November 14th is World Diabetes Day, and the Ad Council is partnering with the American Medical Association and the CDC to help those 1 in 3 Americans with prediabetes learn their risk with powerful new creative by Ogilvy.
This year’s campaign, developed pro bono by Ogilvy for the Ad Council, is focused on helping people understand that prediabetes is preventable and reversible. This is the third year in a row that Ogilvy has collaborated with Ad Council, AMA and CDC for the national prediabetes PSA campaign.
The humorous spots feature surreal scenarios that show the viewer who in their own life may have prediabetes – whether it’s them, their boss, or their boss’s boss. Prediabetes can be reversed with early diagnosis, which is why the spots drive to an easy, 1-minute risk test that’s already helped more than 2 million people know where they stand.
Tell us about your role in the creation of this work.
We were approached by the Ad Council, CDC, and the AMA to create a campaign for prediabetes. They came to us with the 1 in 3 adults having prediabetes statistic, and the fact that with early diagnosis, prediabetes can be reversed; because of how pervasive this statistic was, we really needed consumers to understand the urgency of discovering if they had prediabetes. From there, we developed different routes to explore this statistic, landed on a campaign, fleshed it out and brought it to life with the help of brilliant collaborators.
Give us an overview of the campaign, what is it about?
Prediabetes is when your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, and if left untreated can lead to type 2 diabetes and other health problems. If 1 in 3 adults have prediabetes, then that affects most of the people in your life. Maybe even you. That means it could be you, your best friend, or your almost best friend. If you have 600 Facebook friends that means it could be you and 200 of your friends. It’s an overwhelmingly pervasive stat. Because of that, we wanted to dive into a character’s world and visually represent that 1 in 3 stat is surprising and engaging ways. We wanted to start relatable and close-knit, and progressively let the world build until all walks of life are represented.
Tell us about the details creative brief, what did it ask?
The majority of people at risk don’t know about prediabetes. Our challenge was to inform people that they might be at risk for prediabetes, but with early diagnosis, it can be reversed before becoming type 2 diabetes. We needed to accomplish this by raising awareness and getting people to visit our website and take the risk test.
Which insight led to the creation of this piece of work?
You could be the 1 in 3 American adults who have prediabetes, but you have the power to reverse it.
Can you share with us any alternative ideas (if any) for this campaign? Why was this idea chosen?
We chose this idea for its ability to showcase the statistic, be visually surprising and engaging, and extend to other mediums really helped the campaign have legs. We also learned that the lighthearted approach pleasantly disarmed people and allowed them to engage with a very serious topic.
What was the greatest challenge that you and your team faced during development.
The greatest challenge was coming up with vignettes that were funny, informative, and relatable on a certain level. If a vignette achieved all three, then it made the cut.
What did you enjoy most about seeing this campaign through? Did you learn anything new from the experience?
Of course, we learned how prevalent prediabetes is in this country. 1 in 3 hits close to home. In addition to that, we were really able to revel in the opportunity of working with masters of their craft. Seeing a campaign go from its infancy to such a humorous and informative completion was really satisfying. And, of course, to know we’re able to spread an important message is deeply fulfilling.
Where do you see this campaign going in the future?
The first two phases focused on raising awareness of prediabetes.
This third phase focused on educating the audience that prediabetes can be reversed.
Perhaps the following phases will continue to educate the audience on the steps to reversal, starting with joining a National Diabetes Prevention Program. And, hopefully, the stat will become 1 in 4 in the upcoming years.