|Articles|March 1, 2009

Pharmaceutical Executive

  • Pharmaceutical Executive-03-01-2009
  • Volume 0
  • Issue 0

TBWA\WorldHealth for Schering-Plough's NuvaRing

Author(s)Brittany Agro

"Tired of your old birth-control routine?" the spot asks. "Maybe it's time to break free from the pack with NuvaRing."

BREAK FREE FROM THE PACK

TBWA/WorldHealth

BRAND NuvaRing CLIENT Schering-Plough CLOCKWISE FROM FRONT LEFT: Leticia Freytes, account executive; Matthew Damron, group account director; Leo Zanis, associate creative director; Gary Scheiner, executive creative director; Cristin Ryan, account director; Anne Devereux, chairman and CEO

"Tired of your old birth-control routine?" the spot asks. "Maybe it's time to break free from the pack with NuvaRing."

Schering-Plough's DTC ad "Break Free from the Pack" presented a platform built on disruption—not one of pharma's favorite themes. "Disruption is a scary word, but it doesn't necessarily have to be scary or mean crazy," says Gary Scheiner, executive creative director and main writer, TBWA/WorldHealth. "Disruption is merely a way of dismantling the status quo and replacing it with something bold and new."

Working together, client and agency decided on a big, disruptive idea. They were inspired by the work of 1930s film director Busby Berkeley, who is best known for elaborate synchronized dance routines on stage and in water.

TBWA/WorldHealth worked with world-renowned fashion photographer Matthew Rolston to add beautiful staging and tell the NuvaRing story. Identically clad swimmers communicated the monotonous routine of taking oral contraceptives by chanting the original song "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..." When the heroine realizes she can break from the routine, she steps out of the pool, tears the day off her chest, and becomes the modern woman who chooses NuvaRing.

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