We realised that simple human contact - knowing that you’re not alone with your troubles and that someone will listen – can make a big difference in lifting depression.

However, we also know that not everyone finds it easy to start a conversation about their feelings, and it’s not always obvious when people are feeling troubled.

With that in mind, we wanted to drive conversations by creating content around acne and feeling “galau” (Indonesian slang for depressed) that teenage girls would talk about amongst themselves.

Qualitative research provided us with valuable insights. We discovered that most teenage girls in Indonesia feel messaging about acne is too preachy, with no real solution, making them feel even more depressed about the issue. They also mentioned that when they feel “galau” they like to read and watch light-hearted stuff they can chat about later with their friends.

We created a series of Garnier Pure Active comics. Three fictional teenage girls, Gina, Putri and Anggi, became the centre of a series of stories around acne. The comics were fun and gossipy. With no boring dos and don’ts around acne.

The whole series was activated through Facebook since around 90% of our target audience are regular Facebook users. To boost the appeal we also created short form 2D animation cartoons with the same characters. In the latter part of the campaign we left comic strips open for girls to fill in.

Just like our target market’s skin, the final numbers looked fantastic. Over four months more than 9 million girls read the Galau comic series, with a 29.7% engagement rate.

A whopping 400% higher than Garnier’s previous campaign. What’s more, Garnier Indonesia became the country’s most engaged fan page – miles ahead of its competitors.

The best part is Garnier not only spread the word about its acne skincare products across the whole of Indonesia, but also created a space for teenage girls to talk freely about their skin issues, helping to improve their emotional wellbeing. Results that certainly hit the spot.