Let me start by clarifying that I do not come from the advertising or marketing world. So you can imagine my surprise when I was invited to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity present a project to Titanium Lions Jury. I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t even met the team I worked with in person. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
How it all started
My expertise lies in dependence and the area of recovery. As an opioid survivor who struggled with addiction for years, this topic is close to my heart.
About six months before Cannes, I received an email from a team of Service plan Munich invited me to join a project they were working on. The team had conducted research on people who had successfully stopped taking opioids, people who shared their story with thousands of others and were happy to do so.
After weeks of searching, they found my Soberdogs videos on TikTok and YouTube and contacted me. Connections like this solidified the marketing power and reach of social media in me. It’s absolutely incredible that a team in Germany found a TikTok that I shared and was able to contact him.
The project involved a recovery hotline called 855-HOW-TO-QUIT. Callers who were having trouble quitting opioids were able to dial the unique fingerprint code extension of their opioid pills, resulting in the story of someone who quit that same pill .
The concept blew me away. I have never seen a campaign about opioids in such a specific way, and with the pills as the main element. It reminded me of an experience I had during my time in prison: a speaker stood out to me because I could relate to his story. And now I could be that someone for someone else. I immediately got on board.
I admit that at first I had some doubts about how seriously a team based in Germany – none of whom were recovering themselves – would take this project. But that doubt disappeared after our very first video call. They were really interested and had a great idea. And we had the opportunity to reach even more people. That’s the power of advertising and marketing: you can have a real impact on those who need it.
On the way to Cannes
As I prepared for my trip to France and researched the festival, I began to understand the magnitude of this event. It is often described as the “Super Bowl” of the marketing industry.
My trip to France had a somewhat difficult start. Just as I was landing in Europe – for the first time – the airline lost my luggage. With several others.
But you see, there is always a glimmer of hope. The three-hour wait to collect my bag led to an unexpected dinner with three other festival attendees, including ADWEEK chief of staff Mike Beyman. That dinner sparked the creation of a group discussion we called “Lost Luggage,” and that’s what led me to write this article. We have stayed connected ever since.
A brand’s thoughtfulness can go a long way
Once settled in Cannes and meeting the team personally, it became clear that everyone involved in this project was deeply passionate about the cause. This wasn’t just another mission, it was a mission to make a difference.
The team welcomed me warmly, with the greatest respect and kindness, doing everything possible to make me feel comfortable. Before landing in Nice, they called me to ask if I would like anything removed from the hotel, especially alcohol, knowing that many people attend the festival. Even though I don’t drink, I assured them that I wouldn’t mind if others did. Their attentiveness and willingness to meet my needs left a lasting impression on me.
These experiences help ensure that industries and people from diverse backgrounds work together seamlessly. And that’s what I was able to experience in Cannes. Down-to-earth, talented people from different disciplines, ages and countries, connected through who we are as human beings.
And luckily, my experience culminated when I was on stage, holding a Golden Lion. It wasn’t until I returned to New York that I truly realized the importance of what we had accomplished. People spend their entire careers fighting to win a Lion, and we won one for “855-HOW-TO-QUIT-(OPIOIDS).”
![Sober October may be Dry January's lesser-known little sister, but the two movements share a fundamental sensibility: They are less of a mandate than a suggestion. In short, “sober” is totally […]](/wp-content/uploads/My-recovery-journey-took-me-from-prison-to-Cannes.png)
The real success
While the awards and recognition are rewarding, the real success lies in the more than 30,000 people who have called the helpline and the more than 5,000 people who have been successfully referred to treatment centers.
To everyone in the advertising and marketing world, I hope 855-HOW TO QUIT will be a powerful example of what you can achieve. By bringing together people from diverse businesses, nonprofits, and industries, we channeled our collective passion and expertise in design, audio, visual, and creativity to make this recovery hotline pre-selected Titanium a reality. By shedding positive light on a heavy topic, with a unique approach after months of research, we stopped looking for who to blame and started looking for who to ask for support and collaboration.
