STOP DIABETES BEFORE IT STOPS YOU

TitleSTOP DIABETES BEFORE IT STOPS YOU
BrandHEALTH PROMOTION BOARD
Product / ServiceDIABETES PREVENTION
CategoryA05. Best Use of Ambient Media: Large
EntrantPHD SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Entrant Company:PHD SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Media Agency:PHD SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

Credits

Credits

Name Company Position
Pat Lim PHD Singapore Managing Director
Russell Lai PHD Singapore Senior Media Manager
Evelyn Lim PHD Singpapore Senior Media Planner
Ting Kai Ying PHD Singapore Media Executive

Results and Effectiveness

Our foot tour had an estimated 7.3 million footfalls passing through it. The toilet door stickers had a total of 8 mil eyeballs throughout the campaign period. 2.2 million passengers had been exposed to others going through “dialysis” on the MRT trains. The local media covered the campaign aggressively, garnering an estimated PR value of more than $100,000. The number of people who have gone for their diabetes screening is also on the uptrend with over 23,000 Singaporeans over 40 taking up screening packages since the launch of the campaign.

Creative Execution

The shock-and-gore outdoor campaign consisted of the following executions: (a) The Horror Foot Tour We installed a gigantic gangrenous ‘art sculpture’ foot at Raffles Place with a message on early screening and proper management prominently displayed. (b) Dialysis In A Train 60% of diabetics would require dialysis before a transplant is available. We used MRT vertical panels cleverly, making it seem as though a seated passenger next to the panel was hooked onto the dialysis machine. (c) Think Before You Pee To illustrate the possible consequence of losing a foot or leg, special toilet signs with icons showing amputated leg were placed in a number of toilets within high-traffic heartland malls. (d) Sunglasses at night In a tie-up with selected optical shops, customized sunglasses were hidden amongst normal ones on display, carrying the message “if left untreated, diabetes can leave you blind.”

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

A sedentary lifestyle coupled with unhealthy eating habits has made diabetes the 8th leading cause of death in Singapore. Since its symptoms are not immediately apparent nor immediately life -threatening, many think of it as “no big deal”. The insidious way that diabetes progresses requires a big wake-up call. How do we break public apathy towards this silent killer? We know that diabetes is a disease with silent symptoms that can lead to serious consequences: these often include amputation, renal failure and blindness amongst others. Hence, we decided that the only way to make people sit up and take notice was to dramatise the effects of diabetes via a “shock-and-gore” outdoor campaign! We focused on employing tactically unusual but contextually appropriate outdoor executions showcasing the complications of diabetes, to replicate the impact among the public.