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At the heart of our campaign was a pair of films created for distribution on social channels and which also ran as digital outdoor posters. The films were shot to parody a shampoo and face cleansing commercial that goes horribly wrong when the models smile and show their horribly diseased gums.

We worked with Fangs FX, a special effects team who are experts in specialised prosthetic facial effects for film, to create innovative, highly realistic gum diseased mouths for our models. We also employed high speed film techniques to capture the style typically seen in beauty ads to draw the audience in and then shock them with the reality of gum disease.

The campaign films we deployed as digital billboards and also on social media channels. To enhance the sharing of our campaign content on social media, we also created ‘mouth cards’ that we handed out to the public. The mouth cards, which hung from the nose, showed mouths in various stages of gum disease so people could see for themselves the effect of gum disease on their smiles. People were encouraged to take a “mouthie” and share across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #howsyoursmile.

The campaign was launched on Gum Disease Awareness Day, when we targeted shoppers at Westfield shopping centre in London. Here a team of dentists distributed hundreds of mouth cards, and we hired space on a giant digital billboard which featured a live social media wall of all ‘mouthies’ using #howsyoursmile.

Total organic reach across Facebook and Twitter was 4.3 million (330% increase vs target).

Changed attitudes to gum disease and raised awareness of the signs and symptoms among the general public:

– Total organic reach across Facebook and Twitter was 4.3 million (330% increase vs target)

– Twitter received 1,121 total #Howsyoursmile mentions

Altered the general public’s perception of gum disease and jolted them to realise that it should not be ignored:

– Over 6,000 unique visitors to campaign website (20% increase vs target)

– 200% increase in Facebook Page Likes for the charity during the campaign

Target audience helped spread our message organically by sharing content on social media:

– 14,606 shares (192% increase vs target), 853,275 views (4166% increase vs target) and a reach of 2,501,785 for all videos combined on Facebook

– Engagement from high profile health industry organisations and figures including Public Health England, NHS England, The BDA, GSK and Hugh Pym (BBC News Health Editor)

Our strategy for reaching our target audience was to produce creative content and deliver it innovatively: 

• Leverage people’s interest in the aesthetics of oral health by depicting the impact that gum disease has on people’s smiles.

• Create and distribute distinctive content, including films and mouth cards, that can be easily shared on social media and bring to life in a shocking way the harsh impact of gum disease on people’s appearance.

• Encourage people to share and amplify our content further by partnering with health industry organisations and dental professionals.

• Use Gum Disease Awareness Day to immerse the target audience in a memorable live experience by handing out mouth cards and showing people’s shared photos on a live giant digital display.

Our campaign was based on a shocking fact: an estimated 83% of people in the UK show signs gum disease and yet awareness of the signs and symptoms are very low.

The condition is under the radar but causes significant suffering and psychosocial impact. In fact, it is known in the dental profession as the ‘silent disease’ as patients are often unaware they have periodontal disease. Capturing the attention and interest of the public about gum disease is a challenge and demands a strong and unique creative solution.

The funds available were limited as this was a charity campagin, however, the ambition and target was high – to reach more than 1 million people in the UK with our campaign message ‘Don’t let gum disease wipe the smile off your face’.