What it had to solve
Green Cross Health's New Zealand-owned pharmacy brands wanted to remind people that their staff take ownership of customers' wellbeing, particularly in summer, when minor injuries, allergies and small ailments hit people away from home.
The idea
Dramatise empathy literally: show pharmacists apparently suffering the same ailments as the customers they are helping, then target banners to the weather.
How it works
Across print, out-of-home and display, McCann NZ shows pharmacists with the same complaints as their customers, from dramatic allergic reactions and broken arms to pregnancy nausea. A 'burns, bites and bumps' algorithm used historical sales data, regional events and pollen and UV forecasts to feed regional billboards. A radio spot has a pharmacist reeling off a chaotic list of customer ailments as if feeling them.
What it did
Campaign Brief's launch report gives no results yet. The work follows Life Pharmacy's Cannes Lions and Effie-winning 'Awkboards' and extends the brand's humour-led, data-informed approach.
Background
In February 2026, Unichem and Life Pharmacy, the New Zealand-owned brands of Green Cross Health, launched 'Make Your Problems Our Problem' through McCann NZ. They compete in a category increasingly dominated by international big-box rivals, and long differentiated themselves by listening.
The brief was to remind New Zealanders that pharmacy staff take ownership of customers' wellbeing. McCann NZ's creative directors Alan Jones and Angelo An said the idea treated empathy as more than a buzzword, so it was visualised in a way that was, in their words, completely stupid: pharmacists apparently suffering the same ailments as their customers.
Print, out-of-home and display show pharmacists with dramatic allergic reactions, broken arms and pregnancy nausea. A 'burns, bites and bumps' algorithm combined historical sales data, regional events and pollen and UV forecasts to feed regional billboards with reminders suited to sneezy, hot or rainy weather. The radio version has a Life pharmacist listing chaotic customer ailments as if experiencing them.
Why it lands
A literal reading of 'we feel your pain' makes an abstract promise of empathy into an image.
Absurd humour keeps a healthcare message warm and distinct from big-box competitors.
Billboards driven by sales history, regional events and pollen and UV forecasts match the message to local conditions.
Building on the Awkboards platform leverages existing brand recognition for humour in pharmacy.
What you can take
Taking a vague brand value literally, as a visual gag, makes it memorable, and live data lets the same joke show up at the moment it is relevant.
Since then
Campaign Brief's report is a launch announcement and does not describe results.
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