Karma Chameleon

Everybody loves animals. It's undeniable. Cute critters sell all sorts of things. From insurance to batteries to soda pop. It's a staple of pharmaceutical advertising as well. But I wouldn't just use one as a mascot for no real logical reason. It's gotta be a metaphor that makes sense strategically and it's gotta be made own able to the brand somehow, someway.

United Therapeutics came to us with a boutique shop style challenge. They were going to market research in less than a week. And they only liked one of the many that the incumbent agency presented. We had a chance to quickly concept, zip down to Carolina to present/pitch on the fly, and finalize for testing. And personally, I was in a bind because I had to take my kids on a Cub Scouts camping trip that weekend.

I remember sitting in a bunk with a headlamp on while my kids slept and jotting down ideas on an old-fashioned yellow notepad. That's how the ORENITRAM chameleon campaign was born.

I instantly texted the idea to my art partner knowing that it was a winner. He brought it to life magically with the colors and circles from the logo forming the patterns of his skin. We actually struggled to sell it in-house because Calcium leadership was concerned about becoming "the critter company." We already had a bunch of them decorating our walls, but in this case it's strategic link was undeniable. The key differentiator for the brand was all about titration to individualize dosing for patients since the soon to be launched competitor had a dose ceiling. Individualization = adaptation = chameleon = lots of awards, including the bronze Clio that you see the video submission for above.

This campaign was the intellectual property of Calcium USA and United Therapeutics.