From Surgery to Freedom: A View-Changing CTV Campaign.
For Gruppo Refrattivo Italiano we have developed an awareness campaign that takes the communication of refractive surgery outside the traditional codes of the medical sector.
The starting point was a change of perspective: not to tell the story of the intervention, but what changes afterwards.
Hence a video campaign designed to transform a functional benefit, seeing without glasses or contact lenses, into an immediate, emotional and universal experience: the freedom to see and live without filters.
How to communicate refractive surgery beyond clinical language?
Refractive surgery is a service with a high technological and specialized component. Its communication therefore tends to focus on the intervention, the technologies used and the clinical aspects.
With Gruppo Refrattivo Italiano we have chosen a different path.
The creative strategy has shifted the story from the procedure to the transformation, focusing not on what happens in the operating room, but on the value that the treatment can take on in people's daily lives.
A choice that has allowed us to build a more accessible and engaging communication, while maintaining the credibility necessary for the healthcare sector.
A simple insight: how much space do glasses and lenses take up in our day?
The concept was born from the observation of a series of small gestures that those who use glasses or contact lenses know well.
Look for glasses as soon as you wake up. Clean lenses continuously. Squint to focus. Put on and remove contact lenses.
Seemingly insignificant actions that, repeated every day, become a constant presence.
We have transformed this routine into narrative tension.
A tight succession of gestures, images and sounds progressively builds a feeling of stress. Then everything stops.
Silence. Space. Light.
A girl is on the shore of a lake. She opens her eyes and observes clearly what surrounds her.
Contrast builds the message without having to explain it: seeing well also means getting rid of something you were used to.
A film production designed for Connected TV
To make the transition from tension to freedom believable, a visual quality capable of supporting the concept was needed.
The commercial was then shot in 6K with anamorphic lenses, building a cinematic and immersive image.
The 30-second master format was developed in 16:9 and subsequently declined into a 15-second cut and in formats intended for social media.
It was therefore not simply a matter of adapting a video to different touchpoints, but of designing from the outset an audiovisual system capable of maintaining idea, rhythm and recognizability in different formats.
Sound design and editing as part of the concept
In this campaign, sound does not simply accompany images.
It's part of the narrative.
In the first part of the commercial, editing and sound design amplify the repetitiveness and annoyance of small daily gestures related to glasses and contact lenses.
The abrupt sound interruption coincides with the change of scenery and becomes itself a representation of freedom.
It's an example of a principle we apply to video production: image, editing, copy, and sound design must work as a single creative system, not as layers added one after the other.
From creative to distribution on Connected TV
The campaign was planned on Connected TV, with broadcasting through Prime Video and FreeWheel and geo-targeting in the areas of Bergamo and Brescia.
The media strategy, curated by The NewCo, integrates lookalike audiences built on site traffic and remarketing activities, using VTR and Reach as the main KPIs.
Furthermore, thanks to The NewCo's TNCiD technology, exposure to the CTV commercial can be linked, while respecting privacy, to subsequent visits to the site made by other devices, creating the conditions for further programmatic retargeting and audience building activities.
Creativity thus becomes the first element of an ecosystem in which brand awareness, video production and performance can dialogue along the same path.
What this project demonstrates
The campaign for Gruppo Refrattivo Italiano shows how even a complex and highly specialized service can build a communication capable of speaking to people even before patients.
To do this, we worked on three levels: strategy, identifying a human benefit before a technical one, creativity, transforming an everyday insight into a story, and production, using cinematic language, editing and sound design to make that benefit perceptible.
This is the role we envision for a creative agency in the healthcare sector: translating complexity into a simple idea without trivializing it.
Are you looking for an agency for a healthcare or Connected TV campaign?
Red Onion develops creative strategies, video campaigns and digital content by integrating concept, copywriting, design, production and multi-channel adaptation.
From idea construction to asset production, we work to transform complex products and services into understandable, relevant and recognizable stories.