Dayton, Ohio 45402
Build StoriesBuild ExperiencesBuild RobotsBuild DemandBuild MomentumBuild AttentionBuild ClawsBuild HypeBuild GamesBuild LoyaltyBuild RecognitionBuild EngagementBuild Wonder
Build StoriesBuild ExperiencesBuild RobotsBuild DemandBuild MomentumBuild AttentionBuild ClawsBuild HypeBuild GamesBuild LoyaltyBuild RecognitionBuild EngagementBuild Wonder
Build StoriesBuild ExperiencesBuild RobotsBuild DemandBuild MomentumBuild AttentionBuild ClawsBuild HypeBuild GamesBuild LoyaltyBuild RecognitionBuild EngagementBuild Wonder
Build StoriesBuild ExperiencesBuild RobotsBuild DemandBuild MomentumBuild AttentionBuild ClawsBuild HypeBuild GamesBuild LoyaltyBuild RecognitionBuild EngagementBuild Wonder
In March 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis was enveloping the globe, the Ohio Department of Health turned to Real Art to deliver the message that social distancing works. We needed to create an emotional gut-punch of an ad that would actually change behavior. Lives were literally at stake.
While others were piecing together content with recorded zoom calls and stock footage, we knew we wanted to take a different approach. We also knew we had to create something safely—with no on-screen talent and a socially-distant skeleton crew.
Our solution was to take a subject that virologists could write whole books on, and sum it up into a simple, easily understood, visual metaphor. Combining two everyday objects—ping pong balls and mouse traps—we demonstrated how distancing can stop a contagion in a video that was built and filmed entirely by our team, using no trick photography or digital effects.
The resulting Mousetrap video has been seen over a billion times, received a National Gold Addy and an Emmy, was written about everywhere from The Washington Post to the British Mirror, and was licensed across the globe (and stolen and rebranded by a few nations as well).