Hide & Sneeze - Zyrtec

A children's book to help kids suffering with allergies start a conversation.

No one gets bombarded with as many wildly varied opinions as parents. When every daily occurrence, from snacks, to baths, to clothes are scrutinised, the idea of adding another ‘watch-out’ to the list can be paralysing.

However, the reality is, 56% of kids in Australia are likely to suffer from allergies, almost equal to adults. But the diagnosis gap is huge: 20% for kids, vs. 37% in adults.

This was a challenge for Zyrtec – we aimed to drive penetration in the Kids Allergy category, but 6 in 10 parents hadn’t even heard of allergic rhinitis, and 40% had no clue what triggered allergies in kids.

So, who would parents trust to introduce yet another consideration to look out for? While just 14% of mums trusted ads, and 21% trusted a ‘mummy blog’, 70% trusted personal experiences shared by other mums.

The challenge

The idea

To grab share of parenting ‘brain space’, we needed to focus on a key connection moment where parents and kids were free from the frenetic pace of the day. We landed on the bedtime routine via ‘story time’, which 79% of parents use to learn and bond. We leveraged this moment by enabling a career expansion – from influencer to author.

We partnered with Phoebe Burgess, an influencer and mum of two with allergic rhinitis, and paired her with illustrator Simon Greiner to write a storybook, inspired by her family’s experience.

Introducing… Zach and Zoe’s Hide and Sneeze, a storybook that not only entertained kids, but helped Aussie parents better understand allergic rhinitis.