The Silent Threat in the Teen Years: Are Parents Missing the Signs?

GSK has unveiled their latest global campaign, developed by ad agency Tank Worldwide, part of Grey, that underscores the urgency of helping to protect teens and young adults against meningococcal disease, known as meningitis. This bold initiative confronts a critical misconception: that teens will automatically receive all of the meningitis vaccinations needed to help protect them against the 5 vaccine-preventable groups of meningitis.

Launching in May, the campaign, titled 'Teens Share Everything,' flips the perspective, showcasing the daily behaviours of teens from their own social media lenses to highlight potential everyday risks and drive a deeper understanding of why broader protection is needed. The creative elements consist of two 30s commercials, as well as a full suite of digital/audio ads including YouTube, email, display media, and a comprehensive, engaging social program across Meta, TikTok and Pinterest.

Durga Bobba, vice president marketing at GSK said, “GSK’s goal with this new ad campaign is to create compelling, creative content that connects parents with high-quality health information and empowers them to have proactive conversations with their child’s teen’s doctor about meningococcal disease (commonly known as meningitis) and vaccination. Although meningitis is uncommon, it is a serious illness. Teens and young adults aged 16 to 23 are one of the age groups at increased risk of contracting it,
yet parents may not realize that their teens in this age range could be missing certain vaccinations that help protect against the five groups of meningitis for which CDC has vaccination recommendations. This campaign supports GSK’s broader public health mission: to help protect more adolescents from meningitis.”

The spot aims to create urgency through a story that ends with a twist, reminding parents of the action they can take to protect their children; calling their teen’s doctor to ask if they are missing any meningitis vaccinations. The message is simple but urgent:
even the most attentive parents can’t protect against what they don’t know about.

The campaign launched in the U.S. in early May and will expand globally to markets including Spain and Australia.