EXPERIENCE STORIES
Symbicort / W2O
Taking the creative lead on a high-profile global pitch and giving the teams confidence to push beyond the expected.
How I worked here
Step into ambiguity · Evidence before answer · Pushes with purpose · Backs what matter · Builds creative confidence
The situation
I returned to W2O as senior creative cover just as a global Symbicort pitch landed in the London office.
The pitch would support the treatment’s relaunch after it gained an important new indication. When the recently appointed Creative Director unexpectedly went on leave, I was asked to take the creative lead while continuing the work I had originally been brought in to handle.
Over the following week and a half, I led six creative teams developing branded HCP communications and an unbranded asthma-awareness campaign.
The challenge
Behavioural research showed how strongly many people with asthma had become attached to their blue rescue inhaler. It offered reassurance and was something they felt unable to leave home without. Frequent reliance on it could also be a sign that their asthma was not adequately controlled.
The client had asked us to be bold and disruptive in challenging that familiar behaviour.
We needed to push the work without provoking people simply for effect. The insight, the science and the reality of living with asthma all had to support the creative idea.
The approach
I started with the evidence. The teams needed to understand the research well enough to use it, rather than simply repeat it back in the work. That understanding gave us permission to explore less conventional territory with confidence.
My role covered five areas.
Turning the research and strategic ask into clear creative direction
Briefing and leading six teams without narrowing the possibilities too early
Challenging safe or familiar responses
Encouraging the teams to share ideas that felt distinctive, uncomfortable or risky
Bringing a clear creative opinion to decisions about which routes should progress
More than 30 unbranded and 15 branded concepts were explored. Eight unbranded and five branded routes went into the final pitch.
Defining moment
One of the first concepts shared with me showed people with asthma as part-human, part-cyborg, physically connected to the blue inhaler that had become such a constant presence in their lives.
It’s time to free the blue generation.
I could see its potential immediately. The discomfort had a purpose. It turned the behavioural insight into something visible and made a familiar object feel different.
I asked the team to develop the idea alongside the other routes. It remained one of the strongest throughout the pitch and held up against every other route we developed.
Results
The Cyborg concept became the winning unbranded route and helped W2O secure the work.
It progressed through research, production and launch with the main idea largely intact, becoming the global Free the Blue Generation campaign across 18 key brand markets.
What it means to you
This is how I tend to work when a creative situation needs direction. If a gap appears, I am comfortable stepping into it and taking responsibility.
I use research to give teams a shared understanding of the challenge and the confidence to move beyond predictable answers. I give people room to explore widely. Creative leadership also requires an opinion. When an unusual or controversial idea is right for the brief, I am prepared to back it and help the team make a clear case for it.
On a similar challenge, I would take the same approach. I would understand the ask, give the team a strong foundation and use experience and judgement to push the work as far as it should go.