It often happens that a corporate campaign is either ignored or not fully understood by the people actually working for the company. Biogen’s new corporate campaign, developed by Sudler & Hennessey, is patient-centric and represents a name that emerges from the genetic codes. The creative idea was to invite Biogen’s staff to personalize the campaign with their own name and a unique headline, and to then participate in the competition.

A number of subsequent emails were created to invite people to view the corporate campaign that was about to be released to the media. Through the creation of a template, people could easily personalize their ads by including their name and their unique headline. Such ads were then submitted to a jury comprised by Biogen’s Board of Directors, who would then select the top 10 ads and the winner. The winning ad and top 10 were then transformed into big posters and placed permanently in the office spaces, for instance in the hall and meeting rooms.

The event was very successful, it created enthusiasm and involvement: +60% of Biogen Italy’s staff participated in the contest and created a personalized ad. The winning ad moved both Jury and colleagues: it was created by a young intern called Fabio, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. The headline read: “The courage to be part of it”.