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D&AD charity provides
near 200,000 vocational learning opportunities to emerging creatives
annually.
Wick's Alan Mackenzie has been honoured with a prestigious "Future
Impact Pencil" at the 2025 D&AD Awards, the highest accolade in the
creative industry. The health brand he co-founded, "My Doctor's Recipe"
and its flagship product "Nutri-Ice", were recognised for their bold
innovation in tackling cancer-related malnutrition.
The Caithness entrepreneur was Inspired by the devastating experience of
losing his wife Alison to cancer in 2016 by co-founding the world’s
first prescribable frozen nutritional supplement that looks and tastes
like real ice cream.
Recognised as a game-changer in the medical field, Handmade in Kent in
collaboration with Simply Ice Cream, Nutri-Ice is already in use across
more than ten hospitals and is being hailed as a game-changer for cancer
care as it continues expansion into healthcare settings.
Alan channelled his grief into action, working alongside his business
partners Alison’s oncologist Dr Jon Krell and chef Alan Rosenthal to
create the nutritional supplement that delivers a powerful dose of
calories, protein, and essential nutrients.
From his North of
Scotland base, Alan explained how the campaign, known as "Creamotherapy",
was created in partnership with Havas Lynx and celebrates the product’s
unique ability to bring dignity, joy and better nutrition to patients
who often struggle to eat due to side effects like mouth ulcers, nausea,
or loss of appetite.
"Alison couldn't tolerate traditional nutritional drinks," he says.
"They tasted synthetic and made her feel worse. The only thing she could
manage was ice cream. After she died I became determined to change that
experience for others." Alan adds that to be recognised in such
prestigious awards is a huge honour. They are known for spotlighting
ideas that truly make a difference.
1-in-5 Cancer Patients Die from Malnutrition
"This started from a very personal place after losing Alison and it's
overwhelming to think that something made in her memory is now winning
international recognition and helping others through the hardest times.
This is just the beginning, we want to get Nutri-Ice to every patient
who needs it."
The 2025 D&AD Awards ceremony was staged at London's Southbank Centre
and a Future Impact Pencil award celebrates creative ideas with
real-world potential for change. Nutri-Ice was praised for reimagining
food as part of treatment and for addressing the shocking statistic that
1-in-5 cancer patients die from malnutrition.
Each year the awards gather together the best creative work on the
planet from across the commercial design, advertising, production and
craft disciplines judged by more than 300 global creative leaders,
practitioners and innovators. Winning a D&AD Pencil earns the recipient
exposure to an audience of millions in the creative industries around
the world.
Creativity is one of the most powerful drivers of commercial success and
social and cultural change with linked awards creating a paradigm for
the industry against which all the work can be measured creating a
standard others strive to achieve.
Since 1962 D&AD Awards
have been regarded as one of - if not the leading - the world's most
prestigious awards for design and advertising and represents a
career-defining moment that drives the entire industry forward and those
who remain ever-hungry, never-satisfied and forever-curious minds who
redefine what we think is possible in communications every day.
Incredibly Emotional Moment
Past international exhibition venues the winner is highlighted have
included The Advertising Museum Tokyo, Louvre Museum Paris, Shanghai
Institute of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Design Institute, Melbourne's Arts
Centre, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology and the
National Design Centre of Singapore.
London-headquartered D&AD Foundation is a charity committed to
supporting emerging talent from all walks of life towards gaining a
foothold in the creative world, and partners with agencies and studios
around the world to improve the way the industry works. In a typical
year its series of programmes provide over 195,000 vocational learning
opportunities to emerging creatives.
Having a "Future Impact Pencil" in one's creative cabinet proves
invaluable towards attracting the best talent to a team. Past winners
include Islam Hassan, creative director at Matter (Egypt), reported
winning a Pencil was a milestone and crowning pinnacle in our journey
"towards the goal making Egypt recognised globally in design and having
a competitive opportunity with international giants."
Shannon McCarroll, senior copywriter FCB Canada: "Winning a D&AD Pencil
helps you get out of bed, walk two short meters to your desk and
actually feel motivated to kick some advertising ass."
For Scots entrepreneur Alan Mackenzie whilst he fully recognises the
accolade: "To see something created in Alison's memory now winning
global awards and helping patients through their most difficult moments
is incredibly emotional." |
