The cheeky F*cking Old campaign for condom maker Jems got Canadian seniors to think about safer sex. Boxes of candy with hidden condom stashes and messages about safe sex were distributed to seniors’ groups in a campaign that helped boost Jems’ online sales by 400%.
The Power of Dentsu Health’s global network attracted worldwide attention this year when a coalition of teams rallied to create a winning solution for a disease affecting millions of people.
Scrolling Therapy is a free-to-use mobile app developed by Dentsu Health and Dentsu Creative teams in Argentina, Brazil and the U.S. for Brazil-based biopharmaceutical company Eurofarma. It was created to motivate people with Parkinson’s disease to perform exercises that help control its symptoms. Using AI, the app allows the person to control their social media accounts by using one of five facial expressions to execute common actions.
Members of the Dentsu Health executive leadership team, Susan Johnson, EVP Canada lead and global integrated client lead, Kent Groves, EVP, global head of strategy and Collette (Coco) Douaihy, global chief creative officer.
The app was launched in 10 countries with 45,128 doctors and ultimately won the global Dentsu teams the Pharma Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Lions. “It was awesome, because it really was a global effort,” says New York based Kent Groves, EVP, global head of strategy at Dentsu Health.
The effort highlights the benefit of partnering with Dentsu Health Canada and gaining access to its international network, says Susan Johnson, EVP, Dentsu Health Canada lead and global integrated client lead.
The agency was formally launched in April 2022 after Dentsu completed its acquisition of Toronto-based agency Antibody Healthcare Communications. The move “really built out our health chops as a network,” Johnson says, noting that the success of the merger is a result of careful and strategic integration.
Johnson adds that each member of Dentsu Health’s leadership team has at least 25 years of experience in life sciences. The team’s deep medical experience enables partnerships that ensure “communications are at the right time in the right place with the right message.”
A group shot of Dentsu Health Canada including the Health Strategy, Creative and Client Engagement teams along with the Dentsu Health president, Greg Reilly.
This is especially critical for Canadian pharma brands with global ambitions. When a marketer in Toronto or Montreal needs to know something about another country, the 30-person Dentsu Health Canada team can get them an answer quickly.
She provides the example of Dentsu Health Canada’s recent outreach to its Japanese affiliates to help a Canadian pharmaceutical brand navigate Japan’s regulatory requirements. “Knowing the nuances of what you can and can’t do [in different territories] helps the work get done faster,” she notes.
Dentsu Health & Dentsu Creative developed the Scrolling Therapy app to offer people with Parkinson’s a new way of navigating social media while doing necessary exercises for facial masking symptoms – putting the control of their scrolling – to the power of their expressions.
Dentsu’s 2023 “F*cking Old” campaign for Toronto-based condom maker Jems was another successful connection program with a social bent. Leaning on the insight that sexually transmitted infections are on the rise among Canada’s seniors, the Dentsu Creative team in Canada led by Jordan Doucette, CCO, partnered with Dentsu Health and devised a cheeky campaign to get over-65s thinking about safer sex.
The agency distributed boxes of candy with hidden condom stashes to seniors’ groups, with each candy’s wrapper containing a cheeky joke such as, “What’s worse for sex than a bad hip? Syphilis!”
“F*cking Old” resulted in more than 151 million earned media impressions and an earned media value of more than $20 million. What’s more, Jems’ online sales increased by 400%.
Despite its lighthearted tone, the campaign tackled a genuine health issue and the results show that customers were interested in the solution. This empathetic approach is one Groves says is at the heart of all Dentsu Health does, whether it’s patient-facing or physician-focused.
“If what we do today helps one physician discover a new product or [diagnose a condition] that’s going to help one patient improve their quality of life, then we’ve accomplished our goal.”
CONTACT:
Michael Agnello
Dentsu Health growth lead
Michael.Agnello@dentsu.com
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