SHARON HOWARD-BUTLER

Hearing voices is a disturbing symptom of schizophrenia. What is also disturbing is the social isolation that people affected by the condition can experience (those diagnosed and their families). To help build empathy and greater connection with the wider community, we created the Hearing Voices of Support initiative for our non-profit client Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America (SARDAA). We interviewed brave people affected by schizophrenia-related disorders–about their lives, voices they have heard (auditory hallucinations) and what has helped them–hearing supportive voices from real people. Then we used their video interviews in our Hearing Voices of Support art installation - a perception changing interactive light, sound and video experience. It premiered in 2016 during Schizophrenia Awareness Week in an art gallery in Tribeca, New York City. Then in 2018 we took it to Rayburn House in Washington DC. Where it, along with a briefing to Congress from some of the participants, had an impact and helped change policies around mental health. It is part of an integrated campaign that includes print advertising, social posts, an airline video, a Times Square billboard and a flash mob.

Creative Director/Writer

Creative Floor Awards - 3 x Gold Best Integrated and Best Logo Design and Best Experiential for a Charity. Ad Age Health Impact Awards - Best of Show and Gold. PM360 TrailBlazer Awards - Silver Unbranded Campaign. Finalist Consumer and Patient Education. Gold DTC Awards Experiential. Lurzer’s Archive. The Global Awards - Finalist x 3 in the Ambient, Outdoor and Logo categories. Clio Health shortlisted. Healthcare Marketer's Exchange Humanitarian Awards Nomination.

Millions of Australians were suffering from oral health problems. But most weren't doing anything about it. Mouths were being neglected.  So we worked to change that, developing a simple graphic campaign with mouths literally demanding attention. The campaign cut through the clutter and resulted in Australians having healthier mouths and GSK having a healthy increase in market share for products in their oral health portfolio.

Creative Director/Writer

The Global Awards - Global for Best Integrated Campaign.

Severe allergy sufferers were living compromised lives, resigned to settling for inadequate relief from OTC allergy treatments. They found it difficult to think straight. It was as if the energy had been sucked from them. They hadn’t considered consulting a doctor about their persistent symptoms. They didn’t know that there were prescription medicines that could provide more complete relief. Our ‘Deflated’ campaign flagged them down by tapping into how they were feeling and directed them to their doctor for the relief they needed.

Head of Copy/Writer

The Global Awards - Global Winner Best Integrated Campaign, finalist x 2 in other categories. IPA Best of Health Awards - Bronze x 4 + a special award for Best Use of Photography, AWARD awards x 2 Craft.

By 2035, the number of of people over 65 will outnumber children for the first time in US history. As aging is inevitable and just a part of life, we wanted to create a movement that would help connect people in the 55+ age-group and celebrate aging with attitude. We did that largely through a social media campaign. At the same time we collected data that would help our start-up client develop products to enhance their lives.

Creative Director/Writer

With antihistamines being available over-the-counter in pharmacies, competitor brands had not been advertising to doctors. We saw this as an opportunity. 

This simple cut-through campaign in doctor journals helped Aerius become the antihistamine they recommended when other antihistamine options weren't cutting it. 

Creative Director/Writer

Recognized at shows including the The Global Awards and The Rx Show.

It can take nearly four times as long to find a home for special needs cats, senior cats and black cats vs regular cats. This puts them at risk of being put down. As we all know despite the rumors to the contrary, cats only have live once (COLO).

Best Friends is a no kill shelter, they take as many hard to adopt cats on as they can to save lives. Ultimately though they need to find them homes.

To help with this we developed a series of videos, each starring a different less adopted cat type connecting with their forever human.

The campaign resulted in an increase in adoption rates at Best Friends and other shelters across the US.

Meaningful, as a 10% increase in adoption rates across the US represents 280,000 cat lives.

Creative Director/Writer

We wanted to create a really memorable link between K-Y Personal Lubricant and what it's used for. No embarrassment. No awkwardness. Just fun. The campaign was developed for healthcare professionals, and later rolled out to consumer audiences.  It was simple, memorable, popular and effective, resulting in a significant increase in recommendations and sales. 

Writer

New York Advertising Festivals - Finalist.  Australian Direct Marketing Awards (ADMA) - Bronze x 3

Schizophrenia is a difficult diagnosis. Having a family member or other carer stick by you if you're diagnosed, and a strong support network can significantly assist with a positive outcome. But to provide support carers need to be informed. Research found carers had trouble accessing reliable information on the condition, treatment options and the support services available - they felt like they were fumbling in the dark. To address this we developed a resources website, and drove people to it through our 'Don't be left in the dark' campaign which included experiential night installations, posters, leaflets, digital ads and social media.

