Working With Cancer - Publicis Foundation | Clapboard Ad Archive

Working With Cancer by Publicis Foundation and created by Publicis Groupe in 2023 confronts one of the most pressing yet overlooked challenges in health and workplace culture: the stigma and silence cancer patients endure at work. This integrated campaign emerges from a stark reality revealed by Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun’s personal cancer diagnosis—50% of cancer patients hide their condition from employers despite 92% acknowledging that workplace support improves health outcomes. Anchored by the Work/Life creative asset, the campaign uses a documentary and social experiment approach to expose the emotional and professional isolation cancer patients face when forced to conceal their illness. This insight drives a global call to action launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023, where a pioneering cross-industry coalition backed by leading cancer institutions including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MacMillan Cancer Support, and the Gustave Roussy Institute was unveiled. The coalition’s pledge commits companies worldwide to foster open, supportive, and recovery-oriented environments, with Publicis Foundation leading by example with guarantees of full job security for cancer patients for at least one year and tailored career support for both patients and their caregivers. The campaign’s strategic brilliance lies in its FORMAT#2—Show The Problem—framework, which refuses to dilute the message with celebrity endorsement or symbolic abstraction, instead presenting raw, authentic testimonies that resonate with employers, employees, and the broader business community. The launch coincided with World Cancer Day 2023, amplified by an unprecedented $100 million media donation from global partners, ensuring the campaign’s wake-up call reached mass audiences across markets. This financial muscle underlines the campaign’s ambition to shift corporate responsibility beyond clinical healthcare to encompass emotional safety and job security as essential pillars of cancer care. By providing a public platform at Workingwithcancerpledge.com, the initiative transforms commitment into accountability, inviting businesses of all sizes to articulate and share their support measures. Clapboard rates this campaign 79/100. This campaign matters because it redefines the health category’s role in workplace inclusion by demonstrating that systemic change requires both cultural courage and measurable corporate accountability.