SANOFI · UNBRANDED FLU VACCINE

How do you encourage getting vaccinated when fear stops working?

After years of pandemic-era health alerts, one more warning was easy to tune out. The strategy used comedic surprise to help flu vaccination regain attention.

THE PROBLEM

After pandemic years of health alarms, one more fear message was easy to tune out.

THE MOVE

Surprise instead of urgency: Jason Alexander as a pastel-suited guardian against life’s smaller ambushes.

THE RECEIPT

1.8B+ reported key-message reach; 25M social impressions.

ROLE

SVP, Strategy & Planning · Weber Shandwick

REMIT

Senior lead of the strategic planning process, including: · Brand strategy · Creative strategy · Comms planning

DIRECT CONTRIBUTION

Led Phase I and II discovery & research · Authored the insight and strategic approach · Led creative briefings

THE PROBLEM BEHIND THE PROBLEM

Fear stopped working.

Flu was already easy to minimize. The research found that 73% of Americans underestimated flu-related deaths, while COVID dominated the larger vaccine conversation and pushed flu further out of view.

The category’s familiar response was another urgent warning. Pandemic-era information overload had changed the receiving end: people had spent years processing high-stakes health messages, and more fear was increasingly easy to miss.

73%

Underestimated flu-related deaths in the cited research

14M

Overall vaccine mentions in 18 months of social listening

133K

Flu mentions inside that same conversation

THE SPARK

The audience’s attention was overloaded.

“Our brains can’t handle any more fear-based messages — literally.”

THE CREATIVE BRIEF LANGUAGE

The audience wasn’t ignoring flu warnings out of carelessness. They had run out of room for one more alarm.

THE CONNECTION

The strategic approach focused on people who minimized the flu after years of intense health messaging. Surprise could interrupt the pattern without diluting the stakes. Humor gave the health action a new entrance.

Unexpected beats urgent.

HOW IT CAME TO LIFE

A reluctant guardian for ordinary days.

The wider team turned the strategy into Not Today, Flu. Jason Alexander appeared as a pastel-suited protector, stepping in against life’s smaller ambushes before reminding people that a flu shot can help protect against much more serious complications.

Sanofi and the American Nurses Association launched the national campaign on September 14, 2022. Film, a campaign site, social content, interviews, and vaccination-location links carried the idea from attention to a practical next step.