wild to mild

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the CHALLENGE

As the CDC entered a post-pandemic world, it faced a clear challenge: vaccine skepticism had risen sharply following the politicization of COVID-19, even as the need to promote vaccination for public health remained critical. Increased scrutiny meant vaccine messaging had to evolve.

A key hurdle was the widespread belief that flu vaccines exist solely to prevent infection, rather than to reduce severity, hospitalizations, and serious outcomes while supporting herd immunity. To address this, we developed a campaign that clarified the reality that vaccines can take flu from wild (dangerous) to mild (manageable). using striking contrasts between intimidating creatures and their harmless, often endearing counterparts to make the message accessible and memorable.

the Work

Though typically quite gunshy with more bold, or outgoing campaigns our stakeholders at CDC immediately understood the appeal of adjusting messaging this way. We ran a full year of iterations on this campaign in social, radio, print and digital formats. The reaction was significant; it was received very well by audiences, our stakeholders at CDC, and attained major coverage in the press [The Today Show, CBS Mornings, New York Times, etc]. An extension/expansion of the campaign was ordered, including targeted metro station takeovers and train wraps. The campaign carried forward another year, only concluding as the department leadership changed hands in 2025.