Innovation in Healthcare Communications

Summary of work

RMDs (rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases) such as arthritis affect one in four people living in the European Union. While people often talk about RMDs as an ‘older person’s problem,’ the reality is that RMDs affect people of all ages, from babies to young children to working age adults.

To counteract misconception and stigma and raise awareness of the universal impact of RMDs, The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) turned misconceptions about RMDs into the hallmark of our campaign. ‘High 5 for World Arthritis Day’ (#WADHigh5) turned a powerful action - a high five - into a simple, positive visual unifier. We engaged a new audience (18-34 year olds) in an integrated online and offline campaign including completely new platforms (Instagram and a new website) and new tactics (bespoke content-sharing tools; youth group and targeted influencer engagement; year-long campaign roll-out).

Judges' comments

This was a creative and well-executed multichannel campaign that employed good channel planning in its use of Instagram. We were very impressed by the engagement levels among the 25-34 age range and overall by its high impact in terms of reach. It was a campaign that really listened to patients