Creative Director/Writer

PR Week Asia Awards - Gold. IPA Best of Health Awards - Bronze x 2.  The Global Awards - Global Best Integrated Campaign.

People expect more from hospitals. More in terms of medical excellence, clinical research, patient care and community support.

Montefiore is famous for delivering this in the Bronx. 

We needed to make sure this was known in the communities they were expanding into - Westchester and the Hudson Valley.

So we developed a campaign that showcased their state-of -the-art offering - their history of world and US firsts in medicine and patient care, their centers of excellence and their U.S. News ranking as one of the nation’s top hospital - as works of art in a gallery setting.

Through the opening and closing 3D sculptures, we reinforced that Montefiore has always delivered and continues to deliver on the word embedded in their name: MORE.

TV: Creative Director/Writer

Site, digital, social, outdoor: Creative Director

The combination of a strong Australian dollar and low airfares meant more Australians were travelling overseas. But, while the percentage of the population travelling had gone up, the percentage of travellers being vaccinated had dropped. Our ‘Critters’ campaign alerted travellers to the risk of contracting a disease overseas even if they were staying in a resort - one star or five stars the risk is still there. The campaign sent people flying in to see their doctor for travel advice before flying overseas, and resulted in an increase in the administration of typhoid and cholera vaccinations.

Head of Copy/Writer: 'Cocktail critters' and 'Toothbrush critters'

Creative Director/Writer: 'Chopsticks critters'

Lions Health - Bronze Lion and shortlisted x 5. The Global Awards -Global winner in 2 categories. Best of Bravo Award. IPA Best of Health Awards - Bronze x 4

Some people get more distressed than others when allergy symptoms strike. It can make them less then their normal selves - with their breathing constricted. Aerius has the advantage over many other antihistamines of providing relief through the whole day and into the next morning. Our featured woman starts off with a woolly head – on taking Aerius the knitted covering over her head slowly unravels to free her so that she can breathe, think, and see clearly again.

Writer

Recognised at shows including The Global Awards and Rx Awards..

Medication non-adherence has reached crisis levels in America. It causes nearly 125,000 deaths, 10 percent of hospitalizations and costs the already strained healthcare system between $100 billion and $289 billion a year.*

HAP innovations (HAPi) wanted to address this by developing a new type of pill-dispensing platform.

HAPi brought us in early in the development process.

While they developed the technology, we created a brand humanizing it to make it more accessible. I came up with the name spencer (relevant and humanizing) and then worked with my team to develop spencer’s personality, facial emoticon, expressions, and voice, bringing warmth to a complex interchange of data, communications, and medication.

Spencer became the world’s first and only at-home medication dispensing smart hub.

The spencer SmartHub™ is companion-like prompting patients to take their pills at the correct time and connecting them to their care teams.

The result? Better patient support, engagement, and higher medication adherence 97% vs US average of 50%.

Creative Director

PM Trailblazer Award Gold App/Digital Solution or Suite

2017 Caregiver Friendly Product Award by Today’s Caregiver™ Magazine

*The Cost of Medical Non-Adherences, Annals of Internal Medicine 2017

We’d helped make Claratyne (loratadine) the number 1 antihistamine in Australia and New Zealand though our “Nick the Gnome” campaign.

Next challenge was to launch Claramax (desloratadine), even more potent than Claratyne (loratadine), in New Zealand.

We needed to position it as the most effective antihistamine option.

We did that through this quirky spot 'Linemarker'. There's regular allergy relief. But if you need allergy relief to the max, get Claramax.

Writer

The Global Awards: Grand Global, Best Consumer Healthcare Ad in the World 2002.

An unplanned pregnancy can be difficult to deal with. Having someone to talk can make it easier for you to assess your situation and think through your options. Pregnancy Help has trained counsellors ready to take calls and a website with information and useful links. We ran a campaign to make women aware of this service in Australian cinemas. The posters appeared on the back of toilet cubicle doors with decals on the mirrors in women's restrooms. There were also Advant Cards in the cinema foyer.

Creative Director/Writer

We needed a campaign that would drive advertising creatives and clients to see our panel “Making Health Tech Human" at Lions Health. 

The presentation would be partly delivered by a chatbot that we called docbot. So we used docbot to entertain by providing answers to "medical" (physical and mental health) questions related to the Cannes Lions Festival event.

This was applied to brochures, posters, social posts, a video and the presentation itself. 

Creative Director

Graphis Awards - Silver.

Working mums are still often the ones who take on the additional role of managing the family. So when mum gets ill with a cold or flu, everything can seem out of kilter. It's as if the household has been turned upside down. We brought this to life in a TV commercial through a combination of practical and GCI effects. It was disruptive for the category, so cut through and helped Demazin packs jump of shelves and into the hands of cold and flu sufferers.

