UltraSuperNew Tames the Monsters in Our Minds for Mindfulness App Meditopia

Modern life on planet Earth has never been as stressful or overwhelming as it is now. The list of anxieties is long, and sources of anguish are loud and constantly buzzing inside your mind, keeping you awake at night, tired, and irritable. 

Mindfulness app, Meditopia’s research of one thousand Japanese respondents found that 40% struggle to sleep at least once a week citing over-thinking, work and relationship/loneliness issues. More than 20% experiences stress on a daily basis and more than 25% multiple times each week. 

With levels of stress, anxiety, and depression on the rise, it's unsurprising that we all need a little help to unwind, reset, rebalance our mind, body, and soul. 

For the Japan launch of global mindfulness app Meditopia, independent creative network UltraSuperNew created 'Your Mind is a Noisy Place'. They looked at Meditopia's research results where five primary triggers of stress, and anxiety were identified.

After looking at the characteristics of these triggers closely, UltraSuperNew created a recognisable character for each one, with unique personalities, shapes, and behaviors. The idea works on the proviso that our stresses are monsters, but when we meditate, find some peace of mind, and take a moment to breathe, they become monsters we can tame.  In the campaign, we meet Fumin, the monster responsible for sapping our sleep; Mr. Unn, in control of over-thinking; Saggechi, master of worry; Yatakke, organizing lack of concentration; and finally Atsuko, who supervises your severe self-judgment. An in-app feature includes a specially curated meditation playlist for each individual monster.

The multi-channel campaign consists of five 15-second animations for each character on YouTube and Insta interactive, IG stories, plus an Instagram AR filter. There will also be a digital OOH takeover in Tokyo's famous Shibuya crossing where the five characters will appear on the biggest five screens,  as well as the Tokyo metro and Yamanote Line.

Burcu Agma, head of global marketing and strategy at Meditopia said: “Our mindfulness content at Meditopia is scientifically-backed and created by experts in the field, we also bring that same approach to our marketing campaigns. We executed a comprehensive research study in Japan and mapped out 5 core triggers of stress and created a monster persona for each feeling. Talking about stress and mental health is still a taboo in Japan so we wanted our campaign to give you a ‘yes I know that feeling’ reaction from the get-go, which is the first and most important step of mindfulness to be able to label difficult emotions.”

Andres Aguilar, creative director at UltraSuperNew added: “Mindfulness and mental health are topics we need to discuss in order to make our lives better, but sometimes they can get too abstract and hard to grasp. With our five stress monsters, we wanted to show that taming the noises in your mind is not as challenging as you might expect, and the same goes for meditation.”