Arthritis Revealed Global Campaign

Research conducted by GCI Health and Harris Poll on behalf of Pfizer showed that people living with chronic rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are settling for treatment that only makes them feel "good enough," despite better treatment being available.

So we set out to create a global campaign, Arthritis Revealed, that encourages those living with RA to speak their [hidden] truths, and to stop settling for a treatment that doesn’t address their symptoms or meet their lifestyle needs. It’s the result of extensive global research that gets at psychological barriers to progressing in a patient’s treatment journey.

Arthritis Revealed was designed to stretch across web, social media, video, and in the doctor’s office and made for 20+ markets including US, Canada, U.K., Finland, France, Japan, Turkey, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

Development of the campaign was designed to adhere to Pfizer’s new “Glocal” model of development by creating a global campaign that can be adapted for local use and efficiency. As a result of our successes in both adoption by local markets and engagement from patients worldwide, our “Glocal” campaign is considered the gold standard at Pfizer.

Problem

Patients are settling for a treatment that makes them feel "good enough," despite better treatments being available. 

Target

Women in their 40-50s with RA. They are heavy social media users and go online to research their disease, treatment options and find support.  

RA usually impacts three key areas of patients’ lives: social, career and personal. They like to be social, but the disease is taxing and if they are very active one day they will need to rest for a couple of days to deal with the swelling and pain. Settling patients tend to be more affected by pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance. They are unable to commit fully to work or relationships. Patients call off sick and sometimes need to quit their careers entirely. They’re less able to support their family and depend more on their partner in daily activities, such as childcare. They feel like they've lost their true selves and feel powerless to their disease. 

Insight

​​​​​​​Sometimes people living with RA don’t fully share how they are feeling with their HCPs, family or caregivers. A fear of change, a lack of awareness around options or even resignation can keep patients from having open conversations with their physicians and others.

• 81% of patients who were on a RA prescription medication said they were satisfied with their RA medication regimen, yet only 35% of patients would describe their disease as under control. [i]

• 70% of physicians said their patients settle for a treatment that makes them feel “good enough.” [ii]

• Patients (84%) reported they are satisfied with the communication they have with their HCP, yet 31% of patients worry that if they ask too many questions, their HCP will see them as difficult and it will affect the quality of their care. [ii]

Campaign

Instead of telling the truth to their friends, families, or doctors, people living with RA often hide behind kinder, gentler words like, “I’m fine,” “It’s OK,” or “No big deal.” Our goal was show people living with RA how their own kinder, gentler words are the true enemy. Let’s empower them by showing that they can control RA better than they think, by finding the courage to speak up with their doctor.

Pfizer identified three patient attitudes impacting progression to advanced therapy:

• Resigned: Patients tell doctors they are doing well because they don’t think they’ve reached their worst or underreport symptoms because they don’t want to make a fuss

• Unaware: Patients have accepted their new normal and assume there’s not a better treatment out there

• Nervous: Patients fear the unknown (side effects mentioned: Pneumonia, increased risk of infection, increase cholesterol, impact on diabetes, cancer risk [DE], injections, etc.). Some are dissatisfied with symptoms but are too nervous to make a change

The Arthritis Revealed campaign is powered by 15-second video assets designed for social media and digital mediums to capture attention by helping patients overcome inertia and amplify patient engagement in their health outcomes.

Patient Journey

Using targeted video channels, primarily Facebook where our targets spent time online daily, local Pfizer markets ran 15-second Arthritis Revealed videos that led rheumatoid arthritis patients to a respective landing page to download a conversation guide to enhance their upcoming conversations with their doctor.

Measurement

In its first six months Arthritis Revealed yielded 50x the projected click-thru rate (CTR) benchmark, showcasing impressive campaign visibility and patient interest in learning more. Our doctor conversation download guide exceeded its benchmark 16-fold, indicating that this campaign activated thousands of people living with RA globally encouraging them to speak to their rheumatologist about modifying their disease management plan.

Creative Direction: Kevin McMonagle

Art Direction: Taya Subbotnikova

Copywriting: Victory Soares and Dan Weber

Producer: Michelle Cuccini-Hicks

UX: Mari Thomas

Strategy: Raquel Harrah

Measurement: Marie Thomas

Account Management: Alix Montes

Project Management: Chris Bowerbank and Kate Sobel