Black Box — The School for Award-Winning Thinkers in Pharma & Health

01 \ Why this school exists

In pharma, talent learns by accident.

Health is where advertising's most awarded work is happening — and there is no school that teaches how it's made.

No schoolThe world's best creative schools have zero health tracks. Generalists parachute into the most regulated category unprepared.

Slow apprenticeshipAgencies take 12–24 months to train juniors on the job — inconsistent, unwritten, unrepeatable.

Early plateauMost young creatives stall before their first award, while a handful of agencies win almost everything.

02 \ The Black Box Method

We open the black box.

The campaigns that win Grand Prix at Lions Health were born from constraints — fair balance, review boards, the science itself. We deconstruct how they actually work, and train you to rebuild the mechanism in your own work. Five movements, run on every brief:

01The WorkupDiagnose before ideas: map the science, the rules, the humans, the category.The Panel

02The InteractionCollide clinical truths with human truths. Find the tension.Interaction Checker

03Off-LabelUse the worst constraint beyond its approved indication. The signature move.The 4 Prompts

04The MOAAn idea is a machine, not a message. Design the mechanism first.MOA Map

05The EndpointWrite the 90-second case before you build. If it doesn't hold, the idea goes back.Jury Filter

Every crit ends with a number — the Potency Scale:

Placebo OTC RX — the floor Breakthrough — enter it Cure — the point

03 \ The residency

Six months. Five phases. Two award-entered projects.

BB·01

The Label

Science fluency, patient journeys, HCP psychology — regulation as a creative system.

Wks 1–4

BB·02

The Mechanism

Forensic deconstruction of 20+ Lions Health and Clio Health winners.

Wks 5–8

BB·03

The Compound

The big idea beyond the ad, on a live brief from a real health partner.

Wks 9–14

BB·04

The Formulation

Craft inside — and against — pharma conventions. Case films that win.

Wks 15–18

BB·05

The Trial

Two portfolio projects, entered into Young Lions, Clio Health, Young Ones and New Blood — and pitched live at Approval Day.

Wks 19–24

04 \ The capstone

Approval Day.

The program ends in public: one live event in New York where every student pitches to a jury of executive creative directors from the top health agencies. Part graduation, part premiere — and the room where agencies come to hire. The boldest idea of the cohort takes home The Warning.

05 \ The faculty

Taught by the people who win.

Working, award-winning creative leaders from the pharma & health industry. Each owns a chair in the Method — not adjunct staff reading slides.

Gabriel AraujoFaculty chair

Bernardo RomeroFaculty chair

Chris PalmerFaculty chair

Tim HawkeyFaculty chair

Bruno AbnerFaculty chair

Wid SouzaFaculty chair

Logan AllinssonFaculty chair

Andre FelixFaculty chair

Rich LevyFaculty chair

Alex OkadaFaculty chair

Thiago FernandesFaculty chair

06 \ The label

Read before use.

BlackBox Rx only · adult creatives

FormatOnline, live weekly sessions + team sprintsOne in-person Approval Day in NYC

Dosage24 weeks · 5 phases · 2 projects

Contents30 thinkers per cohortSmall enough for individual mentorship

DatesCohort 01: February–July 2027Applications open October 2026

Tuition$4,500–6,000 founding cohortEarly bird — “The First Dose” — 72 hours after the free masterclass

Who it's forCreatives with 0–5 years in health agenciesand portfolio-school graduates entering the category

07 \ Fine print

Questions we get.

Do I need a science background?

No. You need curiosity and 24 weeks. Phase one — The Label — exists precisely to make you fluent: reading studies, labels and mechanisms the way the category's best creatives do.

I'm not in pharma yet. Can I apply?

Yes. Portfolio-school graduates and general-market juniors are half the point: health is where the most awarded work is happening, and almost nobody entering it is fluent. This makes you the rarest junior in the market.

Will this guarantee awards?

No — juries are juries, and we don't sell guarantees. We teach the method with the highest known probability of producing award-level mechanisms, we enter your two projects into four student shows, and we put you in front of the ECDs who hire. The rest is yours.

What does “online with one live day” mean in practice?

Weekly live sessions and team sprints, fully remote, from anywhere. One trip: Approval Day in New York, where you pitch to the jury in person.

08 \ Enrollment

Get on the list.

Waitlist members get the free masterclass — Opening the Black Box — first access to applications, and The First Dose pricing. No spam. Rx only.

You're on the list.

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