The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
Viagra's 'Make Love Last' films real couples as art — Cannes Pharma Grand Prix
With pharma ads banned, Ogilvy Shanghai made desire into time-lapse art: three couples' intimacy blurred into light, 85.8M views, no medical claims.
Viatris
What it had to solve
In China, advertising rules ban pharma promotion and sex is a sensitive subject, yet Viatris wanted to sell Viagra. The creative question was how to talk about fading desire in a country where the direct conversation is not legally available.
How it works
Viagra's problem in China was that it could not advertise at all: pharmaceutical promotion is banned and intimacy is a subject most brands avoid. Ogilvy Shanghai's answer was to stop selling a medicine and start making art. Three real couples talked openly about how long it had been since they truly connected, then spent hours alone with a camera while time-lapse photography turned their closeness into trails of light.
The couples returned a week later to a private gallery where the images hung, reliving the emotions the camera had caught. On Chinese Valentine's Day the stories and photographs went online, ending with Viagra's iconic blue diamond and the words 'Make Love Last' — the only moment the brand appeared at all.
The restraint became the message. Because nothing was claimed, nothing needed approval; because the couples were real, the work felt like testimony rather than persuasion. It drew 350 million impressions, 1.89 million organic conversations and 85.8 million video views, and won the Pharma Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2025 alongside a D&AD Yellow Pencil, One Show and Clio recognition.
Why it lands
- Art is the legal loophole with meaning: a time-lapse can show intimacy that a drug claim could never state.
- Real couples made the film credible — their candor about fading connection was more persuasive than any spokesperson.
- The private gallery visit turned participants into the campaign's first audience and its living proof.
- Launching on Chinese Valentine's Day gave an unbranded conversation a natural date to travel on.
What it did
The unbranded films drew 350 million impressions, 1.89 million organic discussions and 85.8 million video views with no product claims. The work took the 2025 Cannes Pharma Grand Prix, a D&AD Yellow Pencil, One Show and Clio honors, and reframed what a Viagra ad could say in a regulated market.
What you can take
When the product claim is illegal, sell the feeling the product exists for: art made from real stories passes every regulator and still reaches the audience.
Since then
Make Love Last became the most decorated pharmaceutical campaign of its cycle: Pharma Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2025, a D&AD 2025 Yellow Pencil for Pharma Film, One Show recognition, Clio Grand and Gold wins, and LIA honors. Its lasting move was proof that in the most regulated category on earth, the winning work said the least — and let the audience finish the sentence.
Sources
- Viagra takes home the Pharma Grand Prix at 2025 Cannes Lions
- MAKE LOVE LAST — 2025 One Show entry
- Viatris: Make Love Last — case page
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