Moxy Malone

TV advert to reduce overprescription of antibiotics

I originally created Moxy (a sort of capsule-headed Dick Tracy detective figure) together with Elaine Wilson, then at South Tyneside Primary Care Trust. He appeared on Tyneside Metro posters, and a comic-strip leaflet for doctor's surgeries across various PCTs in the North East, warning of the dangers of antibiotic overprescription. This must have been fairly effective, because prescription rates fell. It was re-run, and taken up by other trusts further afield. Finally, it was decided to give Moxy his big break - his own TV advert.

Moxy's name is almost a pun, but not quite -
there's a commonly prescribed antibiotic called amoxycillin.

I animated the 30-second Moxy Malone TV advert in Flash, using Toon Boom Studio to automate the lip sync. I delivered the animation as a sound mix and numbered still PNG images, which were assembled into video by Dene Films.

The whole Moxy Malone campaign was rated a considerable success, and it won a gold IPR pride award in 2004/2005.