2022 Winners & Shortlists

Background

Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (wAMD) is a debilitating disease that can lead to vision loss if left untreated. There is a low level of awareness on the disease and more particularly on the burden of the disease in interfering with patients everyday life. The brief was to shed light on the emotional aspect of the disease, magnify the suffering of patients and draw attention to the importance of proper diagnosis, management and disease awareness. We were also to educate ophthalmologists that wAMD had a viable treatment through a series of medically proven eye injections. Our objective was to raise awareness on wAMD, visualize patient suffering and show the possibilities of how the right treatment can transform the lives of wAMD patients. For ophthalmologists, the task was to increase awareness of the medical treatment via Novartis' Beovu injection that ultimately allows patients to live without any visual impairment and burden.

Describe the strategy

We created a localized initiative ‘See the world through their eyes’ - a series of emotional testimonial films by actual wAMD patients that encouraged others to get their eyes tested. To make our communication more effective we used a unique font based on studies published by the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science journal. This cemented our selection of the Maxular font that would help those with wAMD symptoms to read better. To reach our key audiences, we needed to communicate directly with them and showcase the power of wAMD treatment and how it could change their lives for the better. We targeted ophthalmologists directly through a specialized event at the Expo 2020 and for wAMD patients, we targeted both caregivers and wAMD patients on social channels to maximize reach of our message.

Describe the execution

To maximize impact, the launch of the campaign was planned to coincide with World Sight Day on October 14th, 2021 to amplify the conversation around wAMD. We targeted Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) through tailor-made content and reached out to them at the Expo 2020 through a special event at the Novartis Exhibition booth. This involved a combination of sales force interaction and the playing of a series of digital videos that were showcased on an interactive kiosk. For the patients, we created specialized World Sight Day content to have the maximum reach and impact for our message. The emotional content and first person narrative of the wAMD patient brought to life the message of hope and positivity. The campaign was broadcasted on local congress channels of Emirates Society Of Ophthalmology & Evolving Practice of Ophthalmology Middle East Conference in addition to Novartis Facebook & Instagram channels.

List the results

We reached 180,000 people at Expo 2020 that mainly comprised of ophthalmologists, key medical leaders, healthcare professionals, and the medical fraternity, increasing overall disease awareness of the wAMD condition. As a result of our efforts on World Sight Day, scheduled and attended eye appointments went up as much as 35% compared to previous years and as a result we were able to help over 450 patients get diagnosed with wAMD in time. Moreover, the entire campaign and activation resulted in an estimated 20% increase in awareness of the wAMD patient burden.