Responses by John Berman, executive creative director, R/GA.
Background: “Put Your ___ To The Test” is an unexpected, provocative and fresh campaign that empowers consumers to take control of their health with more than 50 lab tests they can buy from diagnostics laboratory Quest online at any time. The campaign highlights how Quest’s diverse range of direct-to-consumer health tests is readily available to serve as a fundamental part of a consumer’s healthcare routine. These tests cover general wellness, allergies and sexual health, among others, so people can know more and feel better about their health—quickly, conveniently and confidentially, with no doctor visit needed. We’re initially targeting people who are already proactive about their health, use tracking apps or wearables, and seek new ways to know more about their bodies and take better care of themselves.
Design thinking: We realized the power of the product was this new ability to orchestrate your health decisions. You don’t have to wait for a prescription or your annual physical with your doctor. If it’s on your mind and worth filling in the blank, you can test for it—anything, anytime. The “fill-in-the-blank” campaign mechanic was exactly the bridge we needed to help shake loose from expected industry norms. It’s so simple and flexible.
Challenges: Like any launch campaign, we wanted to say and do so much with an interesting, promising product and brandscape. But we kept the objective for this stage single-minded: introduce the product. Before we could have more fun, we needed to ensure the world knows what Quest is offering and why it should matter to them. It was a constant yet rewarding balancing act of clarity and curiosity across the team that helped this spot land the way it did.
Favorite details: The imagery, the design system and the music. First, the imagery: Time and budget limited us to stock footage and photography instead of doing our own shoots, but we were obsessively determined not to let this fall prey to stocky cliches. We dug deep to find offbeat shots and clips with the right energy and personality and then applied a consistent color and shading treatment to make it feel branded.
Second, the design system: From the layout and behavior of the line “Put your ___ to the test” to the consistent, recognizable framing to the “ticker” of test types that scrolls at the end, we think we found an elegant system to communicate a lot of information in a way that’s fun and engaging yet clear.
Last, the music: Our music partner found us the song “Perfect Human Specimen” by the musical artist Lynks. We instantly fell in love with the tempo, energy and the way the words so wittily played with our message and visuals.
Together, those three things helped us reach that ambition of breaking the category norms, showing up differently and greeting the world as the new Quest.
New lessons: Trust the process! Not that it’s new knowledge, but it’s always refreshing to be on a project with a client where you can embrace the power of simplicity, team ingenuity and getting out of the way of good ideas—all the things the industry talks about in theory but can be difficult to pull off in practice. So, in this case, keep trusting the process—and the people!
Specific project demands: We and our clients wanted to do healthcare marketing that didn’t feel like the standard, saccharine, expected health advertising we’ve all become accustomed to—e.g., slow-mo shots of couples walking and smiling at each other on the beach, bathed in a golden-hour glow. We’re in a med- and marketing-fatigued world, yet concern for personal health is higher than ever. Our Quest client team were fantastic, courageous partners who knew from the start that this spot needed to stand out, and they helped us sell through work that would provoke attention and reaction instead of tune-out.
Browse Projects
