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Finalist

Chickenpox Awareness Campaign

by MSD with support from Purple Agency

Summary of work

Nine out of ten children catch chickenpox before they’re 15, so it’s worth talking about what to expect. But our market research revealed that scary ads leave parents feeling worried.

Working with MSD UK, we set out to educate, not shock.

Purple built a campaign around a starring character: Dotty. Capturing the attention of parents and kids alike, Dotty puts a friendly face to chickenpox awareness.

At the heart of the campaign is a website, as patient behaviour mapping told us this is the first place parents go for information. The site is built in digestible sections – helping parents understand what to expect and how to prepare – while intuitive navigation ensures everything is just one click away. Additionally, slick animations and appearances from Dotty bring it to life.

Our campaign strategy was truly multichannel. Dotty featured across a range of banner and Google ads, print ads in leading parenting magazines and animated billboards displayed across the UK – all pointing parents to the website to find out more.

The campaign saw great results from the outset. Since its launch, it has generated over two million impressions and achieved an average click-through rate of 18.4%, with the site seeing over 380,000 visitors.

Judges’ comments

The Chickenpox Awareness Campaign had really good, robust, upfront research. It was an excellent example of omnichannel marketing and it did very well in engaging with consumers. It had an approachable character and was really refreshing. It was honest, taken from lessons on MumsNet, and had proper learnings.