Situation: Among uncontrolled asthmatics, there is a fundamental lack of awareness of allergic asthma as well as a prevailing complacency about their current treatment regimens.

Challenge: Many allergic asthma sufferers don’t realize their asthma is triggered by allergens. In order to encourage self-identification/hand-raising, we needed to shake uncontrolled asthmatics out of their complacency by making them aware that they could have allergic asthma.

Assignment: Create a campaign to help asthma sufferers recognize allergic asthma as a separate and treatable condition, emphasizing “active avoidance” of allergens as a behavior to which any sufferer can relate.

Audience: Uncontrolled asthmatics who feel they’re doing everything they can to control their asthma, but suffer under the constant threat of recurring attacks. Their asthma negatively impacts their quality of life, and, in the absence of a viable treatment, they’ve become resigned to the “new normal” of using active avoidance behaviors to control their asthma.

Strategy: Know the whole story.

Campaign Execution: Print, display, search, website with social experience, relationship marketing, in-office posters and brochures.

Outcome: Increased awareness of allergic asthma among sufferers by at least 5% to date. 68% of people who visit allergicasthma.com say that they will talk to their doctor about allergic asthma.

The campaign launched in October, 2013. It’s live in banners and print across endemic and health-and-wellness websites and magazines, and as posters and brochures in doctors’ offices. All tactics drive to allergicasthma.com where visitors can share on the Awareness Wall opt in for additional information, including two emails and a direct mail piece (which includes a peak flow meter to help patients monitor their asthma control).

The Shadows campaign creative used hyperbole to recreate the world of allergic asthma sufferers. Through striking and unexpected visuals, they recognize the fear they live with every day—the same fear that their friends and family fail to understand. The campaign provokes self-identification, helping patients feel understood, then motivated to share their experience with their doctor and others (via the Awareness Wall) in the hopes of finding a better way.

The goal of the unbranded campaign is to compel patients to speak with their doctors about allergic asthma. Exit surveys at allergicasthma.com show that we’ve succeeded, with 68% of patients stating that they intend to speak with their doctors.

The campaign increased allergic asthma awareness by ~5% (after 5 months), with .18% CTR (125% above benchmark); we attracted over 470,000 visits to the website; and some 1,341 people signed up to receive more information about allergic asthma.

The Allergic Asthma Awareness Wall created an opportunity for engagement and allowed patients to share and create awareness among their peers. There were 17,907 instances of Awareness Wall (social) clicks.