Serviceplan and Raw Materials’ brand for 855-HOW-TO-QUIT-(OPIOIDS) turns the pill into a lifeboat

A campaign built to fight the opioid crisis in the US, 855-HOW-TO-QUIT-(OPIOIDS) takes a sensitive, yet clever approach by turning the pill, the object of addiction, into a way out. For decades, communities across the country have been battling this man-made epidemic, an enduring and urgent issue that Serviceplan’s Innovation team wanted to address. Through this self-initiated project, they launched a helpline that allows people to reach out for support in the most critical time – when they have a pill in their hand. “The Serviceplan Innovation team is focused on developing creative projects that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the number one topic in this list is health,” Copywriter Javier Granados tells us. “Since two of the team members are from the US, the opioid crisis was a topic close to their hearts.”

In the US, every six minutes a life is lost due to an opioid overdose. This helpline conceptualised by the Munich-based innovation arm of the giant creative agency allows those who struggle with addiction to reach someone who’s overcome their dependency on the same pill, bringing a story of hope right to their fingertips. And to do so, the team had a fitting idea. “The US requires every single pill to have a unique imprint code, in order for the consumer to identify it easily,” explains Granados. For example, OP for oxycodone, IP33 for codeine, or C for fentanyl. “This means that the code is the last thing one sees before taking it,” he adds. “To turn the pills themselves into a way out, we arrived at the idea of turning the unique codes imprinted on each pill into an extension; so, OP is dialled as 67, IP33 as 4733, C as 2. We wanted to create a phone helpline as it’s the most effective, proven method of crisis intervention.” At the other end of each extension on the 24/7 helpline – which is operated live at times – is a recorded, intimate story being narrated by someone who has successfully overcome their addiction.

This powerful venture needed an equally powerful look to get the idea across, so Serviceplan teamed up with New York-based design Studio Raw Materials to create the identity and the website. To start off, the teams leaned into a modular approach, creating a flexible wordmark with images of various opioid pills held within parentheses, a character used in phone numbers across the country. The photo of the pills, “a provocative visual that is not easily ignored,” as Granados describes, is an object of utmost familiarity for those struggling with addiction, and promises to quickly grab their attention, as does the bold, all-caps typography. With its no-nonsense optical clarity, Waldenburg was the perfect fit for the project. “We chose Waldenburg due to its strong humanist and organic character, its strong vertical contrast and subtle squarishness,” says Granados. “Its super high x-height provides a high legibility and maximum compatibility for different media, especially for the OOH billboards that will be seen from afar.”

For the supporting text that carries crucial information about each pill – like its strengths and potential for abuse – the team chose GT Pressura Mono, for its ability to be highly functional and legible within limited space. The gridded layout of the design, with its generous use of white space, brings a certain clarity to the images and videos of the campaign. When seen in motion, the parentheses in the wordmark contract and expand, closely following the contours of each revolving pill. Imprinted on the pill, the codes are the crucial cogs that make the entire helpline run, and the eye is naturally drawn to them, reminding anyone watching the advertisement on the highway or on their phones at home that help is only a call away.

Serviceplan

Raw Materials

855-HOW-TO-QUIT-(OPIOIDS)