Finalist
Making ERBITUX Matter: Born Fighters Campaign
Summary of work
Merck Serono UK wanted to revitalise the perception of its personalised medicine ERBITUX to physicians treating patients with two types of cancer. ERBITUX was originally approved by the EMA in 2004 based on the pivotal CRYSTAL study results for colorectal cancer, and 2006 based on the pivotal BONNER study results for head and neck cancer.
Seven years later, these studies are still the primary source of clinical evidence used to promote the use of ERBITUX in colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer.
Because the colorectal indication requires the use of a biomarker and the head and neck cancer condition does not, the competition focused on convincing physicians it was the “easier” choice and positioned biomarker testing as a burden rather than a tool to guide treatment decisions which was inconsistently applied depending on indication.
The creative approach across sales materials needed to be informative, compelling and consistent – while allowing for different indications – to facilitate physician dialogue beyond the traditional “data drone”. The result was “Born Fighters” – who represent all patients who deserve a fighting chance to defend their lives against cancer.
Executive summary as submitted
Judges’ comments
"Merck Serono successfully humanised the brand with work that won praise internally and produced good results based on rebranding the ERBITUX sales aid.
In changing its approach from data-driven to patient-centric, the company created a large increase in message recall among the target customer base and a directly attributable sales uplift."
