the PR category at Cannes Lions 2019. The category recorded 1,857 entries from 67 countries, of which 242 arrived on the shortlist announced one evening before the award ceremony.

“We boldly – some would even say insanely – approached an idea that could only be radical. It takes incisiveness to change behaviours, and now we have the confirmation that Dr Google doesn’t just live in Romania,” said in Cannes Catalin Dobre, the Chief Creative Officer of McCann Worldgroup Romania.

The Internet’s Residency Exam (Internet vs. Residency) campaign, carried out between November-December 2018 and April 2019, launched a message to educate and encourage preventive health care through a creative and interactive proposal with only one possible answer: a doctor’s experience and training cannot in any way be matched by an internet search. Together with a journalist at Vice, we replicated the Residency exam right on the day when it took place, adding only a quick Internet connection. The result was clear: only 36 out of 200 responses were correct, even with the help of Internet searches. This year, on World Health Day, we invited all those seeking medical answers online to go through a Residency mini-exam online on the reginamaria.ro website.

“It was a beautiful dream with a lot of work behind it, but it has been fulfilled. Such an award also says a lot about our high work standards and our vision of the healthcare industry, and places us in a courageous position internationally,” said Ruxandra Vasilescu, Business Account Manager at McCann PR.

The campaign has been popular across the media and social media as well as in spontaneous conversations. And its results exceeded expectations: 11 percent of the vouchers issued through the reginamaria.ro campaign were converted to visits to the doctor, with Regina Maria recording a 43.2 percent increase in the number of appointments.

“We are humbled by the prestigious prize awarded by the largest international advertising forum, and we are proud to have become the first company in the Romanian healthcare services industry to be awarded at Cannes. We enthusiastically supported the creative idea behind the campaign and we will continue the series of innovative initiatives for the benefit of our patients,” said Greta Redeleanu, the Marketing Director of the Regina Maria Health Network.