Les Méningo – Mission Mégapolis
- Year
- 2009
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Makemepulse
- With
- Kroker
- With
- ADDICTION Agency
Objective
Wyeth Pharmaceutical France (part of Pfizer) needed to raise awareness of meningococcal C disease among families without directly advertising a prescription vaccine to them. Instead of a clinical pamphlet, the brand built a browser game that hands out the health message in small doses, as a reward for play — giving it a legitimate way to reach kids while quietly pulling parents into the conversation too.
Solution
On les-meningo.fr, the player faces off against the Méningo family: six cartoon bacteria-villains, from Rick the daredevil son to Rob the disco grandfather, each guarding one arcade mini-game. Picking a family member drops the player into a short, fast-paced challenge built around that character's quirks; beating it closes out the round with a plain-language fact about what meningococcal C actually does. Clear all six mini-games and the family's vault room unlocks as the finishing reward. Running alongside the games, a set of short questionnaires is aimed squarely at the parents reading over their kid's shoulder, carrying the message the child's side of the site never has to spell out.
- 1
The game opens on a French-language promo microsite aimed at kids, which introduces the antagonists: the "family Méningo," six meningococcus bacteria characters each with a distinct persona — Rick the wrestler son, Anita the half-angel half-demon daughter, Rob the disco grandfather, Ladislas the squatter cousin, Aldo the mercenary father, and Gréta the old-school mother.
- 2
The stated goal is to defeat the family Méningo, framed as a battle; progress is tracked mission by mission, one mission per family member, and each mission is a separate arcade-style minigame pitting the player against that character.
- 3
Completing a mission delivers a medical fact tied to that character — for example, the third mission, "Rob'X," teaches that carrying meningococcus C usually causes no illness but can occasionally lead to serious disease such as meningitis C.
- 4
Alongside the arcade missions, the game also presents quizzes designed to draw a parent to the screen with the child.
- 5
Once all six arcade missions are cleared, a final "vault room" opens, marking the end of the game.
