The Hong Kong Health and Welfare Bureau reported that around 95,000 people with mental health problems required professional psychological support, but fewer than 20% of them received relevant treatment. Many undiagnosed patients underestimate and tolerate subtle mental health symptoms, believing on self-reliance rather than professional psychological support to solve mental health issues.

Pfizer Pristiq is a prescription-only anti-depressant. Pfizer wanted to raise awareness of depression amongst Hong Kongers through a digital campaign.

The two main objectives of the campaign were: 1) to raise awareness of depression symptoms and triggers, and 2) to encourage more people to do the PHQ-9 Questionnaire (a mental health self-check). Through doing the PHQ-9 Questionnaire, more potential patients will be alerted of undiagnosed mental health problems and seek help if necessary.

Our overarching idea, Depression Can Be Everywhere, tells the story of depression on an everyday level. With mini films that address quotidian topics, we let people understand that when in a depressed state, depression can manifest itself in the smallest of barriers. Depression can really be everywhere.

We brought this story to life through four colourful videos that blend footage with 24fps cell animations of monsters. Tapping into the common trope of representing depression as a monster, our group of brightly-coloured mini monsters had a simple and bright design, illustrated with a child-like simplicity. Our bright monochromatic sets were also pared down to represent a simplified world.

Through our character and film design, we helped transform depression in Hong Kong from something almost mythological into something manageable. Instead of being scared, we wanted to encourage people to think about defeating depression.

This campaign targets undiagnosed depression patients. In Hong Kong, fewer than 20% of people with mental health problems that require professional support have received relevant treatment. By educating people that depression can be closer than they think, we hope to inspire potential patients to take action on their mental health.

Citywide surveys tell us that Hong Kongers underestimate subtle mental health symptoms. This was echoed by our scan of online platforms and forums, which revealed that users usually depict or perceive depression at its most extreme state.

Our campaign aims to reverse this thinking. By breaking down depression into smaller sub-topics – insomnia, physical symptoms, lifestyle triggers and chronic diseases – and tailoring our video ad scripts to everyday situations identified in online forums, we highlighted the subtle signs of depression, and let people understand that it is closer than they think.

For this campaign, we created four 15-second video ads and a set of accompanying static ads. The ads led to a dedicated PHQ-9 Questionnaire site when clicked.

The campaign period was 14 June – 13 Sept 2021 (3 months).

During this period, the ads were distributed via programmatic media buying. We used both location-based and health interest-based targeting to distribute the ads, and the ads were placed on major apps, media channels and popular websites. We also engaged the celebrity from the video, Sammy Leung, to share the video ads on his own social media page.

This was the first depression campaign in Hong Kong that used this messaging and style to talk about depression. Previous campaigns mostly covered depression as a broad subject, and not through specific scenarios or symptoms.

Results:

- 13M ad impressions

- 0.67% CTR (Industry benchmark: 0.59%)

- 91k clicks*

- 6.6k people completed PHQ-9 Questionnaire in 3 months*

*Combined traffic from video display ad, video ad and influencer social post (organic and paid)