Identifying cancer early can give patients the best chance for successful treatment yet - in 2020 - cancer diagnoses fell by a staggering 40% globally. Even a four-week delay in cancer treatment can increase the risk of death by between 6-13% .

AstraZeneca’s purpose is to change the lives of people for the better by eliminating cancer as a cause of death. However, the pandemic derailed this. They set out to rectify the disruption to cancer care services in the UAE while strengthening themselves as an oncology leader.

AstraZeneca’s main communications objective was to get people’s cancer care back on track during the pandemic. Followed by strengthening their position in the healthcare industry through securing new partnerships in the oncology field.

To amplify this message far and wide in the UAE, we needed a highly visual and emotive campaign that harnessed the power of collaboration and had patients’ voices at the very core. Enter New Normal Same Cancer – a national health campaign in the UAE - to drive home the powerful message that cancer doesn’t wait for the pandemic to be over and neither should our audience.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty into our everyday lives. Across the UAE, movement restrictions fluctuated from month to month, meaning any campaign needed to be flexible. We devised a phased campaign throughout the year to attract attention, reiterate urgency and remind people of the other ‘Big-C’: cancer. Embracing lived and real experiences through video underpinned this campaign to connect and move audiences from putting off their visit to the doctor and show them that – when cancer is concerned – every second counts

When researching our target audience – UAE public – we found, in the Arab World, cancer is often shied away from in conversation, people are reluctant to visit their doctor and there is also an ‘infodemic’ caused by an overabundance of health information.

This campaign delivered a simple and effective message with a strong call-to-action to communicate urgency: Don’t wait. Contact your doctor. Get checked.

Social media was identified as a key route to deliver messages to people, given the huge rise in usage during the pandemic among all age groups. It was important that any content was hard-hitting to cut through the clutter. We creatively harnessed the messenger effect through using credible messengers - such as leading UAE patient groups / healthcare professionals - paired with authentic messengers - patients with cancer. Through a patient film, we were able to convey candid experiences and get people talking.

We crafted several bursts of activity throughout the year, sustained with influencer collaborations to drive home the urgency of our public health message.

• Phase 1) Announce: In Gulf Cancer Week, AstraZeneca partnered with Emirates Oncology Society and Friends of Cancer Patients to form a credible alliance

• Phase 2) Surprise: We projected the campaign film on the Burj Khalifa (tallest tower in the world) to attract attention – reaching 35,000 people on the ground. To amplify further, we targeted younger UAE demographics through a Lovin Dubai (692k followers) story takeover to showcase the video to people at home

• Phase 3) Connect: We then showcased real patients’ stories through a hero video. We collaborated with Maha Gorton (11k followers) who has overcome early-stage breast cancer and leveraged the influence of lifestyle publication, Sayidaty, by following the journey of a reporter's screening to convey the safety of UAE hospitals

Social media impact:

Overall, the campaign has had an estimated reach of over 6.7 million on social media in the UAE and achieved over 1 million views.

Our influencer and media partnership activity generated 1.1 million reach, 597k video views and over 11k comments, likes and shares.

Business impact:

One hospital group reported 59% increase in 2021 patient count for oncology services compared to 2020.

Strengthened industry relationships for AstraZeneca by partnering with 2x new hospital groups - (Medcare + Aster) after launch of the campaign.

Dr Humaid Al Shamsi, President of Emirates Oncology Society and Director of VPS Oncology Service: “We are busier than ever. Many patients mentioned they were re-assured when they saw the awareness campaign about the need to get checked.”