Pre-pandemic, the average person getting a vaccine probably couldn’t name its brand. COVID changed that, at least, according to Kate Cronin, Moderna’s chief brand officer. 

“Overnight, Moderna became a global brand name,” Cronin said, referring to the period beginning in 2021 when COVID vaccines first became available and it seemed all anyone could talk about was who got J&J versus Moderna versus Pfizer.

Becoming a consumer brand overnight might not have been in Moderna’s crystal ball, but the brand has reacted accordingly. Last year, it sponsored the US Open alongside an endorsement from tennis star Billie Jean King. 

This year, the brand awareness effort continues: On Monday, Moderna released a 1-minute, 25-second ad called “Welcome to the mRNAge.” The campaign aims to make people understand that Moderna is more than a COVID company, Cronin said. Specifically, it touts its use of mRNA in medical research and treatments. 

Those who followed vaccine news in 2021 likely read that Moderna’s COVID vaccine utilized mRNA (which stands for messenger RNA—molecules that carry the genetic information needed to make proteins). But the brand wants the general public to know about its broader mRNA expertise, including how its platform is “uniquely suited to tackle current and emerging pathogens that threaten global health,” per Moderna’s website. 

The spot opens with a little girl mesmerized by a piece of red string floating above a patch of flowers. “This is a piece of string,” a voiceover says. “Doesn’t seem like much. Unless it was a strand of mRNA—the code of life,” it continues. “Then it has the power to change everything.”

Images of various parts of life flash across the screen—two people lying in the grass kissing, an aerial view of a city, a race track, soccer players, scientists with microscopes—all interspersed with a voiceover describing how mRNA can help fight diseases. 

It ends with a scene of the same little girl and string viewers saw at the beginning as the voice says, “Moderna—this changes everything.”

TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, Moderna’s global agency of record, created the ad alongside the creative studio Psyop, which helped produce the spot. It will air on broadcast and linear TV, as well as across online video ads and social media, for the next 12 weeks. Cronin declined to share the campaign’s level of ad spend.

Children were intentionally given prominent spots in many parts of the ad. “A child is open to the wonders of the world,” Cronin said, adding that some of the diseases Moderna studies impact children. 

Psychologically, looking at a child in an ad “brings joy” to the viewer, she said, adding that it  “brings you into the ad.” The goal was to look at mRNA science with the wonder of a child. 

“We want people to understand that we are a platform technology company, and that platform technology is based in mRNA,” Cronin explained. “We believe that mRNA can treat a number of diseases and prevent a number of diseases, and we believe COVID was just the start.”