Hasta La Creative!

This quietly terrifying multi-channel campaign from the British Heart Foundation strives to keep its audience off balance in more ways than one.

Surprise is the key theme of the campaign, breaking today via DLKWLowe in London. Each facet mimics the swiftness and unexpectedness of the malady itself.

“Compared to other terminal illnesses, like cancer, heart disease can be especially cruel,” Dave Henderson, chief creative officer at DLKWLowe, tells AdFreak. “Its suddenness means families often never get the chance to even say goodbye, which has a huge emotional impact on those left behind.”

A minute-long TV commercial, “Classroom,” directed by Tom Tagholm of Park Pictures, shows a whispered conversation between father and son, hinting from the very beginning that something isn’t right.

The twist itself isn’t that hard to guess. But the dawning realization of what’s coming increases the story’s power—it becomes more and more unsettling as it progresses. In the end, it’s clear that as that as sad as this conversation is, it’s sadder still that when dealing with heart disease in real life, people don’t get to have those talks. The tagline drives home that point: “Heart disease is heartless. It strikes without warning.”

Ultimately, the organization is seeking help from viewers. “By making people contemplate the unexpected devastation that heart disease causes, we hope to inspire people to donate funds to continue BHF’s lifesaving research,” says Carolan Davidge, the client’s director of marketing and engagement.

“I don’t think we can tip toe around a disease that’s so cruel anymore,” adds Henderson. “We have to hit people with the reality of what we’re dealing with here. And the impact and reality of heart disease is personal to every person so each piece of creative in this campaign seeks to speak to different audiences.”

Several online spots created by Make, the DLKWLowe’s in-house production company, have a different tone and feel than “Classroom,” though they ultimately pack a similar punch.

In one, a Skype chat between a youngish mom and dad on their fifth wedding anniversary ends particularly badly.

In another, a backyard game of catch turns into a tragic afternoon for a cute pooch and its owner.

For some, that approach may seem unintentionally humorous (in a dark sort of way), even verging on parody. Still, the sense of disorientation and confusion—the WTF! moment, if you will—is exactly what the spots are all about. This is how quickly lives can irreparably, irreversibly change for the worse.

Meanwhile, in a mini-doc, real heart-disease patients keep the beat to remind us that one in four who are stricken don’t survive.

In an effort to make the message even more personal, there’s even a “Heart Attack Simulator.” A mobile app that asks users to hold their phones against their hearts, it delivers a jolt that isn’t so much physical as emotional—the phone rings, and a chilling recorded message, the kind no one wants to receive, begins to play.

Overall, each element of the wide-ranging campaign has a distinctive flavor, but they all manage to stay on point, memorably delivering the message. And while fear-based advertising can be tough to stomach, that’s a small price to pay for the possibility of preventing more lives from suddenly sliding into ruin and despair.

Attention, germaphobes. Here are your worst nightmares realized.

Unilver cleaning brand Domestos is out with three new print and poster ads in the U.K. that vividly imagine microorganisms as gross cartoons on vacations—swimming, snapping selfless, sipping cocktails on the beach (yes, that’s duck face).

The “Holiday’s over” tagline is a little long on bravado, but the illustrations—created by Bangkok CGI studio Illusion, via agency British agency DLKW Lowe—might be the most gorgeously disgusting visuals ever (even if Harvey Keitel’s credits apparently include voicing one of their millions of impressively hideous dead ancestors).

Now enjoy your righteous sense of horror, and go and wash your hands.

Full ads below. Click to enlarge.

CREDITS
Client Name: Domestos
Campaign Name: Holiday’s Over
Agency: DLKW Lowe
ECD: Richard Denney, Dave Henderson
Global Creative Director: Tony Hardcastle
Creative Team: Katrina Encanto,  Edgar Galang 
Planner: Richard Kelly
Account Team: James Pool, Ross Marshall
Agency Producers: Gary Wallis
Media Agency: Initiative 
Design Company: Illusion Co. Ltd  
Illustrators: Surachai Puthikuangkura, Supachai U-Rairat
Producers: Somsak Pairew, Kitidej Rattanasuvansri

Se você já ouviu o Braincast 94 (O Ano das Polêmicas), certamente está sabendo do recado dado pelo Guga Mafra, pedindo que as pessoas doem sangue. Apesar de os hemocentros necessitarem de sangue o ano inteiro, é nesta época do ano que os estoques precisam ser reforçados, em função do aumento do risco de acidentes em estradas, por conta das férias. O fim de ano também é propício para que a gente dê um passo além do consumismo e ofereça, neste Natal, um presente essencial para muitas pessoas, como define a NHS Blood and Transplant.

No ar desde meados de novembro, This Year’s Must-Have Gift tem criação da DLKW Lowe, com produção da Independent Films. O filme mostra diversas crianças contando o que gostariam de ganhar neste Natal – brinquedos, dinheiro, gadgets…

O pedido mais importante, entretanto, é feito por uma garotinha de 5 anos, que necessita de transfusões de sangue a cada quatro semanas. Realmente, não tem como negar que doar sangue é o presente mais incrível para este Natal….

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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