Stephen Donohue

Case study 02 of 06

It doesn’t change the formula. It changes the day.

Client
Cambrooke, specialist nutrition for PKU and TYR
Year
2026
My role
Creative lead: concept selection, illustration, art direction, film direction
Team
Me; the Fiora creative team; a motion designer
Disciplines
Campaign, illustration, animation, packaging, digital, events
Cambrooke key visual: play, pause and repeat icons in white on teal, with a line-drawn hand holding a carton and a pair of headphones.
Key visual. Three icons everyone already understands.

The brief

People living with PKU and TYR rely on specialist nutritional drinks every day. Cambrooke was replacing the foil seal on its cartons with a resealable screw cap.

On paper, it was a packaging update. In practice, the foil meant drink it now or lose it. The brief was to launch the cap in a way that meant something to the people using it.

The insight

People living with PKU don’t see themselves through their condition. They are students, commuters, parents and friends, with days that move to their own rhythm. The foil seal interrupted that rhythm, and the cap gives it back. It doesn’t change the formula. It changes the day.

The idea

Play. Pause. Repeat. Three media-player icons everyone already understands, each mapped to a moment of the day. Play: get on with it. Pause: twist the cap, take a drink. Repeat: reseal it and carry on.

It reads less like healthcare communication and more like a celebration of ordinary life. An animated film sets the pace, and every other touchpoint follows it.

Old and new Cambrooke cartons side by side: foil top and resealable screw cap.
The change itself: from a foil seal to a resealable cap.
Play, pause and repeat icons with their labels, in white on teal.
The idea, reduced to three icons.

Three decisions

Let the icons carry the idea.

Play, pause and repeat need no explanation and no translation. They work as a headline, a graphic device and a punchline in each scene, from a phone screen to a pull-up banner.

Three illustrated panels: a woman at a laptop (play), a carton with headphones (pause), a woman reading on the sofa (repeat).
Each word gets its own moment of the day.

Put the product in the scene, not on a pedestal.

The characters work at laptops, take calls and study on the sofa, with a carton in hand. The drink fits around life, which is the whole point of the cap. I developed the illustration style from a reference and drew the characters and the product.

Three panels: a man on a call, a carton with a microphone, a man pointing at a tablet.
Different people, the same rhythm.
Storyboard frame: a woman with earphones walks past a window, carton in her bag.
A frame from the film’s storyboard.

Make the box play.

The sample box carries three QR codes, one under each word. Each links to a Spotify playlist for that moment: one to keep you moving, one for a pause, one for the comfort of routine. The metaphor doesn’t just sit on the packaging. It plays.

The teal sample box, closed in two hands and open showing the three scenes and QR codes.
Sample box, closed and open.
A phone showing a Spotify playlist with the Play artwork, beside the Pause and Repeat covers.
A playlist for each word.
Press advertisement in a magazine: three scenes stacked with Play, Pause and Repeat, and the line about the resealable cap.
Press advertising. The three scenes read top to bottom.
Three Instagram posts in sequence: Play, Pause, Repeat.
Social, one post per word.
The Cambrooke UK homepage on desktop and mobile with the campaign hero.
Homepage takeover, desktop and mobile.
Three teal pull-up banners stacking the three scenes.
Pull-ups for clinics and events.
The Cambrooke Dream Cap campaign toolkit booklet.
The campaign toolkit for Cambrooke’s teams.

Who did what

The line came out of brainstorming sessions with the creative team. My job was to pick it out and shape it into a campaign. I developed the illustration style, drew the characters and the product, and directed the motion designer who animated the film.

In the client's words

The sample kit has now been sent to all clinics across the DACH region and has been incredibly well received. Since launching the campaign across our website and social channels, we received 34 sample requests in the last month alone, a really significant number given the niche area in which we operate.

Aileen, Cambrooke

What happened next

The sample kit went to every clinic across the DACH region. In its first month online, the campaign brought 34 sample requests.