Motion Sickness.
The campaign The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes which this year earned six Cannes Lions, including two Grand Prix, started with the realisation that the mental impact was more dangerous than the disease itself.
Creative agency Motion Sickness in Auckland, working with Sydney-based production company FINCH, earned the Grand Prix for Good, Lions Health Grand Prix for Good, Gold – Health & Wellness, Gold – Film, Culture & Context, Bronze – Sustainable Development Goals, Bronze – Entertainment, Use of Humour.
“We had our production partners there, and we kept getting all these calls to say that we won gold, and then Grand Prix, and then we found out that they got a second one,” Motion Sickness executive creative director & founder Sam Stuchbury told Adnews.
“It was pretty unreal.”
The New Zealand Herpes Foundation approached Motion Sickness with what was called an "impossible brief", an idea ticking around the business for almost 10 years.
“They found that the mental and psychological impact of herpes was way more dangerous than the disease itself,” Stuchbury said.
“It was so much they had to start a helpline to call up if they had mental distress and needed advice around it.”
Motion Sickness took the brief and within three or four weeks, came up with a billboard – "Make New Zealand the best place in the world to have herpes.com."
The rest of the production came within nine months.
Stuchbury said the campaign highlights New Zealand patriotism while educating the country on an important cause.
“New Zealanders always look at problems in a different way and have quite a unique sense of humour.
“We knew humor was an interesting way to connect. Using New Zealand humour and patriotism for a positive cause.
“When you look at culture, films, comedy, herpes is often the butt of a lot of jokes.
“We thought we'd kind of tapped into this national insecurity, pride and patriotism. All the stars aligned.
“New Zealand had just lost the World Cup. We'd lost our prime minister, Jacinda. The economy was in tatters, and New Zealanders love being top of global rankings.
“It was just a positive spin on the problem. To learn and educate the country.
The campaign features New Zealand stars including Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Buck Shelford, Angella Dravid and Mea Motu.
Stuchbury said the hardest part of creating the campaign was getting talent.
“We wanted to have New Zealand icons to be the front of the campaign. But no one really wants to be in a herpes ad, especially when it's not for much money.
“We started off with Helen Clark, our ex-prime minister but she wasn't available due to time.
"Then we looked at Lorde, Peter Jackson, but we weren't really making any progress.
“It was actually three weeks out from the shoot we thought about Graham Henry, and he agreed to it. He loved the creative and the idea, and from there, other people fell into place.”
Cannes Grand Prix for Good Jury president Judy John described the campaign as ‘Brave, outrageously creative, wildly ambitious and educational.’
Motion Sickness partner and head of strategy Hilary Ngan Kee said that humour and national pride kept the campaign in the eyes of the Cannes judges.
“The national pride piece was so important, I think particularly on a topic like stigma," Ngan Kee said.
"Then the consumer journey of it all and the way that we gamified the process, definitely helped us drive that action too,” Ngan Kee said.
Motion Sickness are already working on their next project, aiming to produce more work internationally.
“We're looking at what's next for The New Zealand Herpes Foundation, but for Motion Sickness as an agency, we're starting to do more work in internationally, in Australia and the US as well,” Stuchbury said.
“I'd love to go back to Cannes as a judge. I think that would be really an interesting experience. So, yeah, we will see what happens.”
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