Cigna set out to make people see stress differently. But the deadly side of stress is that the physical signs are in visible until it becomes chronic physical illness. And because people can't see the symptoms they don't act in a preventative manner. We created a breakthrough technology to access individuals real-time Biometric Data and transform it into a stunning portrait of their stress manifesting in their body at that particular moment- a medical first. Without the use of this data at the heart of this idea, the world would still not be able to see their stress and act.

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.

The physical effects of Chronic Stress are deadly. They are also invisible to see until it manifests into serious illness. So how are people supposed to act on something so serious, if they cannot see the early signs affecting the body? As a Healthcare company that prides itself on pro-active wellcare, Cigna challenged us 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. Each stunning 4K, 2 million particles, 36,000 frames per second portrait could be printed, emailed, and shared on social media, with aim of starting a conversation around physical stress and inspiring people to act on their stress at Cigna’s free Stress Care hub.

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.

For the first time, we had managed to bring three vital biodata metrics together to paint a stunning image of their stress in realtime. The big problem was, we needed this technology to be portable so it could travel to key markets and work for hours on end, whilst also printing and sharing portraits virtually to individuals after completion via a bespoke email. To do this we developed bespoke software, driven by 3D engines and enabled by a in-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. 10 kits have been built and have so far toured 12 of the most stressed places around the world (based on Cigna’s Annual Global Wellbeing Survey).

- 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