Finalist
Show Type 2 Diabetes the Red Card
by Porter Novelli for Merck
Summary of work
Type 2 diabetes is one of the 21st century’s defining public health problems. But most people are unaware of their personal level of risk, and there is little awareness that type 2 diabetes can be stopped in its tracks if the risks are identified early, during a stage known as prediabetes.
> How could we grab attention and encourage people to get assessed?
Football! The world’s most popular sport and one that would resonate with people across countries and continents. Merck’s ‘Show Type 2 Diabetes the Red Card’, campaign kicked off to raise awareness of prediabetes, using the familiar visual language of football to cut through and guide members of the public to an online risk assessment.
Mirroring a 90-minute football match, Merck’s campaign ran for 90 days, representing the window of time for a person to modify their lifestyle to delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. The ‘tournament’ took to the field in more than 20 countries and counted down to the global milestone of World Diabetes Day on 14 November.
By the final whistle, we’d reached over 21.5 million people, with 400,000 unique risk assessment completions, representing an increase of +723% on the previous year’s efforts.
Judges’ comments
Porter Novelli and Merck designed a simple programme that clearly outlined what they wanted to achieve, with a strong call to action and measurement that they used in terms of uptake. The judges were struck by the impressive use of collaboration with affiliates, as well as a creative and solid strategy and implementation that demonstrated an element of behaviour change and effectiveness.
