Cigna's Global 360 Wellbeing Survey indicates that 87% of the world is stressed. On top of that, The World Health Organisation believes that chronic stress is a leading cause of 41 million preventable deaths per year - due to the physical effects stress has on the body. The problem is that the signs of physical stress are often invisible until they become chronic, making it difficult for people to act on something they can't see.

We were tasked with creating a public service announcement, launching a global ‘Stress Care’ Platform for Cigna’s international markets. With low brand awareness in many of these markets, our PSA needed to cut through category noise, and starkly contrast with predictable health insurance campaigns that are regularly based on fear mongering.

Cigna's global 360 Wellbeing Survey indicates that 87% of the world is stressed. On top of that, The World Health Organisation believes that chronic stress is a leading cause of 41 million preventable deaths per year - due to the physical effects stress has on the body. The problem is that the signs of physical stress are often invisible until they become chronic, making it difficult for people to act on something they can't see. As a "partner in wellness" that prides itself in promoting proactive wellcare, Cigna challenged itself to make the invisible, unmissable... Working closely with doctors, technologists, and 3D artists, we developed Stress Portraits - The World's First Stress Visualisation Experience. The experience transforms an individual's biometric data into a stunning real-time portrait of stress affecting their body, at that very moment.

Over a nine-month journey, we created technology that visualizes biometric ‘stress’ data as unforgettable, real-time 3D motion portraits. The key challenge was creating the tech that could gather data in real-time and project it back uniquely to each individual. First, we did extensive medical research to identify three strings of biometric data that best interpret stress in the body accurately and in real-time with minimal delay. But presenting real-time data as numbers and graphs would not be engaging or emotive enough to bring action. So we then developed a striking motion art style inspired by ever-changing natural elements such as smoke, water and wind. Each effect was triggered and manipulated by the real-time data feeding into the algorithm. Colour and turbulence are affected by brainwaves. Sparks and flashes are affected by skin conductivity. Flashes and lightness are affected by heart-rate variation.

Over a nine-month journey, we created technology that visualizes biometric ‘stress’ data as unforgettable, real-time 3D motion portraits. The key challenge was creating the tech. First, we identified three strings of biometric data to interpret stress in the body accurately. We then developed a striking motion art style inspired by ever-changing natural elements. Finally, we developed bespoke software, driven by 3D engines and enabled by a custom-built render farm, with dozens of pieces of custom hardware fitting into a shoebox-sized, plug-and-play kit. Each individual’s stress readings dictate the colour formations, turbulence and live visual effects, with each portrait consisting of 20 million uniquely settling particles in 36,000 live-rendered frames per second. So far, the tech has toured four continents — helping thousands of people around the world visualise their stress for the very first time. We created supporting PSA-style B2B and B2C digital campaigns using the stress visualisations, featuring interactive film content tailored to both audiences in each market, an online stress test with digital stress portraits, and behind the scenes film content to amplify the story and medical credibility of our technology. At all touch points, participants are offered doctor-approved stress care advice tailored to their stress levels, together with Cigna-formulated tools to help them take control.

- US$26M+ IN EARNED MEDIA VALUE

- OVER 150,000 UNIQUE PORTRAITS GENERATED SO FAR AT TIME OF ENTRY

- 187% INCREASE IN VISITS TO CIGNA.COM COMPARED TO THE YEAR BEFORE

- OVER 2.5 MILLION UNIQUE VISITS TO THE CIGNA STRESS CARE HUB AT TIME OF ENTRY