DXM Labworks

Background

Tribal New York created a brand new digital campaign and mobile app for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids called "DXM Labworks" that targeted "fence sitter" teens, ages 14-19, who knew of DXM abuse or had friends who abused it. Many teens abuse DXM (found in OTC cough medicine) by taking it in large doses to get high, which can cause short-term side effects and serious long-term damage.

Idea

This first-ever mobile app let teens engage with the effects of DXM drug use through interactive robots, and allowed teens to virtually experience the side effects by creating their own robot that must perform a series of 3 "tasks" while high on DXM. After the robot had either "Failed" or "Failed less" on each task there was a final "boss" task where the user attempted to stop their robot from puking. The DXM Labworks campaign aimed to engage teens with the negative effects/consequences of DXM abuse by conveying two messages: · Side effects – through a new mobile app teenagers were able to interact with robots and experience the effects of DXM without actually taking it themselves · Social disapproval – teens focus on social status more than anything else and through interaction with the robots they could see how others (in this case robot friends) were likely to react when on the drug In addition to the mobile app, the campaign included banners, an interactive trailer, video ads and a new website. This was Tribal New York's First campaign for CHPA.

Results

57,580 downloads to date (as of 12/9/14) Avg person spent 7.5 minutes within the app 650,000+ experiments done with a Dextrobot 1MM+ views of DXM Labworks trailer