Christchurch, NZ ·

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Time Matters in MS

A campaign built around a website you could actually do something on.

Contract for Multiple Sclerosis New Zealand

msnz.org.nz/timematters-2026

The campaign home page: "Time Matters in MS. Know the signs. Change the story." above bands of yellow, orange and teal that sweep up to the right.
The home page. Photos from the wall are left out of this picture.

MS is often missed early. The campaign had to feel like people, not a health leaflet.

Awareness Week 2026 asked New Zealand to know the signs, because the earlier MS is recognised, the more it helps. So the look is hand-drawn: soft waves, the dots of the previous year's campaign carried forward, and MSNZ's own colours.

A huge orange 4.5 on deep teal: "4.5 years. That's how long it takes to name what's happening."

The site

Instead of another quiz, the campaign got its own home. Three short films, each about a symptom people tend to brush off. A step that lets you choose the sign that sounds like you. And a community wall, where people shared messages of hope and, for many, their own story of living with MS. Around it, a prize draw and a charity auction. After Awareness Week the whole site was frozen into a fast static page that MSNZ now owns and can leave up for years.

Three symptom cards. Choosing "Learn about the symptom" on Vision changes opens a short animated film of an eye.
Each sign opens its own short film.
On a phone: "Learn about multiple sclerosis and its symptoms" above a film panel of orange silhouettes.On a phone: the orange 4.5 on teal.On a phone: "MS can look different on everyone" and the first symptom card.On a phone: "Messages of hope" above the first cards of the wall.
88% of visitors were on a phone.

Sixty people left a message on the wall. Most of them were living with MS.

"Messages of hope." above a tall wall of teal, cream, orange and yellow cards, each carrying a message from someone who left one.
A selection of the messages. Names and photos are left out.

The ads

Fifteen ads in three phases, one goal: get people to the website. The best performer was also the simplest, a carousel of three early signs. I checked the campaign through the month, switched off what wasn't earning and moved the money to what was.

A reel cover in the campaign's waves: "Four New Zealanders. Four MS stories."A reel cover in the campaign's waves: "It's easy to miss the signs."
Two of the fifteen.

More than twice the clicks of the year before, at half the cost each.

The ads brought about 29,000 clicks to the site in September, and visitors played about 4,000 films.

Behind it

I also took over MSNZ's dormant Google Ad Grant account, which hadn't run ads since 2016, got it reinstated and rebuilt its tracking so the charity can use that free advertising again.

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