MSD raises awareness of HPV prevention with mini-movie

Biopharmaceutical company MSD has launched a zombie-themed mini-movie as part of its new HPV awareness campaign, aiming to engage men by appealing to their protective instinct towards their loved ones and themselves.

Revolving around the idea of “Guide to men’s survival” (男人生存法則), the campaign is done in collaboration with local creative agency Narrow Door. To bridge different age groups, the campaign has paired two icons from different generations: Keung To from the local boyband MIRROR and local actor Stephen Fung.

The launch video, entitled “Zombie school” (姜屍校園), is set in a high school where a zombie invasion is underway, targeting families and soon-to-be-married men. Keung plays a physical education teacher while Fung plays a security guard. They are desperate to escape and barricade themselves in a classroom, where they find time to exchange views on family, masculinity, responsibility, and the threat of HPV.

Through their light-hearted conversations, the video is scripted to encapsulate different male attitudes and awareness levels regarding HPV and head and neck cancers (HNC) (頭頸癌), which have a much higher incidence among males than females.  

In the middle of this exchange, one of the zombies – a school teacher – interjects with a comment of her own before switching back to her scary convulsions, which aims to create an unexpected comedic effect.

Shot in a cinematic style, the video tries to recall the zombie movies that have captivated worldwide audiences in recent years. It has received over 910k views, and 6.7k likes on YouTube since its launch on 8 May, a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw. The three-minute version of Zombie School also premiered on ViuTV on 8 May.

To prebuild excitement, a teaser video showing candid camera footage of Keung making zombie-like movements was purportedly leaked to the public before the campaign launch.

Meanwhile, the second video titled "Too 驚 to handle,"  which targets sexually active males, shows Keung and Fung in a bar and play drinking games with a gaggle of attractive young women. Keung is visibly ill at ease despite the attention he’s receiving, and his social caution is later vindicated when Fung reveals his own fear of HPV and HNC.

Both videos deliver a surprise towards the end that, the zombies-infested high school and the bar are revealed to be movie sets where they have just finished shooting a scene. This switch back to reality allows the duo to re-articulate the message as themselves that, men should take responsibility, by protecting themselves, and by extension their loved ones, from the threats of HPV and HNC.

Moreover, each of the stories will be supplemented by a spinoff video produced for YouTube Shorts, in which the co-stars receive a call from another character who has previously appeared – the zombified school teacher and the bartender respectively – asking for HPV-related information. This aims to deliver both informative and humorous content to engage the audience.

Apart from YouTube videos, the integrated campaign will include a HPV educational leaflet and posters made available to every clinic in Hong Kong, a renewed HPV awareness website and out-of-home (OOH) visuals.

Norris Mak, business unit director, MSD, said: “HPV and its related cancers are obviously important health issues, but male awareness of the risks is still relatively low. By bringing together Keung and Fung as co-stars, we want to establish these issues as regular talking points across different demographics, and we want to overcome the apathy by making the campaign not only educational but entertaining.”

Terry Tsang, director, Narrow Door, said: “The campaign offers a humorous take on masculinity – being a man means you resist temptations in a bar and repel attacks by zombies. But on a deeper level, it has an important message to deliver – real men protect themselves and the people they love. The cinematic impact we were able to achieve is a bonus."

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Narrow Door for more information. 

Don’t miss: MSD's new campaign adopts choose-a-storyline approach to redefine men's role in HPV prevention

Back in June last year, MSD partnered with Narrow Door to launch an innovative video campaign, aiming to define a much more proactive role for younger men in HPV prevention by emphasising what is truly at stake for them.

Featuring Keung, actresses Mandy Tam and Hazel Lam, the campaign re-articulated young men’s personal relationships as a series of pivotal decisions that could have major health implications not only for their partners but for themselves.

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