What would it take for a patient with inflammatory bowel disease to step forward? Courage. Any pharma campaign that wanted to reach this audience needed a genuine understanding of what IBD patients go through. So for starters, we listened. Through global focus groups we heard stories of everyday struggles with an insidious enemy; how stigma and misunderstanding forced patients to lead secret lives; how even a moment of normalcy made them feel powerful.

This wasn’t the language of institutional pharma. It was a story more familiar to pop culture. So we built the campaign around a world where misunderstood outsiders find their courage and calling, a place where IBD patients could create the alter egos they always dreamed of.

Meet The Unbeatables: five characters with real-world lives and diverse super powers, teaming up in an ongoing graphic novel to knock IBD out of the shadows.

•Created The Unbeatables, a team of Super Heroes depicting the daily battles and inner strengths of IBD patients and caregivers.

•Launched IBD Unmasked, a graphic novel series to serve as an ongoing platform for IBD awareness.

•Created IBDUnmasked.com campaign hub, translated into three languages, including The Unbeatables content, behind-the-scenes videos, a create-your-own-superhero widget, professional healthcare tips, and conversation guides for friends and family.

•Assembled team of spokespeople ranging from IBD specialists and patients, to comic book legends, including Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza.

•Worked with patient bloggers in IBD community to develop and promote campaign content.

•Collaborated with local advocacy groups including the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and Crohn’s & Colitis Canada to engage IBD patients directly.

•Hosted IBD Unmasked booths at MCM London and Chicago Comic Con events (230,000 attendees).

•Launched Takeda’s first unbranded Twitter account — @IBDunmasked.

•Launched campaign around the globe in 11 markets, including Canada, Spain and Singapore.

Going beyond awareness, IBD Unmasked helped empower IBD patients to be their own best advocates; engaging with each other, with the public and with the medical community. The campaign increased competitive share of voice by 200%, drove unprecedented social media engagement and high-valued actions, and most importantly, inspired many IBD patients to go public with their condition for the first time. As one put it: “My IBD used to make me feel like a mutant. Today I found out I’m a Super Hero.”

• 100+ original articles and clips to date, including print, online, broadcast and radio, generating more than 672.5 million earned impressions worldwide.

• 84,000+ unique visits to IBDunmasked.com

o 12,900+ high-value actions, including downloads and shares

o 100,500+ page views of IBDunmasked.com

o Average time spent on site: 1:55

o 3,400+ digital comic book reads

o 1,500+ infographic downloads via the website

o 3,000+ clicks to Takeda.com (or Entyvio.com on the U.S. site only)

• 8.8+ million social media impressions (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram).

o 500+ uses of the campaign hashtag, #IBDunmasked

• Paid media support on Outbrain, Twitter and Google AdWords has performed above industry averages.

• 521+ million paid distribution media impressions.

Increased awareness of IBD and visibility for Takeda

In less than six months following launch, the campaign earned a 21% competitive SOV within the overall social IBD conversation, an increase of 200% from the previous year. The brand saw key message inclusion in 98% of earned articles and 99% of social posts.