Cannes Lions
RUDER FINN, New York / NOVARTIS / 2015
Awards:
Overview
Entries
Credits
Description
Meningococcal disease is sudden, aggressive and can lead to death or cause devastating impacts within 24 hours of onset. As early symptoms are often hard to diagnose, a strong need exists for disease education. To help educate parents on the importance of vaccination, Novartis Vaccines, in partnership with world-renowned photographer Anne Geddes and the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) (Australia) launched the global campaign, Protecting Our Tomorrows: Portraits of Meningococcal Disease. The project aimed to broaden awareness of the importance of vaccination to help prevent meningococcal disease, by illustrating the disease in a way that has never been done before: celebrating beauty and strength. Geddes traveled the globe photographing 15 survivors and their families; the images were compiled into a free eBook, launched on World Meningitis Day, April 24, 2014, which became the #1 Top Free Release in iBooks’ Arts & Entertainment section.
Execution
Conducted photo shoots with 15 meningococcal disease survivors from 12 countries in Sydney, London and Toronto, creating unique images for eBook that also tell impactful visual stories online/in print (2013-2014)
On World Meningitis Day, launched eBook (iBooks), supported by photo exhibits/press events in Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Brazil, global press release (2014)
London: A 3,400 bear-strong “Teddy Bear Picnic” installation illustrated UK meningitis incidence/mortality rate (2013)
Canberra: Geddes addressed Australian Parliament about campaign (2014)
Washington DC: Unveiled images with art exhibition/speaker panel; partnered with advocacy groups (2015)
Ottawa: Geddes met with First Lady of Canada, Minister of Health, spoke at CIC. Geddes/affected families shared experiences with Senators, Members of Parliament (2014)
Developed first-ever meningitis Tumblr; served as a global, central campaign hub with regularly updated creative content (2014)
Leveraged Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to showcase survivors’ visual stories across all Novartis, Geddes and CoMO platforms, achieving surround sound/increasing reach
Outcome
eBook became the #1 Top Free Release in the iBooks Arts & Entertainment section
Average global user rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 200+ positive customer reviews
12,625 downloads to-date
Generated significant real-time engagement and participation on social media platforms from parents, survivors, medical professionals and advocates
Saw traction via Geddes’ online community: they embraced and supported campaign by sharing, liking and commenting on all campaign-related posts
Gathered strong online support from worldwide advocacy group community
29,000+ Tumblr page views to-date from users across 116 countries
Twitter hours/takeover resulted in organic shares, program visibility
Primary driver of #meningitis and #WorldMeningitisDay2014
Videos received 25,000+ views to-date
Utilizing various channels for media efforts as global program owner, garnered 175+ Million impressions in traditional media
9 countries secured at least one national placement
100% of coverage was positive/neutral in tone
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12 items