Does the future of advertising lay in curing the common cold? That may be so for Johnson & Johnson and its agency, J. Walter Thompson.
Together, the pair have just bowed HealthyDay, an iOS app that shows US users local colds, flus and allergy symptoms as though they were checking the weather. The project was implemented sister agency Mirum.
For JWT NY executive creative director Eric Weisberg, the project exemplifies how “data and technology … are both changing everything that we do here”, Weisberg tells Beet.TV in this video interview.
HealthyDay uses health information from healthcare professionals, hospitals and the Center for Disease Control, plus adds in user-contributed symptom reports.
“It literally helps you outsmart cold, flu and allergies with the same speed and accuracy that you’re outsmarting weather and traffic in things like (traffic app) Waze,” Weisberg adds. The bonus for Johnson & Johnson? HealthyDay recommends product solutions to sick patients.
We interviewed him as part of the series The Road to Cannes, our lead-up to the Cannes Lions Festival presented by Coull. Please visit this page for additional segments.
