Own Your Next Chapter

Hera was entering the market as a new category player and needed to establish an emotional foothold from day one. At the time, the category largely leaned on clinical, care-forward storytelling. Hera saw an opportunity to take a more distinctive approach, connecting with audiences on a human level while maintaining credibility in a sensitive space.

A key early decision clarified the brief. As our creative director/director on the spot, Savannah O’Leary, noted, “The goal is either to create a feeling or it’s to do some explaining. You can’t have both.” The team aligned around leading with emotional resonance first, while avoiding the “healthcare vibes” that risked flattening the brand’s story.

Founder and CEO Jenny Lee framed the ambition clearly that the campaign would introduce Hera through storytelling that centers those often overlooked. The goal was to reflect the reality that many older adults and their families are navigating some of the hardest moments of their lives, while also revealing the vitality and richness that still defines them.

Our team identified that older adults are often portrayed in overly narrow ways, particularly in healthcare-adjacent marketing. Hera saw an opportunity to restore dimensionality and dignity to this audience.

This led to the creative north star of finding  extraordinary in the ordinary. The work would not rely on documentary realism alone. Instead, emotional authenticity would come from treating everyday people with cinematic care and intentional craft.

As Savannah framed it, the brand was “trying to say something about how we see older adults for their three-dimensionality.” Jenny reinforced this intent, noting the team wanted to highlight individuals in a way that reminds the world they live rich, full lives and deserve continued support in doing so.

Our team created an editorial-style launch campaign that positioned real older adults as fully realized protagonists. The work balanced emotional resonance with credibility in a sensitive category, introducing Hera’s Medicare-covered support offering through a storytelling-led lens.

We cast real people and placed them within intentionally stylized environments, treating participants with the care typically reserved for top-tier talent. As Savannah described it, we invited them into “the movie of their lives.” The tone was calibrated to feel optimistic yet grounded, while elevated art direction distinguished the work from traditional, low-fidelity interview formats. Resources were deliberately concentrated on casting and post-production, where performance impact would be greatest.

The campaign gave Hera a distinctive and emotionally resonant market entry, establishing the brand through a storytelling-first approach rather than clinical convention. By centering older adults as protagonists and executing with cinematic discipline, the work created immediate emotional memory and positioned Hera with credibility and cultural clarity at launch.