When summer comes in Brazil, people are faced with a challenge: mosquitoes. They carry any number of tropical diseases, including dengue fever, Zika, malaria, and chikungunya, among others. Our challenge was to show moms that they can trust OFF! Baby to keep their babies safe from mosquitoes. That’s our brief just about every year, but this time around we had an even bigger obstacle: the only thing people were talking about was COVID-19. We had to create something different to remind moms that with or without COVID-19, the summer rains would come – and the mosquitoes with them. We needed something that would stand out and remind moms to use OFF! Baby to protect their little ones.

We created billboards featuring cute babies and a simple, direct message: Keep mosquitoes away from your baby. The billboards went up in the summer, in one of Brazil’s largest cities: Salvador, Bahia. At the time of day with most mosquitoes (late afternoon), we carried out coordinated drone flights over the billboards, simulating the mosquitoes’ behavior. The drones, representing those terrible little bugs, flew over and around the baby without ever touching it – turning what looked like an ordinary billboard into an installation, an eye-catching brand experience.

The strategy for the activation involved setting up shop in a major Brazilian city that stands for summer and outdoor living. Salvador was the location of choice. The drones, symbolizing the mosquitoes, flew over the baby billboards at the same time of day, always in late afternoon, which is when they normally attack. The installation was filmed, and the video was used in other major cities across the country to help make moms aware of this looming danger.

We created a billboard that would serve as an all-around communications piece. And every day, at the time of day when mosquito attacks are fiercest, it turned into an open-air installation. The message on the billboard took on a new and even more powerful meaning when the drones took flight. The initiative was filmed and the video was featured on the brand’s social media, boosting its impact and reaching people not only in the Salvador metropolitan area, but across Brazil.

In the thick of the COVID-19 crisis in Brazil, our challenge was to remind people that summer brings the same threats as always, and they can’t be forgotten: mosquitoes and the diseases they carry. With a minimal investment, the campaign was able to make an impact and keep OFF! Baby’s spot at the top of national sales in the segment, even as the whole country was talking about another threat (the coronavirus).