Constantly looking down on the smartphone has become a serious health problem. “Heads Up!” is the first mobile ad that reached the user right at the core of the problem: while using a smartphone with a tilted head.

On Back Health Day 2015 the news on the website stern.de were only visible when the smartphone was held in an upright and healthy position. Key element was the forced reaction by the users: once they stopped holding the smartphone upright, the news were not readable anymore and a call to action motivated the users to hold the smartphone upright. As a result users could book preventative AOK back health programs.

By creating an ad that included actual news content from the website stern.de, “Heads Up!” demonstrates a new, innovative and so far unseen way of pointing the problem “text neck” out to the smartphone users. The mobile ad linked the users to a website where they could book preventative AOK back health programs.

“Heads Up!” created widespread awareness in the mobile internet. The mean residence time on the ad was almost 3 minutes – within a week thousands of visitors lifted their heads and alleviated the strain on their necks.