2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Boehringer Ingelheim launched its MENA Stroke Initiative, part of the company’s global Angels program; dedicated to deliver quality treatment for stroke patients across the MENA. The aim was to increase the number of stroke ready hospitals. It was created to inspire and empower HCPs, and more importantly, to give patients a second chance at life.

Execution

In launching the MENA Stroke Initiative, we introduced the SITS (Safe Implementation of Treatment in Stroke) Certification –helping the UAE become the first country in the region to establish a stroke center of excellence. Given the prevalence of stroke in the country and the region, the initiative’s objectives were to encourage the rollout and development of dedicated stroke centers. We structured Boehringer Ingelheim’s point of view around the following aims: -Accelerating the decreasing door to needle times -Support in establishing a dedicated stroke unit in hospitals which will directly lead to faster and better patient outcomes -Creating strong awareness levels of good stroke management across communities and healthcare professionals.

UAE Regional health authorities reacted by proactively speaking about stroke management. Dr. Abdulla Al-Rukn, Neurology Consultant and Stroke Specialist, pointed out to notable awareness levels amongst visiting patients following the program rollout. Patients were basically referring straight to the stories and interviews that were being published and online content. Also, the MoH is working closely with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop more stroke centers across hospitals in remote areas, while also collaborating on education programs that are targeted to families, patients and other healthcare professionals. Saudi The Saudi German Hospital announced its partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim to open its stroke unit to provide immediate medical attention for stroke patients with all types of stroke. Egypt The Ministry of Health has officially welcomed the plan to launch comprehensive protocols to manage and treat strokes by reimbursing Ingelheim’s Actilyse. Also, we launched the region’s biggest stroke center in partnership with the Egyptian government.

The Situation

The impact of Boehringer Ingelheim’s initiative in the region has resulted in creating a strong communications cadence across multiple stakeholders to truly build a conversation that feeds to the right channels and ultimately encourage decision makers to develop more stroke centers, and help save people’s lives. Efforts were centered on creating an integrated sustainable campaign that would prompt behavioral change and a call-to-action to the MENA.

The Strategy

The agency partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim’s team to map leading healthcare professionals in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, and South Africa, develop the campaign’s key messages, and strategic communications, media relations priorities, and manage conference, medical practitioners and regional media logistics. We localized insights and content from each of the six countries while also providing a comprehensive regional input. Campaign content was also adapted to drive more traction across social media platforms and engage with leading publications on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We ran an onsite press office function and media center to manage news distribution, securing interviews with top Boehringer Ingelheim executives as well as senior participating cardiologists and neurologists from the region. Also, marketing activities were developed to complement our overall strategy, targeting HCPs and government decision makers. In addition, in an effort to tap into the online discussion we ran digital content.