Eradicated in 1980, smallpox has re-emerged as a modern threat. Highly contagious, it has a mortality rate of 30%. Intelligence communities have warned of smallpox being leveraged as a bioweapon.

Most countries have vaccine stockpiles as their main mitigation, but between logistical complications and a limited window in which infected people can be vaccinated, their main countermeasure may not be enough to contain an outbreak.

We had to drive understanding of the modern threat of smallpox and its impact to educate ministries of health and defense on the need to invest in a more comprehensive response plan, as vaccines alone may not be enough to contain the virus.

Government officials across ministries of public health and defense may not think of smallpox as a current threat compared to other more looming present threats. And even if they did, they feel prepared due to their vaccine stockpiles.

How do you illustrate the potential threat of a weaponized deployment of a disease that has been eradicated for 40 years?

We brought the data to life through the Smallpox Simulator: a digital tool that leverages epidemiological literature on previous smallpox outbreaks, scientific literature on modeling the spread and casualties of infectious diseases, and data visualization technology to animate a smallpox outbreak in various countries.

We started with a 2001 CDC mathematical model to show the effect of mitigations on a smallpox outbreak. We then incorporated other data sources to contextualize the outputs and make them relevant.

The Smallpox Simulator accomplished 2 main objectives: 1) it showed officials what could happen in their own countries, and 2) it showed that vaccines alone might not be enough to contain the early spread of disease.

We needed a data strategy to prepare governments for the potential of a man-made smallpox outbreak in a way that was both credible and viscerally compelling.

To be credible, we modernized a 20-year-old CDC research paper into a contemporary Python data model to predict the deadly impact that releasing the disease would have in today’s environment. This required incorporating new elements and issues commonplace in a post-pandemic world, like social distancing, into the original model, which never envisioned COVID-19.

To be compelling, we animated a smallpox outbreak over 120 days across 9 countries using a GeoJSON-driven map interface. The data visualizations illustrate how quickly hospitals are overwhelmed, infections spread, and deaths accumulate, eliminating any doubt about the dangers of smallpox.

We chose 120 days to show the rapid impact smallpox could have before vaccines could be fully deployed. Country-specific results showed officials how smallpox might spread across their nation.

Once the simulator was complete, we developed an implementation guide to serve as a resource for the sales team during their individual meetings.

To launch the Simulator and facilitate a successful handoff between Marketing and Direct Sales, we hosted a training session for our client. Here, we explained how to leverage the Simulator in combination with the full suite of disease state awareness material to drive tailored conversations about smallpox preparedness. We also provided an overview of key messages and prepared the salesforce for various questions prospects may have.

The Smallpox Simulator was released to Meridian’s salesforce to support conversations in 9 countries across the EU, Asia, and the Middle East.

- Impacted the client immediately by providing the sales team with an elevated sales experience backed by data, technology, and cohesive creative.

- Modernized the Meridian Medical Technologies brand experience to match the credibility and innovation of their products and services.

- Leveraged data, technology, and design to visualize the more complex aspects of a smallpox outbreak, such as rapid spread of disease, potential hospital impact, potential GDP impact, and mortality rates.

- Drove urgency of our audience’s understanding of the impact of smallpox. This audience consisted of influential decision makers, across 9 countries, responsible for almost 350 million people throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.