Evoking an emotional response powerful enough to drive real action.

For years, MSD Animal Health had been a trusted leader in pet protection, but the brand needed to deepen its relationship with pet owners. While awareness of parasite risks existed, many pet owners still saw protection as an afterthought rather than a responsibility. The challenge was to create a campaign that would not only inform but evoke an emotional response powerful enough to drive real action.

At the same time, the campaign needed to be scalable and adaptable across 22 European markets. Every country had its own regulations, cultural nuances, and legal constraints. The campaign had to be powerful yet flexible, impactful yet compliant a message that could work as a unifying brand platform while still allowing local teams to implement it in a way that felt natural to their markets.

Pet owners never want to feel like they’re failing their pets – but often, they don’t realise when they are. The emotional trigger behind this campaign was trust. Dogs place complete trust in their owners, without hesitation or doubt. They don’t choose their own protection; they simply believe their owners will keep them safe.

This insight led us to the campaign’s most powerful creative tool: Eye contact.

To bring this emotional insight to life, we crafted a campaign that put pets at the center not as passive subjects, but as active communicators.

Visuals were designed to be simple yet arresting: a dog looking directly at the viewer, its expression filled with trust and an unspoken expectation. The messaging was deliberately minimal, allowing the imagery to do the heavy lifting.

The campaign execution had to be seamless across all markets, maintaining a unified look and feel while allowing for local adaptation. We developed a full suite of campaign assets, ensuring that each element could be tailored without losing its emotional core. 

Managing content at scale.

Leading a campaign of this scale required close collaboration with MSD Animal Health’s EURAM team to ensure seamless execution across all 22 markets. Our role extended beyond creativity – we also took charge of the operational side, managing the development, translation, and adaptation of campaign materials to make sure every market had exactly what they needed for a successful rollout.

But scaling a healthcare campaign across Europe is never just a logistical task. Strict compliance regulations govern how health-related claims can be communicated, and every country has different legal requirements. We worked meticulously to ensure that every asset met the necessary regulatory, legal, and compliance standards, allowing the campaign to launch without delays or revisions.

From the first market rollout to the full European expansion, we remained the driving force behind the campaign’s execution, ensuring that the vision stayed intact while adapting it to meet the needs of different regions.

The impact of “I Am Protected. Are Yours?” was immediate and far-reaching. The campaign not only resonated with pet owners but became a defining moment for MSD Animal Health’s pet owner engagement strategy. What started as a Nordic campaign quickly evolved into a long-term brand platform for MSD across Europe.

It successfully created an emotional shift in the way pet owners perceived protection not as a routine task, but as a fundamental part of their role as pet parents. The combination of direct eye contact, humanized messaging, and a subtle yet powerful challenge proved to be an effective formula for behavior change.