HER TIME MATTERS
Roche had a new breast cancer treatment it couldn't advertise. So we sold the step before it: getting screened. Instead of another warning, I helped redirect the campaign into a love letter, then illustrated and animated the short animated film myself.
6.04M
Impressions
3x of campaign target
162K
Video views
8x of campaign target
12,713
Microsite visits
3X target
473
Audience action
Screening, insurance and letter
ROLE
Art Director | Led creative end to end; illustrator and animator of the hero film
CLIENT
Roche, Malaysia
CHANNEL
Microsite, film, Meta, GDN
OBJECTIVE & CHALLENGES
A treatment can only help the women who get diagnosed.
Roche was preparing to launch a new treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer in Malaysia. Doctors could only offer it to eligible patients, and patients only reach a doctor if they get screened. Late diagnosis and stigma were stopping that first step.
Get women screened
Move at-risk women from knowing about breast cancer to acting on it.
Open up treatment options
Build awareness that treatment is personal, ahead of the launch.
Insurance literacy
Make sure cost isn't the reason someone stops.
The constraint
The product could not be named anywhere in the campaign.
OUTCOME
6.04M
Impressions
3x of campaign target
162K
Video views
8x of campaign target
12,713
Microsite visits
3X target
473
Audience action
Screening, insurance and letter
Empowerment and self-love wins the campaign
The call I made:
Roche worried an emotional route would feel overused and heavy, and might scare women off testing for fear of the result. So they leaned towards something more upbeat and gamified. I used research and survivor insight to show the barrier was a hard decision, not missing facts, and proposed a lighter emotion: time, not fear. Creative, medical and global stakeholders aligned behind it.
FINDINGS
Malaysia talks about breast cancer every October, however, nobody talks about time lost.
A social listening study of 3,915 Malaysian posts, plus behavioural research, showed where the conversation broke down.
01
Awareness month had become a sales month
#breastcancerawareness appeared on 862 promotional posts and only 147 genuine awareness posts.
03
Nobody talked about life after diagnosis
Zero posts on survival time. One on palliative care. Time was missing from the whole conversation.
02
Supplements filled the treatment gap
"Kapsul" (capsules) was the top treatment keyword, in 194 posts. Fear of chemo pushed people to "natural" cures.
04
Women knew, they just didn't act.
People avoid hard decisions and wait to see what others do. If no one around them gets screened, neither do they.
“When people look at a cancer patient… their facial expression says it all, and that is very detrimental to the patient.”
Ranjit Kaur, BCWA President and breast cancer survivor
KEY INSIGHTS
Women don't put off screening because they don't understand its importance. They put it off because it's a scary decision, and no one around them is making it.
STRATEGY
Her Time Matters: you always find time for what matters.
This campaign focuses on the vital step that comes before selling the product. It aims to guide people to the doctor’s office, where meaningful conversations about the right treatment can take place. It speaks to the emotions we all feel, embracing themes of time and life rather than dwelling on fear and loss.
THE CAMPAIGN'S JOB
Talk about it→Get screened→Get diagnosed
THE DOCTOR'S JOB
Right treatment for her
Including Roche's HER2+ therapy, for eligible patients
Three phases, June to October 2022
JUN–JUL · PREVENTION
Maximise your time
If you have 15 minutes for Facebook, you have 15 minutes for a self-exam.
AUG–SEP · TREATMENT
Make treatment part of your routine
Small steps: talk to your doctor, check your insurance, know your options.
SEP–OCT · SURVIVOR
Do more with your life
"Dear You, Love Me": letters from past, present and future selves.
THE EXPERIENCE
CAMPAIGN LANDING PAGE
Designed as evolving story space adapting UI and emotional tone across 3 campaign phases. From warm introduction video to heartfelt letter wall, experience honored women in all cancer journey stages.
Animated film
Introduces the campaign's promise as a letter.
Letter wall
Read or submit messages of strength, loss or hope.
Action tools
Screening-centre locator and insurance checks.
SOCIAL CONTENT AND PERFORMANCE MARKETING
Across Meta platforms, the team crafted social visuals echoing the microsite's calming yet powerful tone. Content strategy moved through each campaign stage with clear narrative intent, from prevention tips to survivor letters.
Women 30+ targeted on Meta; letter submitters retargeted. GDN banners drove traffic to the microsite.
CAMPAIGN VIDEO SERIES
Campaign Hero Short: "Dear You, Love Me"
Script aside, I designed, storyboarded, and brought every frame to life.
'Dear You, Love Me" Storyboard
"Dear You, Love Me" Keyframes
Companion Video: HER TIME MATTERS
Survivors and stories of women reclaiming time. I curated all the scenes, storyboarded it and directed the edit.
LEADING & MAKING THE WORK
Creative leadership
Led concept to execution; aligned creative, medical and global stakeholders.
Craft
Illustrated and animated the hero film; curated scenes for secondary campaign video, as well as defined the visual system across the microsite and social channels.
Stakeholder influence
Took the client's concern about a heavy, emotional campaign seriously, then used research and survivor insight to reframe the problem and win support for a lighter route.
Team and QA
Mentored designers and editors; set up structured QA for content design and visual tone.
LEARNINGS
A good brief can still point to the wrong solution. Research is how you find the real problem.
Roche's concern was valid: emotional health campaigns can feel repetitive, and an overly intense approach may deter people or frighten women away from getting tested because they fear the results. However, data indicated that women were already aware of breast cancer; what held them back was a difficult decision that those around them were not addressing. Simply providing clinical facts wouldn't resolve this issue. The solution lies in fostering a different emotion, one centered not on fear or grief, but on time, self-compassion, and envisioning life after a diagnosis.
I’ve learned to see a client’s concerns as valuable insights rather than final judgments. By exploring human behavior, audience perspectives, and research findings, we can identify what might be standing in the way. This approach often leads to more informed and effective solutions beyond what the initial brief might suggest.
CREDITS
Art Concept & Art Direction Carmen Tan | Content Strategy Anndrea, Ch'ng Xin | Illustration, Animation & Execution Carmen Tan | Microsite Design Carmen Tan, Farhana | Copywriting Anndrea, Ch'ng Xin | Social Media and Performance Ad Design & Content Izzy Yong, Carmen Tan, Farhana
