Finalist
Utilising social media to reach new overactive bladder patients
Summary of work
Since 2009, Astellas have been running a disease awareness programme in the area of Overactive Bladder (OAB) to raise awareness and to educate and empower patients to take control over their symptoms. The programme is multi-channelled covering TV, press, bus and tube and toilet door advertising. Underpinning all activities is the website www.bladderproblem.co.uk, which acts as a central point for directing patients for further information and advice.
Astellas, working with Big Pink, wanted to maximise the output of interactions with the website to ensure that patients felt empowered to seek treatment from their GP (the overall objective of the campaign) instead of just using the website for further information. The project was to evolve the website, based on research and patient understanding, to increase patients’ confidence to ask their GP for treatment and to demonstrate that self-management steps had already been undertaken.
This was an exciting project using innovative research to understand how the website was currently used and to direct improvements and drawing on FMCG techniques in a new way.
Judges’ comments
This was a really nice market development campaign. The application of FMCG techniques focused on ‘conversion’ went beyond traditional disease awareness efforts to direct potential patients to GPs. This was a beautifully executed and effective website that produced great results backed up by a follow-up survey.
