Best of May 2024
Best of May 2024: Magnitificant Mental Health Marketing
Mental Health Awareness Month, observed in May, is a crucial time for the Pharma marketing industry to engage in meaningful conversations and initiatives surrounding mental well-being. This year, two innovative and impactful campaigns stood out: Boehringer Ingelheim's "Look Beyond Stable" and McDonald's UK's Happy Meal box redesign. Both campaigns took unique approaches to engage the public and create awareness around mental health issues. Let's dive into what made this work remarkable and the lessons we can take away.
Boehringer Ingelheim's "Look Beyond Stable"
Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) launched the "Look Beyond Stable" campaign to shed light on the experiences of people living with schizophrenia. The centerpiece of this campaign was an immersive installation in New York City that allowed visitors to walk through environments depicting the realities of schizophrenia. Text on floors and walls highlights misconceptions faced by patients: Unlovable. Hopeless. Criminal. This experience transports the viewer into the world of the patient, a first-person experience that builds unparalleled empathy. This interactive experience was designed to help the public understand what it looks and feels like to live with this condition.
Click image to visit the “Look Beyond Stable” website
What Stands Out:
Immersive Experience: The use of an immersive installation is a powerful way to engage people. By allowing individuals to physically walk through and experience the environments of those with schizophrenia, the campaign goes beyond traditional advertising methods to deliver emotion and empathy.
Educational Impact: This approach not only raises awareness but also educates the public on the complexities of schizophrenia, address misconceptions while advocating for patients who often have few supporters.
Visibility and Engagement: Hosting the installation in a bustling area of NYC ensured high visibility and engagement, drawing in a diverse audience and elevating mental health issues to an important and much talked about stage and setting.
McDonald's UK: Rethinking the “Happy Meal”
In the UK, McDonald's (working with Ready10 and Leo Burnett UK) took a bold step by redesigning their iconic “smile centric” Happy Meal boxes for Mental Health Awareness Week. The new design removed the traditional smile and allowed customers to choose from a range of expressions that better reflect different mental health states (confused, dissatisfied, sad, meh). This initiative was inspired by research commissioned by the brand that found almost half (48%) of UK children feel as if they must be happy all the time, even if they don’t want to be. The effort was aimed at normalizing discussions around mental health and promote emotional well-being among children and families, reminding everyone that, “it’s okay not to feel happy all the time.”
What Stands Out:
Iconic Change: Altering a well-known and beloved icon like the Happy Meal box draws significant attention and sparks conversation. It disrupts that status quo and demands attention.
Customization and Choice: Allowing kids to select different expressions from their meal promotes the idea that it's okay to feel a range of emotions and that mental health is a spectrum, while also providing a subtle admission that perhaps the “happy” meal isn’t the right moniker for all kids, all the time.
Family and Engagement: By targeting children and their families, the campaign opens up opportunities for discussions about mental health at a young age, fostering a more supportive environment.
Key Takeaways for Healthcare Marketers
Empathy plays a crucial role in pharmaceutical marketing, particularly when addressing sensitive topics like mental health. By focusing on immersive experiences, education, and emotional engagement, these campaigns successfully raise awareness while leaving a lasting impact on their audiences. Healthcare marketers can apply these lessons by:
Creating interactive experiences that allow people to step into the shoes of those living with mental health conditions
Challenging existing stigmas and misconceptions through thought-provoking content and messaging
Engaging families and physicians to foster open discussions about mental well-being from an early age
By pushing boundaries and challenging conventions, these campaigns have successfully sparked important conversations and promoted a more inclusive understanding of mental well-being. They think outside the box (quite literally), inviting you into the worlds of the “patients” and urge you to see and reconsider things from their perspectives. As the pharmaceutical industry continues to navigate the complexities of mental health, these efforts serve as valuable examples of how marketers can make a meaningful difference through their work.
