Mucinex's Colourful PSA Reminds Americans That 'Back to Normal is Up to You'
Wearing masks saves lives and the leading experts are asking the world to employ this simple effort as the absolute best way in this moment to fight the pandemic.
To help bring this simple, yet important message and call-to-action to life, Mucinex – a leading cold and flu brand with a fighting spirit – launched the third phase of its new public health information campaign to help Americans fight through this national health crisis. The campaign – ‘Back to Normal is Up to You’ – follows the first two Mucinex created in April and May, ‘Spread Facts, Not Fear’ and ‘Be A Hero, Be Boring.’ Like those two previous campaigns, the brand and its creative agency McCann New York and McCann Health NY have partnered with acclaimed artist Noma Bar, who has created a new collection of highly imaginative and thought-provoking images that deliver information and inspiration to consumers across the US.
Noma Bar’s new collection of images brings to life the PSA campaign messages in ways both entertaining and thought-provoking. With drawings that utilise Bar’s famous ‘double entendre’ style, coffee mugs, cruise ships and computer screens double as masks, with copy that asks, ‘Miss coffee with friends?’ ‘Miss cruise vacations?’ and ‘Miss the office?’ bringing to life the ‘Back to Normal is Up to You’ campaign focus and the call to action to ‘Wear a Mask’ all the more resonant.
Mucinex is also activating in one of the country’s Covid hotspots: Florida and its beaches. To help remind the residents of Florida and all those who love a summer trip to the beach that masks help stop the spread, the brand is delivering its ‘Back to Normal is Up to You’ message in a uniquely artful way…in the sand. It’s new campaign encourages Americans to take action for themselves and shines a light on the importance of wearing a mask by creating public art displays in a medium Floridians and beach lovers know well, sand sculptures.
Local Florida sand artists were commissioned to create giant mask sand sculptures in some of Florida’s most popular beaches. Kicking off on Thursday, August 13th, 2020 in Ft. Lauderdale on Lago Mar Beach, the campaign will make stops across the state in August, stopping in St. Petersburg beach the week of August 17th, and at Jacksonville’s Neptune Beach Jacksonville the week of August 24th, 2020. Mucinex will continue bringing Bar’s creative imagery to life by distributing custom-made masks that carry his eye-popping artwork, encouraging people to heed the expert’s advice. To accompany the sand sculpture activations, Bar’s art will also come to life on outdoor billboards and public locations in Florida in August, delivering the message that masks do indeed save lives.
“Everything we do at Mucinex is informed by science and data, and as with our first two campaigns, we turn to art to deliver our fact-based messages,” said Claudine Patel, vice president, marketing for Mucinex. “With increasing evidence that face masks are some of the most powerful tools we have to slow the spread of the virus, Noma’s art and these sand sculptures help spread the message that it’s up to all of us to help fight this global health crisis together in order to get our lives and world back to normal.”

McCann Worldgroup
Chief Creative Officer, McCann New York: Tom Murphy
EVP, Executive Creative Director, McCann New York: Maru Kopelowicz
Associate Creative Director, McCann New York: Francisco Valenzuela Barrera
Associate Creative Director, McCann New York: Peter Sherer
Producer, McCann New York: Gabrielle Levy
President, McCann Health New York: Leo Tarkovsky
Group Strategy Director, McCann Health New York: Zulay Tomasiello
Strategy Director, McCann Health New York: Elissa Aguirre
SVP, Group Account Director, McCann Health New York: John Danbeck
VP, Account Director, McCann Health New York: Claire Hogan
Senior Account Executive, McCann Health New York: Katie Hildebrant
Account Executive, McCann Health New York: Nick Duran
Business Manager, McCann New York: Madeline McCarty
Associate Director, Project Management, McCann New York: Jessica Avery
RB
General Manager HRW: Cynthia Chen
Marketing Director Upper Respiratory: Claudine Patel
Associate Director, ICP Media and Investment: Jessica Shearer
Senior Manager, Digital Media Strategy and Data Driven Marketing: Carolyn Nephew
Illustration
Illustration: Noma Bar
Represented By: Dutch Uncle
PR
PR Agency: Legend
ZENITH MEDIA
Associate Director, Strategy: Jenny Cifuentes
Director, Digital Investment: Camille Versini
VP, Strategy: Lauren Seifert
Planner, Strategy: Jessica Borer