The Campaign

In a world demanding more from them than ever, moms in China tend to dismiss mosquitoes as a slight annoyance or “just a small bite.” However, the same mosquitoes are vectors for potentially serious diseases that moms should want their children protected from. Illustrating this increases the importance of mosquito bites beyond “just a bite;” and it elevates the need to protect families from mosquitoes that are potentially carrying diseases.   By showing moms the hidden threats of mosquito bites in a compelling fashion, literally displaying the usually invisible and seemingly erratic flight path of a mosquito on the way to bite a child, we illustrate the true dangers of mosquitoes and remind her of the role of Raid® – to protect her family from mosquitoes.

Creative Execution

The mobile screen first shows a series of chaotic, fine lines jumbled together. As viewers tap on the lines, the ad unit illustrates random flight movement of a mosquito, complete with annoying buzzing sound. These lines move to reveal a series of shapes, starting with a half-filled bottle of stagnant water — a common breeding ground for mosquitos. Cleverly crafted to convey fluid, in-flight motion, the mosquito path continues through a series of different animals. From a rat to a bird to different stray animals — all victims of the same mosquito that could next bite a child.   The viewer can interact with the story of the mosquito’s bite path, tapping on each animal, to see facts about the diseases associated to these animals.   This interactive and educational mobile content was shared on social media, giving moms an unforgettable demonstration of the need to prevent mosquito bites and fully protect their child with Raid repellents.

Moms tend to ignore the obvious advertising claims of how quickly a certain brand can repel mosquitoes – after all, it’s what the products are supposed to do. But unveiling a new piece of information they hadn’t thought of, such as their children being exposed to something much more harmful than “just a mosquito bite,” prompted them take action to protect their families. In-store sales in the test market store surged 40% year-on-year over the first month of the ad’s exposure—a remarkable achievement for one single piece of communication. More importantly, moms can now help protect their families from the rising cases of Dengue fever in China and other vector diseases.

The number of Dengue cases increased 30% from previous years, yet moms still don’t think about the dangers of a mosquito bite. In fact, China’s largest search portal showed only 15,000 news articles about “mosquitoes” or “dengue” —compared to a search on “Beijing pollution” which covered over 260,000 news articles.     We knew Chinese moms rely on online forums. Research revealed that 82.4% of moms will download parenting-related apps and turn to social media for advice.   We devised an interactive scrolling story on a social media. It starts from the breeding grounds of a mosquito, inviting moms to scroll and follow the path of a biting mosquito — starting with a rat, then a wild bird, and a series of stray animals. As moms interact with the story, they learn about the possible diseases that can spread from these animals to her child if transmitted by a single biting mosquito.