Title | CURIOSITY HUB |
Brand | MERCK |
Product/Service | #CATCHCURIOUS INITIATIVE |
Category |
B10. Use of Digital Platforms |
Entrant
|
FORK UNSTABLE MEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
|
Idea Creation
|
FORK UNSTABLE MEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
|
Credits
Paul Taggart, Roman Hilmer |
Fork Unstable Media & fischerAppelt |
Creative Direction |
Paul Taggart, Roman Hilmer, Markus Gropper |
Fork Unstable Media & fischerAppelt |
Concept |
René Zimmermann |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Art Direction |
René Zimmermann, Nika Maack, Paula Pop |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Designer |
René Zimmermann, Tilo Göbel |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Illustrator |
René Zimmermann, Tilo Göbel, Michael Fuchs |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Animation |
Anika Bury, Stefanie Voß, Carl-Jochen Reinhardt, Max Kuhn |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Project Manager |
Dr. Angela Harre |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Media Planning |
Lennart Wegner |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Strategy |
Catherine Hoffmann, Fabian von Appen |
Fork Unstable Media & fischerAppelt |
Influencer Relations |
Eileen Piskorz, Lu Sophie Sommer |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
PR Manager |
Maurice Hoffmann, Markus Gropper |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
UX Designer |
Matt Harrop |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Design Supervision |
Paul Taggart, Roman Hilmer, Markus Gropper |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Texter |
Olaf Twesten, Leonard Techel, Bastian Nuss |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Programming |
Siegfried Förster, Uwe Holland |
Fork Unstable Media, fischerAppelt |
Technical Project Manager |
The Campaign
“If science is so exciting, why must it look so dull?”. Reaffirming this key insight from the brand’s corporate identity, the Curiosity Hub transformed the findings of Merck’s curiosity report into a series of vibrant experiences, digital interactions, and scientific editorial content. The platform induces curiosity via features, communication and visuals, which raise questions, incite inquisitiveness and whet appetites for more. Combining these key campaign elements, the Curiosity Hub helped to infect audiences and spread the #catchcurious message.
Creative Execution
The platform uses a vibrant visual language to whet the appetite of curious visitors. A self-test takes users on a vivid 3D journey to generate personal curiosity profiles. Plus, curiosity expert Dr. Carl Naughton invites users to crack the “Curiosity Code” as part of a mysterious interactive film. Articles, films, infographics, and interviews with leading curiosity experts complete the responsive, multilingual site.
Content developed for the platform was optimized for Merck’s intranet and social media channels. This allowed the brand to quickly activate both internal and external influencer networks to maximize reach across relevant business channels.
From concept to initial launch, in both English and German language, the Curiosity Hub required a 5-month development phase. The platform was launched in five additional languages (Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese) by the end of 2016.
Since its launch, the site has been updated regularly with new articles, interviews, and interactive content.
The engaging mixture of scientific data and interactive digital experiences paid off. In its first five months, the Curiosity Hub amassed 3.2 million page views from 1.6 million unique B2B visitors. Self-test participants spent an average 4.5 minutes interacting with the vibrant, 3D feature – helping to generate over 50,000 curiosity profiles.
Much of the hub’s success can be attributed to its associated media strategy, which helped spread the message globally via
400m ad impressions
19.5m video views
5.56m likes, comments and shares
42.2m users reached via influencer content
Extremely efficient €0.52 average cost per click
The hub (and the overlying #catchcurious campaign) has helped raise Merck’s profile markedly among science and technology audiences. Its combination of interactions and experiences make curiosity both inspirational and aspirational.
The Curiosity Hub is the online home to the #catchcurious campaign; a global initiative promoting increased curiosity among science and technology audiences. At the heart of all campaign activities, the hub centralizes and harnesses the traffic generated via paid, earned, and owned media activities. An international network of science-based influencers helped amplify the campaign message across social and professional networks while simultaneously resulting in content and features that were later supported with paid media. This approach helped Merck maximize exposure for its first ever brand campaign in the firm’s 350-year history.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea
Breakthroughs (in science and technology) begin with curiosity. With this insight, our strategic goal focused on the creation of a discovery-driven platform to really stir the curiosity of visitors, making their interaction with the overlying campaign both rewarding and entertaining.
Harnessing the power of an inspirational and, at times, provocative campaign narrative, we aimed to empower and activate B2B audiences, which included Merck clients, innovation and academic partners.
Forge long-term cooperations with a global network of respected science and technology opinion leaders to amplify the campaign message and drive relevant audiences to the platform.
Achieve a global industry benchmark via a digital-first approach, favoring online and social advertising over traditional media. Achieve maximum efficiency via the creation of self-sufficient content flanked by additional media spends.