Combogesic: advert-body-3 by Bray Leino

Bending-over-in-pain ads for pain relief products (with big budgets behind them) are a familiar sight on TV. So when we tackled the Combogesic brief, we needed something ground-breakingly different.

And found it in the product truth.

Combogesic is an adult oral analgesic that cleverly combines two well-known ingredients, paracetamol and ibuprofen in one convenient tablet. This combination delivers over 30% more pain relief than taking either ingredient on their own.

This inspired a category-changing campaign idea.

The name Combogesic is a mixture of the words ‘combination’ and ‘analgesic’. Portmanteau words like this, from Brexit to labradoodle, are a cheeky, resurgent element in popular language.

Combined with simple, vivid animation and the unmistakable voice of actress and comedian Sally Phillips, we used new and existing word mash-ups to create a pain relief ad with extraordinary stand-out. Great news for confuddled consumers and potentially fantabulous for sales.