Pfizer turns to classic movie to promote pneumonia vaccine

To promote its product Prevnar 13®, a vaccine to help prevent pneumonia, Pfizer has taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to reach target customers aged 50 or above with their new campaign.Teaming up with its creative agency Secret Tour Hong Kong, the pharmaceutical company first took the iconic Hong Kong classic from the 70s, The House of 72 Tenants(七十二家房客), with the original owner's permission, and recreated two trailers with brand messages embedded. At the end of the video, a telephone number is provided for registration for a free movie screening of the original movie to be held on 18 December.The first trailer was released last week on Apple Daily's website and went viral with over 150k views in three days. Some 100 people have registered for the movie screening.The campaign also spans across other social platforms and billboards at Sunbeam Theatre, which shows Cantonese opera.[gallery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="157492,157491"]While many seem to think senior people don't "get" social, Stephen Chung, creative partner of Secret Tour Hong Kong explained senior citizens are the fastest-growing demographic, and this campaign aims to test if the message could get across on purpose. "As we can see that many elderly people are using WeChat or WhatsApp, I think we can try to engage them on digital platforms."The video also looks to start a new wave for Hong Kong derivative works. While the local creative industry has started to recreate classic works of the olden times by mimicking the tone, costumes and dialogues, some copyright owners regard such acts as a violation of copyright laws and disrespect of original work. "This campaign demonstrate a success of balancing the interests of both parties with maximum effectiveness to arouse audience’ attention."CreditsClient: PfizerAgency: Secret Tour Hong KongCreative director: Jennifer Yip, Stephen ChungAssociate account director: Sammi ChanAssociate creative director: Shana ChoiCopywriter: Fizen Yuen, Jay NgArt director: Klif LinAccount executive: Renita LeungVideo editor: Nathan Sham