An effective digital remedy against googling health symptoms.
In 2015, CEBAM asked us to create a public awareness campaign to stop people from carelessly searching for health advice online. Our answer wasn’t just an ad, instead we unlocked a more efficient solution.
CEBAM (Belgian e-Library for Health) / Don’t google it.
DDB Brussels, 2015
We’ve all done it at some point.
Each month 1.2M Belgians search for practical health advice via Google. Unfortunately, the information they stumble upon can’t always be trusted. CEBAM wanted to warn the public of the possible risks, and nudge them towards a safer solution.
The Brief.
A simple, big brief: stop Belgians from using Google to self-diagnose. And instead steer people surfing the web for help towards safer medical advice.
The Challenge.
This brief was all about changing behaviour at scale. We set out by making people aware that what they we doing could potentially be harmful. Then we made a safe solution easy to access.
The Strategy.
The strategy consisted of alerting people of the risk they were running at the right time, and in the right place (i.e. Google). We showed them a cheeky ad which dramatised the risks of stumbling upon false health advice, and suggested a safer solution.
The Results.
The ad generated a 7% CTR compared to a 2% industry benchmark.
Traffic to the CEBAM health library rose by up to 200% in the months after the campaign.
The initiative got featured on every major news program in the country, and got millions of Belgian households talking.
