Sensory Spaces
Experiential marketing campaign for Pfizer through VMLY&R, SUMMER 2022
Summary
VMLY&R summer intern project with the Seattle, Detroit, New York, and Kalamazoo interns to design a fall-winter campaign for Pfizer that encourages people to get their COVID-19 booster vaccinations, consisting of market research and identifying key demographics, discovering core themes in people’s hesitancy to receive the booster, and addressing their thoughts and concerns though a creative marketing pitch.
Our team’s solution was to design a two-part campaign centered on reminding primary caregivers about the experiences they missed out on during the height of the pandemic, and to do their part to “#ProtectProgress”.
Market Research
The audience we were tasked with connecting with were Chief Health Officers (CHOs), who at their core are primary caregivers to those under 18. The CHOs we are targeting have the responsibility of caring for themselves and loved ones, have a high priority to keep their family safe, tend to do independent research on the best ways to accomplish this, and have already received their primary series vaccinations (we are not targeting those who have not gotten vaccinated). We found that this refers to 40% of US households which have children under the age of 18.
To better understand this market, we prepared surveys and interviews asking people to reflect on their experiences during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The responses included general frustrations with the lack of social life, experiences, and having to put their lives on hold.
We then asked them to think back to why they were motivated to get their primary series vaccinations and their answers fell into four main categories: wanting to travel, sending children to school, general self protection, and protecting their loved ones.
With such strong motivations for people to receive their initial vaccinations we wondered why there was such a widespread hesitancy to get boosted. After the survey, we found that people were unsure of its efficacy, didn’t see it as necessary, and were all around just experiencing COVID fatigue–they were tired of having to continue hearing about it.
The Problem
We found that there is a big disconnect in how people view the booster versus the primary series vaccine. They don’t understand why the booster is important as they don’t see it the same way. The motivation for people to get their primary vaccines was to stay alive. But what is the motivation to get the vaccine booster?
We needed to make people realize that while the initial vaccines helped them stay alive, the booster means protecting the freedom that we have now. The primary series ensured protection in order to stay alive, but the booster ensures care to continue living.
The Solution
Our big idea was to create a positive and encouraging campaign to #ProtectProgress. The creative copy was as follows:
“We are creatures of socialization, nature, and exploration. During the height of COVID-19 the entire world had to sit, missing out on things we never thought we would miss out on; sending our children to school, sharing recipes around our tables, and feeling the fresh air on our skin every day. These are the moments that allow us to be human. We can’t take back what we lost but we can protect what we rebuilt, together.”
Creative Campaign
After reviewing the market research done by our client engagement team, the creative team’s solution was to design a two-part campaign centered on reminding primary caregivers about the experiences they missed out on during the height of the pandemic, and to do their part to “#ProtectProgress”.
The overall campaign roadmap is shown below, starting with general OOH ads promoting the main idea of the campaign, all leading up to the experiential “Sensory Spaces,” a pop-up exhibit designed to provide a tactile recreation of experiences people missed out on during the pandemic to remind them to get boosted so they don’t miss out.
General Campaign OOH
The general campaign OOH advertisements consist of prints and posters placed in high traffic areas such as concerts, airports, and busy streets, as a way of reminding people to not take those experiences for granted, reiterating the hashtag “#ProtectProgress”.
The same graphics will double as social media ads, popping up on the Pfizer Instagram account to encourage the hashtag to continue being shared among viewers.
Sensory Spaces Pop-up
These OOH ads lead into the second part of our campaign. With such a large focus on “experiences” as our big idea for execution, we found that it was really important that we’re not only connecting to people visually, but that we also need to connect with people through a more tactile, “real world” way. We realized that we needed something that doesn’t continue to play into the “COVID fatigue” that many caregivers feel. We needed something that approached people in a fun, new, and exciting way. We designed the second part of our campaign, a pop up exhibit we call “Sensory Spaces,” as an answer to this.
To go a more in depth on why an experience, “COVID prevented us from going out into the world. We want to emphasize that the booster can protect these experiences.” In other words, we want to remind people of the things they missed when the world was brought to a halt, and encourage them to get their shot so that they can continue to live these experiences. We were inspired by existing pop ups such as the Van Gogh Immersive Experience and Museum of Feelings and designed a space that captures some of the design elements and technology being utilized for our own project.
Above is an exterior render of the pop up exhibit. It is made up of three rooms designed to be ground level and accessible to both the caregivers and strollers, each representing a different part of the human experience that people missed during the height of the pandemic.
We picked three general areas that people lost access to to depict in each of the rooms. Public Spaces, Outside and in Nature, and Finally Social Events, We decided to represent Public Spaces with a public transportation themed room like a subway car, Nature will be represented by a public beach, and Social Events as a birthday party room.
Between each of the rooms will be a transition space featuring information about COVID-19 as well as QR codes that can be scanned to schedule a booster vaccine appointment.
Upon exiting the pop up, visitors will be lead into the main courtyard where they’ll have the chance to relax on the benches, and participate in murals where people can put up their own stickers with what they missed during the pandemic, giving them a place to reflect and take in what they experienced.
They will also have the opportunity to once again scan the QR code and schedule a time and place for their booster shot.
Sensory OOH
Sensory Spaces will be promoted though OOH ads similar to the general posters from the beginning of the campaign.
These advertisements are meant to capture the feeling and spirit of the rooms that visitors can experience in person at the pop-up, and will feature a QR code that they can follow for more information.
Sensory Social
Our social media campaign will revolve around five platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok–each with their own goals in how we want audiences to interact with its content.
Based on these goals, the content will be tuned to provide the correct tone in order to elicit the action we want from viewers of the content.
This AR filter was also made to help contribute to the social campaign, allowing users to celebrate getting boosted online surrounded with sparkles and the Pfizer logo radiating out from the user.
This filter will be live over TikTok and Instagram to encourage people to share their contribution to the Pfizer #ProtectProgress campaign by getting their booster.