Innovation and digital health comms recognised at Communiqué Awards

Healthcare communications is continuing to evolve, with the development of digital channels, and ‘co-creation’ of campaigns between pharma and its stakeholders and audience just two of the trends highlighted in this year’s Communiqué Awards.

Combining well-targeted messages which can change behaviour with creative and compelling campaigns remains central to the best work in the field, and a range of categories at Communiqué, held on 4 July, sought to reward these qualities.

Innovation in Healthcare Communications

One high profile winning campaign was Havas Lynx Group’s ‘See Below’ on behalf of Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron.

It won the ‘Innovation in Healthcare Communications’ and ‘Excellence in Communication through Creative Execution’ for the multi-media campaign which aimed to create ‘true behaviour change’ for the launch of the company’s new dermatology product.

At the centre of the campaign was an immersive ‘4D’ experience installed in a lift at the congress centre in Paris.

The immersive '4D' lift experience was the centrepiece of the See Below campaign

The video played while the lift whisked its passengers into the congress, creating a six-minute video ‘experience’ which challenged dermatologists to change the way they treated atopic dermatitis.

In order to target their message, the creative team at the Manchester agency worked with stakeholders from the atopic dermatitis world to create the 4D voyage that dived under the surface of the skin, then up through a pool to visualise the patient’s burden before launching them into space.

The lift was the centrepiece of the booth, styled as a wood panelled Manhattan apartment elevator, and used seven 98” screens, sound design, scene triggered temperature and aroma changes to creative an immersive experience  - and even had a bellhop on hand to usher delegates in.

The Communiqué judges commented: “In a sea of ordinary conference stands, the See Below campaign really stands out. It was able to grab people from the minute they walked out of the Metro to the congress. It felt different, new and fresh and it also succeeded in achieving long term engagement, an outstanding project.

Phil Howells, creative director at Havas Lynx Group said: “We launched ‘See Below’ at the EADV 2018 Congress in Paris and had the dual challenge of promoting a new approach to treating atopic dermatitis in a very competitive space.

“That is where the 4D lift concept was born and the results were fantastic, with 1500 healthcare professionals taking a ride, 5000+ visits to the campaign website during the three days, with website visits further increasing by 72% after the congress.”

He adds: “It was one of those briefs when the client’s requirements met our aspirations – to deliver an impactful, beautiful and powerful campaign that truly changed perceptions. Everyone was really proud of the work we delivered and we’re over the moon to have been acknowledged by Communiqué.”

Excellence in Social Media Strategy

Another field ripe for creative thinking is social media, as it opens up the possibility for genuine interaction with stakeholders. However, in a heavily regulated sector, companies need a well-thought out plan so that their engagement has impact but also compliant.

The winner in this year’s Excellence in Social Media Strategy is#24YouHaveThePower by Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) for Pfizer.

The work was centred around an awareness campaign on meningococcal meningitis, and the need for vaccination, targeting 15-24-year olds – the second highest at-risk group in the UK.

The agency and pharma company devised the #24YouHaveThePower campaign, based on original Pfizer research which showed that adolescents would listen and act on medical advice delivered by their favourite vloggers and bloggers.

The 24youhavethepower website

BCW applied a unique methodology to pinpoint the influencers most effective at engaging and motivating adolescents and their parents to act.

In a campaign first, Pfizer granted full creative licence to ten influencers, armed with just five meningitis facts to help create authentic content with no paid promotion.

This wide variety of social media content helped the campaign reach its target audience more effectively than a pharma company could alone, while complying with ABPI and social channel regulations.

The judges commented: “This is a fantastic initiative truly based on insights from the target audience about influence and behaviour. Using the influencers to develop their own content based on key messages is a brilliant idea to maintain authenticity and have real influence.

“It was well planned, well executed with a commercial metric which is rarely met and demonstrated so clearly as here. It employs a smart awareness strategy which leverages the right voices in a creative way.”

The campaign also won in the Excellence in Patient/Consumer Health Programmes category.

Read about all Communiqué Awards 2019 winners here