339 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, yet a large number don’t control their disease well. Many chronic patients habitually rely on short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) inhalers to provide a “quick fix” during an asthma attack, instead of using daily long-acting inhalers that control the disease over time. Overuse of SABA is a systemic and dangerous problem.

In 2019, international guidelines from the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) urged doctors to stop treating asthma symptoms solely with SABA inhalers.

Our client wanted an unbranded public health campaign to drive positive change in asthma care. We needed to address the misuse of SABA inhalers among patients and the doctors prescribing it.

Our goal was to create a global campaign, that would raise awareness among asthma sufferers and primary care doctors. To convey the systemic SABA over-reliance problem putting patients at increased risk of preventable asthma attacks.

Primary and secondary research told us that apathy and emotional attachment were the primary barriers to optimum asthma behaviours, so our campaign creative needed to shock and grab the attention of patients.

Our disruptive creative direction brought the harrowing, broken cycle of SABA overuse to life. We depicted asthma patients sleepwalking into a dystopian fairy-tale in asthma care. The mindless and systemic nature of SABA over-reliance creatively reimagined through the grotesque physical embodiment of these inhalers.

We devised an omni-channel programme to reach patients at inhaler trigger points, encouraging them to rethink their SABA dependency.

Our research indicated the importance of video formats on social which fed into our choice of creative approach. Assets ranged from long-form (60-second on Facebook) to shorter formats (20-seconds on Instagram). The shorter-form content took key ‘climactic’ parts of the hero film to immediately grab attention in the opening seconds of the ad.

To ensure global relevance and uptake of the campaign, creative was tested in multiple markets, with diverse casting as a key requirement during production.

In collaboration with respiratory and behavioural change experts, our client developed an interactive self-assessment test (The Reliever Reliance Test) to help patients recognise if they were over-reliant on their SABA inhaler. ‘Over-reliers’ are encouraged to download their results, and visit their doctor to discuss an asthma management plan if found ‘at risk’.

The campaign was designed to provide regular touchpoints across multiple online and offline channels, to drive the patients through the conversion funnel. As well as executing a three-month campaign in a priority market, Canada, we developed a global toolkit to allow local markets to effectively execute the campaign across multiple timescales.

The omni-channel plan included AI-powered personalized Facebook and Instagram ads; contextual programmatic display; YouTube pre-roll; and out-of-home. Social ads were developed with ‘trigger moments’ in mind, and activated based on the patient's local real-time environmental factors (pollen, temperature, air pollution.)

All media channels drove to a campaign website, rateyourreliance.com, where patients could view the hero video, learn more about SABA over-reliance, and complete the Rate Your Reliance test.

The campaign has been successfully implemented across 18 countries with the backing of 32 medical groups and patient bodies including: GAAP, Asthma Canada, Quebec Lung, Lebanese Pulmonary Society; Argentine Association of Respiratory Medicine; Asthma & Allergy Association Singapore; and many others who identified with the importance of the campaign’s message.

Prior to launch, core elements of the campaign were quantitatively evaluated in market research. We discovered:

The percentage of patients who said they were using their inhaler more than they should rose from 32% to 52%

The percentage of PCPs who said they were very concerned about SABA overuse rose from 41% to 63%.

The campaign has exceeded industry benchmarks and achieved: 412,517,556 global impressions; 1,024,026 engagements with content (and unique website visits); 46,740 Reliever Reliance Test completions with 85% of patients reporting SABA over-reliance, and 42% advising they plan to see an HCP because of the campaign.