ECTOR THE PROTECTOR BEAR

TitleECTOR THE PROTECTOR BEAR
BrandROCHE
Product/ServiceNO-SMOKING CAMPAIGN
Category A02. Applied Innovation
Entrant INTEGER Milan, ITALY
Idea Creation INTEGER Milan, ITALY
Production INTEGER Milan, ITALY
Credits
Name Company Position
Nicola Lampugnani Integer Milan Chief Creative Officer
Gina Ridenti Integer Milan Chief Creative Officer
Hugo Gallardo Integer Milan Chief Creative Officer
Mirco Pagano Integer Milan Creative Director
Federica Facchini Integer Milan Art Director
Giulia Trimarchi Integer Milan Art Director
Andrea Pinca Integer Milan Copywriter
Luana Contu Integer Milan Junior Copywriter
Vaida Kentraite Integer Milan Account Manager
Barbara Trivella Integer Milan Head of Production
Fabio Bellifemine Integer Milan Producer
Bernardo Gamucci The FabLab Partner
Davide Andenna The FabLab Technology Engineer

Why is this work relevant for Innovation?

Ector is more than just a teddy bear. For the first time, a concrete tool of prevention has joined the homes of Italian families in order to protect their little ones. Designed to grow up with children, Ector is a first step to make a smoke-free generation possible.

Background

In Italy there is still no law that forbids smoking in public areas. Even in front of children. This is probably one of the reasons why World Health Organization says that in Italy 52% of children – at the age of 2 - are regularly exposed to passive smoking. To tackle this issue, Roche – world’s largest biotech company – wanted to help the unprotected ones by drawing attention to the problem of smoking in our country and by providing a concrete tool of self-defence. If children understand how dangerous is smoking, they will have less chances of becoming smokers in the future.

Describe the idea

Often when a smoker lights up a cigarette, he/she does not pay attention to what surrounds him or her. In order to draw attention to the problem of smoking, Roche presented Ector The Protector Bear: the first toy that protects children from smoke. Ector coughs when exposed to cigarette smoke. In this way Ector discourages smokers, notifies parents and educates children to stay away from the risks of smoking.

What were the key dates in the development process?

Ector has been presented on May 31st 2017, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. A live press conference at Centro Svizzero in Milan - on May 25th – anticipated its online debut on the website ectortheprotector.com where all the information about Ector and the risks of smoking were presented. People visiting this website were able to register and book one of the 1000 no-smoking teddy bears available as a gift in order to protect their little ones. Starting from November 2017, a month dedicated to pulmonary hypertension, the deliveries began for all those who booked online and Ector started joined the Italian homes of the unprotected ones.

Describe the innovation/technology

Ector coughs every time when exposed to cigarette smoke thanks to an internal detector connected to an audio device. Its technological system monitors the Co2 values and other combustion residuals, updating every 20 seconds and signaling the peaks on the average of the surrounding enironment. If the average of the values is above the limit, Ector will cough twice for about 3 seconds. Ector is powered by 4 AA batteris, replaceable each time they are discharged. In order to protect children in every situation, two modes of usage have been set up: INDOOR for a closed environment such as a room and OUTDOOR for an open-air situations. The difference of the two modes is in the ability to detect the presence of smoke close to the teddy bear and the volume of its coughing. Ector is washable. The design of Ector has been finalized thanks to a collaboration with Trudi, the most famous Italian soft toys brand.

Describe the expectations/outcome

- 1000 Ectors booked in the first 72 hours. - #ectortheprotector became a trending topic on Twitter. - More than 190 articles across Europe. - A dedicated petition on change.org. - Ector has been presented at the European Parliament in Brussels. The website ectortheprotector.com had 27k unique visitors from over 30 different countries. On average users visited 3 pages and spent 2 minutes per session.