Excellence in Engagement through Digital Channels

Summary of work

Our client was launching a breakthrough rheumatology treatment at the American College of Rheumatology 2020 annual conference. However, COVID meant a face-to-face meeting wasn’t possible and we were tasked with recreating the benefits of a face-to-face conference in a virtual environment. Having spoken to KOLs, we knew their main concern with a virtual conference was missing the opportunity to discuss key topics and new data with their peers. Based on this insight, we built our virtual ACR experience around live sessions and group discussion.
We also wanted our virtual world to feel exciting and have the buzz of a ‘real’ event. Our teams created a mountainous theme of ‘Up for the Challenge’ and used the ON24 webinar platform to create an immersive virtual world that HCPs could explore. This meant we could avoid the didactic, cold webinar experience and create a sense of community. We achieved this through group break-out rooms and 1-to-1 sessions, as well as meet-and-greet sessions where everyone could have those invaluable conversations they would normally have on-stand. We maintained the momentum post-event by providing a podcast series, interactive digital infographics and on-demand webinars so busy rheumatologists could engage in their own time.

Judges' comments

The ‘Up for the Challenge’ entry had very clear objectives, the targeted personal invites were done really well and this showed in the great feedback that was received. It was interesting to see their use of getting a sense of community together before, during and after the congress. It was fit for purpose and they liked the use of 1-1 meetings.