OCD has become a term people throw into conversations to describe anyone who is orderly. The International OCD Foundation wants to take it back. Ogilvy Denmark and Grey Health & Wellness EMEA have hacked GIPHY in a campaign, Escape The Loop, to do that (and gain US$207,630.50 in earned media with zero media spend in the process).
OCD is not just a quirky personality trait, like that of Monica in FRIENDS, Sheldon in Big Bang Theory or in Khloe Kardashian’s series KHLO-C-D. In reality, OCD is a clinically recognised mental health disorder that affects 1-2% of the population. It can be highly debilitating and worsen over time, and must be taken seriously, starting at a young age.
People with OCD experience intensely negative, repetitive, and intrusive thoughts (obsessions) combined with a chronic feeling of doubt or danger. In order to quell these thoughts and quieten the anxiety, those with OCD will often repeat an action, again and again.
The campaign aims to change the stereotyped perception around the OCD term, and to help suffering youths break the vicious cycle at an early stage.
“We wanted the youths to start taking their symptoms seriously and not dismiss them as quaint personality traits. This called for a creative approach that would speak directly to them in a safe space,” stated Camilla Ploug, creative director, Ogilvy Denmark.
In the past decade, there’s has been an explosion in the use of GIFs – especially among Gen Z. They navigate their moods and anxieties and by relying on visually centric communication tools like GIFs, sharing these to express their emotions. GIPHY now boasts 700 million daily active users who communicate through more than 10 billion GIFs every day. And it is the perfect platform for creating awareness around the illness, not least because GIFs in their essence are repetitive loops.
While most uploads on GIPHY are in fact GIFs, it’s possible to upload short MP4 videos. And this was a game changer, because it enabled the creation of longer narratives starting with repeating actions as any GIF would, but then unfolding with the campaign message – showing that there is a way out of the vicious loop of OCD.
Over 50 small films were developed, flooding GIPHY with situations covering the most typical compulsive actions, such as opening and closing a door, aligning things, checking that the stove is off, and excessive counting. Keeping in mind that content found on GIPHY often comes from movies and series, the video formats are created to fit naturally into this style and tonality – with a cinematic and dimmed look referencing filmic styles and staying true to the seriousness of the subject matter.
All loops linked to a campaign site to educate teens about signs of OCD, as well directing them to local helplines via geo-targeting. Each GIF was tagged with relevant search terms, which allowed the message appear in thousands of daily searches on GIPHY.
