Meningitis B is a contagious and deadly disease. With symptoms similar to the flu, it can present as something less serious, but untreated, MenB can kill in 24 hours or leave victims limbless.

While incidence is relatively low, awareness was extremely low (11%). Because college students are living in close quarters, sharing drinks, and being social, the risk of contracting Men B more than triples at college. Vaccinations are a regular part of school life, but MenB isn’t required and wasn’t top of mind for students or parents as they prepared for college.

Our challenge was clear. We needed to motivate parents to make protecting against MenB a priority. We needed to get the risk on Mom’s radar and get her to add this to her child’s back-to-school checklist. First by closing the knowledge gap in MenB education and then by driving Moms to get their teens vaccinated with Bexsero.

The fast-acting nature of Meningitis B is one of the most devastating aspects of the disease and there’s not much that can be done once infected. This is scary for moms as they’ve spent nearly two decades protecting their child from any harm. Our creative warned moms just how quickly Meningitis B could strike, invoking the emotions that naturally come with caring for a child.

Our campaign used illustration, a stylistic approach not frequently used in pharmaceutical advertising, and was purposely selected to break through the clutter. The style, supported by the iconic imagery portrayed throughout all assets and communications, also helped contrast the joy of sending a teen to college with the devastation of Meningitis B, a disease that could change everything in 24 hours.

Overall, our campaign communicates one strong call to action. Moms can help prevent Meningitis B by taking the time to get their child vaccinated.

Mom is CEO of health in the family, and for the first 18 years of life, Mom’s role is to protect and shield her child from the dangers of the outside world. But as her teen prepares to leave the nest for the first time and move away to college, a new motivation steps in – she transitions into reverse nesting mode. Stepping back, and setting up, readying her kids for the real world.

Our strategy attached protection against Men B to this reverse nesting process by showing that Mom’s wouldn’t have time to stop Men B unless they prevent it in the first place. If they lose that moment to protect the child, it’s gone - Meningitis B leaves no time for second chances.

Strategic idea: Protecting against Men B is the most important thing on your 'reverse nesting' checklist that you aren’t thinking of.

College move in day is the “Super Bowl” of reverse nesting, so partnering with a back to school retailer was crucial to be seen as part of this process. We partnered with Bed Bath and Beyond on a national scale in-store, on campus, and in digital placements to make meningitis B a natural part of the back-to-school preparation. We also targeted moms through TV and print publications. The campaign further reinforced our message through less traditional channels such as digital and social media, including Facebook and Instagram. Our influencer strategy used real survivors to connect with the community via an authentic voice.

Our campaign ran from May through December to ensure we reached moms as they began preparing to send their teens off to school through the holiday season when teens return home for vacation.

The campaign surpassed all goals, ultimately delivering 14% of the total 25% growth the brand experienced. That equated to an incremental 500k doses administered against this deadly disease. Mom’s intent to vaccinate metrics were strong at ~52%, which is greater than industry and vaccines benchmarks (43%).

Our back-to-school partnership with Bed Bath and Beyond (BBB) generated an impressive 3.6 million impressions via the partnership. We had ~47% engagement with our activation events and 1 in 3 people who came in store took an action to learn more. The digital components drove mass awareness amongst mother and teen audiences with over 2.3 million CRM impressions and over 8.7 million digital impressions. During the campaign, we saw a 14% increase in daily site visits compared to 2017 and a 5% - 11% increase in daily site visits compared to months directly prior and after the campaign.