Situation:

Our business challenge wasn’t just about endometriosis, but the fact that, from the moment they start to menstruate, women are told not to complain. Painful periods are just what happens, it’s normal. Suck it up.

This means that for woman living with endometriosis pain, her first instinct isn’t that something might be wrong, but that this is just something she has to live with. In fact, her pain is often dismissed by doctors, family members and friends. And as she continues to “suck it up,” she just perpetuates the myth that women CAN push through their pain.

Brief:

Women needed to feel empowered to speak up for themselves. To know that this pain isn’t normal.

Objective:

SpeakENDO was designed to tell women that this pain is NOT in their head, and give them the tools to speak up about their pain and demand better care.

Knowing that women are conditioned NOT to speak up about menstrual pain, we needed to uncover a way to demonstrate that:

1. Speaking up is VALUABLE (so there was something in it for her)

2. Speaking up is ACHIEVABLE (we had to give her a way to make it happen).

Through market research with over 1,000 women and doctors, we identified a key moment of meaning: whether they were undiagnosed or diagnosed, women often left appointments with an inner voice telling them they should have said something different, something more. THIS was the moment we needed to tap into.

Channeling that inner voice—the “Inner Endo”—became the core of our campaign. By bringing this character to life through TV/OLV, we showed women the value of fully expressing herself to a doctor. By directing her to SpeakENDO.com, the go-to resource for endometriosis, we gave her the tools to do so.

• Target audience (consumer demographic/individuals/ organisations)

Whether they had an endometriosis diagnosis or not, we focused on targeting women with the heaviest burden of pelvic pain. Many of these women are millennials, which helped inform our media choices. We identified segments most in need of information and encouragement to speak up about their symptoms. Not only because they were women most in need of our help, but because they were the ones most likely to take the action to speak to their doctor if and when a new treatment became available.

• Integration –

A robust ecosystem of tactics/tools activates women to speak up.

• Approach –

Every woman has an inner voice encouraging her to speak up, not to hold back—even at the doctor’s office. The strategic idea behind the SpeakENDO campaign was to give every woman’s “inner endo” a megaphone, so that endometriosis pain won’t be ignored again.

• Implementation –

A robust ecosystem of tactics launched in early 2018, highlighted by two TV spots running on national broadcast and online, driving to SpeakENDO.com—the go-to resource for endometriosis education and tools.

A robust media plan included a variety of drivers: paid search, display banners, native ads, online videos, streaming radio and sponsored social posts.

For those seeking more information about endometriosis, SpeakENDOO.com provided the tools they need to have a productive discussion with their doctor; whether it’s a symptom quiz, a doctor discussion guide or education from the “Inner Workings” video. They can also hear from real women who have been there and share their own stories. For more information, they can register for ongoing communications.

• Timeline – Launched January 2018

• Placement – media targeted to women of age 18-34

• Scale – all consumers (to target the 1 in 10 women with endometriosis)

• Reach –

< 4.5 million visits to SpeakENDO.com within first year

• Engagement –

< ¼ completed the symptom quiz

< 7/10 continued to engage on the site, spending an average of 2:31 on site

< 232,553 video views on SpeakENDO.com 33% completion rate

< 15,756 users enrolled in CRM

• Impact –

< Just one month after the campaign launched, unaided endometriosis awareness increased 34% among undiagnosed women and 27% among diagnosed women

< An uptick in office and activated patients in 2018

< +7% growth in patient visits to Ob/Gyn

< +35% growth in newly coded patients

• Achievement against business targets –

< As of November 2018,

< More than half of undiagnosed women expressed the intent to discuss their pelvic pain with the doctor

< 2 out of 3 diagnosed women expressed the intent to discuss their pelvic pain with the doctor