Survivor tales to drive healthy living

Abbott's campaign uses real-life stories to convey its promise of creating breakthrough products

Global health care major Abbott’s latest campaign has taken a departure from the typical advertising where pharma companies adopt a problem-solving approach to highlight a product. Instead, the campaign titled “Life. To the fullest”, goes on to celebrate the possibilities and joy of living healthy lives. The television commercial (TVC) captures stories of triumph with first-person account of individuals overcoming personal health crises like heart attack, diabetes, vertigo and cancer.

In one frame, we see a girl with vertigo going in for bungee jumping. In another, we have cancer survivor Lisa Ray talking about leading a healthy life by adopting active lifestyle and right medication. All of the eight in the cast narrate their individual story of survival and overcoming health issues. The key message is that advancements in modern health care and breakthrough products from Abbott can help people live fuller and healthier lives.

“Helping people live healthy and full lives is why we come to work. At Abbott, we are all about helping people lead healthier, fuller lives through the power of health. Our motto — Life to the fullest — encapsulates this,” says Joshua Grace, regional marketing officer, Abbott.

He adds that the campaign is aimed at inspiring people to live life to the fullest, despite the health challenges they may face. It is an extension of Abbott’s radio campaign on similar lines last year. In 2016, the Abbott campaign showcased three persons from different walks of life doing live recording of radio advertisements while rafting through rapids, paragliding or running the Ladakh marathon, despite facing heart disease, diabetes and struggling with age-related issues.

Taking forward the message of healthy living, the TVC captures stories of unstoppable people who are getting on with and living quality lives despite health challenges. “‘Limitless possibilities, unstoppable you’ is the creative idea behind this year’s film. It captures the spirit of our cast and all the different possibilities they pursue in life. As we started to create the TVC this year, we wanted to maintain synergy with the global expression and bring it to life in a locally relevant way,” says Subhash Kamath, chief executive officer and managing partner, BBH India, which has conceptualised the campaign.

The campaign communicates Abbott’s corporate philosophy in creating breakthrough products.

The real challenge in creating the campaign was to ensure authenticity and honesty in the communication. 

“This is why we have used only real people and their stories in the making of the film itself, from the director to the entire crew to the sound engineers and the voice-over artist. Getting them all together was quite an operational challenge, but I’m glad we were able to pull it off well,” says Kamath.

Nitish Sharma, Director, Abbott

Grace adds. “Our learnings from our previous campaigns have made us increasingly more scientific and efficient with the way in which we reach and communicate with our consumers,” he says.

According to industry estimates, Abbott has revenue of over a billion dollars in India.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to be among the top three pharmaceutical markets by 2020 on the back of incremental growth, says an Indian Brand Equity Foundation report. The industry, currently valued at US $26 billion (Rs 1,669.50 billion), is expected to reach US $55 billion (Rs 3,531 billion) in the next four years.

Brand: Abbott

Budget: Rs 10 crore (estimated)

Agency: BBH India