GPGE

Crohn's disease in children is difficult to detect. The symptoms are diffuse, children often cannot articulate them – and parents and doctors alike miss the signs. The GPGE wanted to raise awareness that children's descriptions of stomach pain should be taken seriously – as possible indicators of conditions like Crohn's disease.

Children describe pain differently from adults. "There's something burning in my tummy." We took these childlike descriptions literally – and turned them into powerful visuals.

The printed campaign motif shows what happens inside a child's stomach when no one listens closely – comic explosions as a visual language for what children feel but cannot name. Distributed to doctors, associations and health insurers.

For out-of-home, we took it one step further: the printed motif became an animated CityLight poster that made the burning child's stomach physically tangible. Inside the stomach of a black silhouette, real animated flames flicker – realised through the combination of animated ELON posters and precise background masking that utilised the CityLight neon tubes to illuminate the contours of the child's body.

The result: a motif that was impossible to overlook. No tagline, no disruptor – the poster itself was the message.

The animated posters were placed at the University of Hamburg and in public spaces. The technical production was handled by ELON Technologies from Prague, the outdoor spaces by JCDecaux Hamburg.

The result: a motif that was impossible to overlook. No tagline, no disruptor – the poster itself was the message. Developed pro bono at M.E.C.H. / McCann Berlin.

GWA Production Award 2010: Bronze. The most prestigious German award for outstanding production in the communications industry, presented in Frankfurt.

Concept and copy in the creative team with Art Director Nicolas Höfer at M.E.C.H. / McCann Berlin.