The Campaign

Tapping into popular Chinese culture and film, we took the emotions and sadness associated with the death of a favorite movie character and transferred them to the viewer herself through the use of a “future selfie” and a warning from herself, 30 years in the future.

Creative Execution

We created an alternate ending to a 2017 Chinese blockbuster where the young heroine dies from cervical cancer. Enlisting the same actress, we developed a short film where her future self pleads with her to get protection from cervical cancer. The film ran across 40 campuses in 5 cities. For the launch, students could scan a QR code, take a selfie, and input their phone number for a free movie ticket. The selfie was aged to create the “future me”. When the future self first appears, the students all received messages from their own future selves urging them to “act now to protect yourself”. This “future me” faded from screen, requiring the student to commit to saving her own future to bring her back. This also took them to the WeChat page, for information on cervical cancer, vaccination and the opportunity to make an appointment at a vaccination clinic nearby.

71% of launch event participants tapped the mobile button, agreeing that they wanted to “protect my own future”. 250% increase on awareness on cervical cancer vaccination 230% increase on intention for cervical cancer vaccine adoption

We spoke only to a very specific target group (female university students) and solicited their response in several ways. Initially by asking them to scan our QR code, and share their phone number and a selfie, and secondly by having their “future self” ask them to commit to protecting their own future by tapping the button that prevented the future selfie from fading away and also brought them to the vaccination information and booking site. 71% of event attendees tapped the button and agreed to protect their futures.

Our target audience is the post-90s Chinese woman. This generation has a distinct personality and strong sense of self. They are experience-focused rather than goal-focused and expect a rich future life.  So to reach them, instead of a direct attempt to educate on cervical cancer, we engage them with movies and digital experience. During a special screening of an alternate ending to a popular movie, their future self (30years from now) contacts them on their mobile and urges them to ‘act now to protect yourself’ by pressing a button.  Pressing the button rewards them with a copy of the image of themselves and links them directly to a WeChat page of information on cervical cancer with the option to book an appointment for vaccination.