The Ministry of Health: ‘Prophylaxis, Man!’
aka How to encourage Millennials to form healthy habits?
H+K has recently faced a challenge. Together with the Ministry of Health, our agency has initiated a thrilling campaign called ‘Prophylaxis, Man!’, encouraging individuals to change their negative habits. The campaign was developed in association with VML Agency and aimed at reaching the so-called Millennials – a group of young, demanding target recipients – by showing them that prophylaxis constitutes the most effective way of healthcare. We only had three weeks for all the campaign-related activities. How did we manage?
In order to evoke a WOW! effect, we focused on an unobvious creation, which was supported by the substantive voices of experts. The core of the campaign was a controversial combination of the Polish proverb about ‘being as healthy as a horse’* with an ironic expert figure, wearing a horse mask, who drew the youth’s attention. Thanks to an unobvious and original character of a coach, speaking the language of Millennials, the campaign’s message – that a healthy lifestyle is an investment in a safe future – effectively reached the intended group.
We engaged 7 influencers such as Stuu, Marcin Dubiel, Zuzanna Borucka and Matura to Bzdura, who are especially popular with the young, into the campaign. Each of them created and shared a video with the campaign’s hero on Facebook. The main influencers’ activities were additionally supported by 65 micro-influencers from Instagram. Regarding the importance of a factual layer of the campaign, we also established cooperation with medical experts who supported the goal of the campaign with their authority and knowledge. We invited 3 scientific societies and 5 experts, including an internist, a cardiologist, a family doctor and a dietician to take part in the project. To kick off the campaign, we organized a press conference during which a debate – devoted to risk factors and prophylaxis of the diseases of respiratory and circulatory systems – was held. Apart from our experts, the Deputy Minister of Health, Piotr Gryza, and the influencers supporting the campaign “Prophylaxis, Man!”, attended the debate as well. To reach as many people as possible, a website, containing all the essential prevention-themed pieces of information and dedicated specifically to a campaign, was created. During the campaign, we were encouraging the receivers to enter the website and take a test revealing their overall health. The hero of the campaign, a coach wearing a horse’s mask, also encouraged all the webpage visitors to take the test.
What did we achieve as a result of the campaign? The information about the “Prophylaxis, Man!” campaign appeared in the media more than 1000 times within three weeks. Thanks to various journalists’ interest in the topic, the knowledge about the importance of proper prophylaxis reached the recipients of TV channels, radio, press and online portals. The videos containing the campaign placement have been watched by young audiences more than 2.5 million times, generating nearly 18,000 comments. What is the best indicator of the campaign’s success then? Within just three weeks, as many as 40,000 Millennials filled out the test available on our website to check their health! Now, the question of what the key to good health is, has been answered. By far, it is Prophylaxis, Man!
*’mieć końskie zdrowie’ (‘to be as healthy as a horse’) is a popular Polish saying meaning that a person is healthy and strong and does not struggle with even minor health issues