The Bloc's Secrets of Success: 5 Ways The Health Creative Agency Won 200 Awards

The Bloc achieved unprecedented levels of acclaim and recognition by embracing creativity, racial justice, technology, new practices, and people

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The Bloc

Sep 22, 2021, 08:45 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past two years, The Bloc has redefined health creative to become one of America's most talked about agencies. As a global pandemic has reshaped society, The Bloc has been at the forefront of changing not just what stories get told about healthcare, but how they're told. In doing so, they've won over 200 film and advertising awards in 2020 and 2021. Recently, The Bloc became the first ever health agency listed on the "Of The Year'' ranking for the entire Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In addition, The Bloc is a founding member of The BlocPartners, the acclaimed global network of independent health creative agencies. The BlocPartners recently placed second in the "Health Network of the Festival" category at the Cannes Lions Health Festival.

"The work we've been so awarded for lately has been a natural extension of our motto 'Be Great to Do Good,'" said Jennifer Matthews, CEO at The Bloc. "Health is life. It deserves the very best in creative excellence."

1. Invest in Hollywood Level Filmmaking

A man walks through a futuristic train station, suffering from a cough, and decides to seek help from an automated doctor. That's the premise of The Bloc's award-winning short film Instant Doctor. Made so as to give thanks to doctors and released on National Doctor's Day (March 30, 2020), the film highlighted the importance of the human element in healthcare by showing a world where medicine is done via machines.

Instant Doctor won the Grand Jury Award for Best Short at the New York International Film Awards and was declared the Best Sci-fi Short Film at the 2020 Rhode Island International Film Festival.

"Instant Doctor has shown the industry that healthcare advertising can have not just the production quality but also the storytelling excellence of Hollywood movies," said Bernardo Romero, Chief Creative Officer at The Bloc. "Healthcare has never been more important, which means health creative should be of the same quality as what you would see in a movie theatre or stream on Netflix."

2. Tackle the Biggest Issues - Including Racism and Racial Bias in Healthcare

Some of The Bloc's most acclaimed recent work has centered around racial justice, both in healthcare and in the broader world.

In early 2020, The Bloc, in partnership with acclaimed ballet dancer Ingrid Silva's EmpowHer New York, released "The Call," a short film where an actress went undercover on nursing advice hotlines to expose racial disparities in healthcare treatment.

The Bloc went on to work with Ingrid on two more films. First came Skindeep, an animated story about racial trauma told through watercolor frames by Black women illustrators. Skindeep was followed by Making Space, a documentary about Ingrid's life journey which premiered at Cannes Lions.

In partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute, The Bloc created ABC's of Survival, a tear-apart book for black children and their parents. The book aims to support mental health and change laws by including postcards that can be sent to congress. The ebook can be found at abcsofsurvival.com.

3. Hire and Promote the Best People

The Bloc continues to grow rapidly and has recently hired Stuart Goldstein as COO and promoted Antoinette Bobbitt to EVP, strategy director. Stuart will be The Bloc's first COO, and he'll oversee the management for over 4,500 projects a year, with the goal of increasing efficiency and profitability. Meanwhile, Antoinette will ensure that The Bloc's competitive differentiation is present in all client work.

The Bloc's commitment to its employees was underscored this summer when Fortune magazine listed it as one of the best workplaces in New York for 2021. The Bloc is one of three advertising agencies on the list, and the only health creative agency focused exclusively on health.

4. Get High Tech

More and more agencies are realizing that their creative skills can be used to power tech innovations, and The Bloc has focused on the development of tech to address pressing health needs. At the beginning of the pandemic, The Bloc pioneered SafeCode, a device concept which combined a bar-code scanner with UV light to help stop the spread of disease on delivery packages.

The Bloc has also created a tool to aid mental health. At the end of 2020, they worked with Rockwell Ventures to create Scrollaby, an app which takes the habit of "doomscrolling" and turns it into a sleep aid, with over 1,000 pieces of custom content that support rest and relaxation.

5. Rethink Agency Practices

To expand upon the capabilities it has developed, The Bloc has established new practice areas that distinguish it in the healthcare agency space.

One new practice area is The Bloc Science Foundry, which applies behavioral science and scientific expertise to medical communications. The other is The Bloc Storytellers

And this year, The Bloc announced its Storytellers department, which is dedicated to bringing unsurpassed production and narrative quality to healthcare creative. Storytellers seeks to replicate the success The Bloc has had with The Call, Skindeep, and Instant Doctor. The Bloc is currently searching for the best creative minds from the film, theater, and TV industries to join their team. Resumes can be sent to [email protected].

About The Bloc

The Bloc is a leading independent health creative agency in the United States. Celebrating 21 years in 2021, The Bloc delivers comprehensive omnichannel communications for audiences across the health spectrum and partners with innovative clients who are doing some of the most meaningful and exciting work in health today. A founding member of The BlocPartners, the leading global network of independent health creative agencies, The Bloc's work has been globally recognized for creativity and innovation. For more information, visit www.thebloc.com.

CONTACT: Joseph Milholland, [email protected]

SOURCE The Bloc