A brilliant marketing campaign in Brazil has made chemotherapy — an arduous prospect even for adults — into “superformula” for superheroes in need of regenerating their powers, in a move that will hopefully spread to other children’s treatment facilities worldwide.
The superhero superformula story has been huge in geek realms, and it’s easy to see why. Everyone loves comics and superheroes, and the idea of kids having a less clinical and more imaginative hospital stay due to a clever bit of branding makes the idea of kids battling cancer ever so slightly more palatable.
A.C.Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil, has also undergone a makeover — becoming the Hall of Justice, with the theme carried throughout the ward in partnership with D.C. Comics. A press release from agency JWT, the ad agency in part responsible, explains :
“Covers for intravenous bags were constructed based on characters from the Justice League, creating … a child-friendly version of the treatment. Co-developed with doctors, the covers are easy to sterilize and handle and meet all hospital hygiene standards … (The) experience went far beyond the covers by also providing a new look to the entire Children’s Ward: the game room was turned into the Hall of Justice, corridors and doors were decorated in the same theme, and the exterior acquired an exclusive entrance for these little heroes.”
The boxes that hold IV bags of chemo solution are brightly colored and superhero themed, and children learn about the “superformula” before their treatments.
The hospital in Brazil isn’t the first to recently boost the morale of ailing kids with superheroes. Another hospital recently utilized window washers dressed as comic book legends to brighten the stays of kids in their facilities.
The superhero superformula idea has gone over overwhelmingly well across the web, with many sharing the upbeat concept on sites like Twitter:
Would be awesome to implement something like this locally Superformula to Fight Cancer: youtu.be/KC2y3s-MCMs #illustration #social
— Lab 206 (@Lab206) May 29, 2013
Kids with cancer join the Justice League at one Brazilian hospital: dly.do/ZRI8uj
— The Daily Dot (@dailydot) June 6, 2013
Do you think the superhero superformula chemo rebranding for kids should be implemented within more hospitals?