Head of Copy/Writer

The Global Awards - Finalist. Rx Award Show - Finalist.

In acute coronary syndrome, failing to adhere to medication can cause a second heart attack and even death.

While most doctors saw the sense in prescribing a combination heart medication to help reduce the risk, some didn't see the urgent need to switch patients immediately. 

We dialled up the urgency by highlighting the potentially dire consequences holding off on ensuring the added protection.

Head of Copy/Writer

Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the gut to the anus.

It can be extremely painful, disruptive and debilitating. Yet many of those affected say that getting it under control has given them a sense of purpose and direction.

We took the time to get to know some patients and then used their inspirational stories in this campaign. Each person shared how their choice of anti-TNF was allowing them to take ownership of Crohn’s disease and stay well so they can live the life they want.

Head of Copy/Writer

Finalist at The Global Awards.

The childhood immunisation schedule is not necessarily top-of-mind when you have a new baby. Yet ensuring your child has the right immunisations at the right time is important. It protects them, your family and the community from disease. So to help ensure parents keep track of immunisations we designed an app that would prompt them to make an appointment with their doctor when their baby’s next shot was due, with a distraction game to take the focus off the injection. We promoted the app to health professionals and new parents through campaign and digital campaign.  The launch of the Vaximate app was so successful in Australia it has now available in other countries.

Head of Copy/Writer

The Global Awards - Finalist Integrated Campaign.

Working in healthcare has meant I've become familiar with both the pharma and farmer world. 

This TV Spot for Fastac, a pasture insecticide that kills red-legged earth mites and pasture cockchaffers, had a minuscule budget. But we had a big idea. And a client with a sense of humour.

It was the first time I entered my work into Cannes Lions. 

I was so certain it had a chance I covered half the entry cost. Entering Cannes Lions was also a first for the agency I was working for.

And it was shortlisted.

It was a winner for the client too with a big increase in sales.

Writer

Cannes Lions - Shortlisted. New York Festivals - Silver World Medal.

Contrary to popular belief, cats don't have nine lives.

In fact, for abandoned felines, defending their one life is a daily struggle—fighting off contagious diseases, parasite infestations, exposure, poisoning and attacks by predators. Of those lucky enough to end up in adoption shelters, nearly 1 million cats and kittens are euthanized each year in the United States.

So how could we address this public health crisis within the animal kingdom? By creating Cat Rap, of course.

This short film and social campaign reminded humans that, like them, cats only live once. Driving them, beat-after-beat, to adopt cats from one of the nationwide Best Friends shelters.

Utilizing music, our rap combined some of social media's favorite pastimes–cats and hip-hop. So the more people heard Cat Rap, the more they knew that the story of cats having nine lives is a load of crap.

Because C-O-L-O–Cats Only Live Once.
Not surprisingly, our social video went viral immediately with 10,000 organic views on the first day.

In less than two weeks, we saw more than 50,000 views. And 70,000 impressions.

The video has been retweeted, shared and liked on Best Friends national postings and its regional pages. And The Cat Rap has been picked up and re-posted by the nation's top cat behaviorist, Jackson Galaxy.

Creative Director/Writer

Awards: Winner Creative Floor Awards, Silver Telly Awards, Bronze PM 360 Pharma Choice Awards, Shortlisted at the Shorty Social, Shorty Awards and Global Awards

Red Cross needed more volunteers. Volunteers are the life blood of the operation, providing critical services such as organization of blood drives, smoke alarm installation to prevent fires and death from fires, and disaster relief. We were briefed to produce videos to assist with recruitment by appealing to people in a direct and visceral way. Our idea was to create thank you videos directed at the viewer for something they haven’t done yet but could as a future volunteer and a future hero. The videos have recently been uploaded to the Red Cross New Jersey site–social campaign and PSA placements to follow.

Writer/Creative Director

Wheat and barley crop growers were aware that they should be rotating herbicides. But many chose not too. Instead they were using an inexpensive herbicide continuously with the intention of saving money. Short-sighted, because the cost of herbicide resistance that could occur as a result could be devastating. We showed this through a highly visual campaign about the importance of rotating between their inexpensive herbicide and our client’s advanced herbicide, Boxer Gold. Doing anything else would be reckless–it means they’d be gambling with their livelihoods.

Writer

Our client, Medical Observer, was giving doctors the opportunity to win Bose sound systems.

We developed a campaign that highlighted the nature of the prize using some big names in the musical world. 

The ads grabbed the attention of doctors. The promotion was a resounding success.

Writer