A Wee Scoosh

When Public Health Scotland asked us to help increase uptake of the children’s flu vaccine, we were all in. But this wasn’t your standard public health brief – this was a complex challenge that had to tackle public scepticism, as well as tightening media budgets.

Public Health Scotland
Public Sector

Flu can be serious for kids and their families. That’s why Public Health Scotland offers free flu vaccinations to all children aged 2–5 and all school-age pupils – with parental consent being the key decision-making hurdle.

We faced three big challenges:

  1. Post-pandemic vaccine fatigue and growing hesitancy.

  2. A cluttered media landscape where 91% of digital ads are seen for less than a second.

  3. 20% less media spend than previous years.

The safe play would’ve been a repeat of what’s worked before. But PHS were brave – and gave us room to rethink our approach for maximum impact.

PHS asset 1

We dug into behavioural models like EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) and challenged ourselves to reframe the message.

Instead of myth-busting or ramping up fear, what if we did the opposite?

What if we made the flu vaccine feel so simple and familiar, it barely needed a second thought?

Cue the “wee scoosh” — a campaign built around the reality that the vaccine is a quick nasal spray, not a jag in the arm. A super simple scoosh up the nose. We knew the visual had to break expectations, so we dialled up the colour, the characters ( 👋disembodied noses), and the fun.

PHS iamge 2

We tested three routes:

  1. Myth-busting – set the record straight.

  2. Fear appeal – portray flu as a monster.

  3. Scoosh – lean into ease, playfulness, and Byron Sharp-style distinctiveness.

The winner? Scoosh, by a mile. It cut through the noise, resonated emotionally, and helped parents visualise how painless and routine the vaccine really is.

We rolled out the campaign across:

  • Social (static + motion)

  • Digital display

  • Radio

  • Posters and leaflets (distributed via schools and health partners)

Each execution carried one message: It’s just a wee scoosh. Quick. Painless. Easy.

Even the copy echoed simplicity:

“All it takes is a wee scoosh up the nose. Flu can be serious, so remember to get the vaccine consent form signed by a parent or carer and return it to school.”

Despite the reduced budget, the campaign:

  • Exceeded prompted recall targets

  • Achieved the highest-ever spontaneous recall (42%) for a PHS flu campaign

  • Smashed engagement benchmarks (over 70% across all RUSTIC-M measures)

  • Boosted confidence in vaccine effectiveness from 77% to 84%

  • Saw 90% of campaign recognisers say they’d vaccinated or intended to — compared to just 68% of non-recognisers

PHS poster