I Swear: Heard and Understood - How we Created Opportunities For Genuine Education Whilst Out-Performing Box Office Targets

Client: StudioCanal

Tourette syndrome is widely misunderstood. 74% of people with Tourette syndrome have been discriminated against because of their condition. Awareness remains astoundingly low – with only 6% of teachers reported as having a ‘good’ knowledge of the syndrome, and 3 in 4 students being bullied at school because of it.  

We were tasked with creating the media campaign for StudioCanal’s latest title ‘I Swear’, a coming-of-age story about John Davidson, a Tourette syndrome activist. We knew we couldn’t successfully launch the film without first raising awareness for Tourette syndrome and educating our audience in a meaningful way.  

We faced a challenging launch environment: a congested release calendar, a lesser-known lead at the front of our materials, and a condition most people thought they understood but didn't. 

Our solution was to make awareness and education the campaign’s first outcomes so we could deliver our ultimate objective of smashing our box office targets.  

We designed media to mirror TS’s lived experience – disruption - so people felt before they were asked to act. An intimate barber’s‑chair conversation with Absolute Radio built empathy at scale, while an interactive trailer‑quiz with Hoopla gave us a genuine opportunity for education.  

Awareness surged with a +350% uplift in search. Understanding increased with +56% more correct answers in our quiz in Q3 vs Q1. Box office achieved 2.1x target: delivering £6.3m vs original goal of £3m!