This animated short film is aimed at both parents with MS and their young children.

Primarily: Children aged 7-11 and their mother living with relapsing MS.

Secondarily: Children aged 7-11 and their father, grandparent, or other family member living with relapsing MS.

The intersection between kids and pharmaceutical marketing is one that’s highly regulated. The FDA oversees regulation for prescription drugs. This animated short was done for MS LifeLines, the support program for Rebif® (interferon beta-1a), a treatment for relapsing MS. Plus, the FTC oversees any advertising to children.

Instead of approaching the brief by giving children a dumbed-down version of a science video, we chose to look at things from a child’s point of view. “You See, I See: Helping Kids Learn About MS” shows how one boy sees his mom’s struggle with MS differently than the rest of the world, literally, through a lens of love.

Our device? Young Zach’s “Magic glasses” that help him see what others can’t, like how hard his mom works and how much she loves him. They also let viewers see fun, but accurate analogies that explain MS symptoms as he answers his friend Sophie’s questions. Together, in three-and-a-half minutes, they cover many concerns MS parents say their kids worry about. Watching Zach and Sophie talk will help kids understand MS and not feel so isolated and afraid, while taking some pressure off their mom, dad, or grandparent to have that conversation.

After reviewing several proposals from animation houses around the world, we selected a company in London to produce “I See, You See.” They were supplied the basic concept and script, from which they developed character drawings and storyboards. Throughout the winter of ’16-‘17, we worked with the director and producer to refine the look of the characters and develop the animation, while simultaneously gathering approvals from clients and blessings from the legal and regulatory review teams. Original music was composed in the UK. Voices were cast, recorded, and mixed in NYC.

The final video went live on the MS LifeLines YouTube page (YouTube.com/RelapsingMSTreatment) April 5, 2017 with promotions planned for the MS LifeLines Facebook page (facebook.com/mslifelines) and Tumblr page (tumblr.com/mslifelines) as well as through PR and promotion at live events like the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

Among mothers living with MS, the animated short film has really struck a chord. Moms who have watched became emotional and have told us they are eager to share with their children. Mothers have said things like, “I really wish I had this when I told my kids about my MS.” And the best thing is that most Moms have told us that we “don’t speak down to kids.” A great compliment indeed.

Although the short animation only launched on April 5, 2017, “You See, I See: Helping Kids Learn About MS” already has the highest average completion rate out of the 34 videos on the MS LifeLines YouTube channel—an average of 54%. The next highest video had a completion rate of 34%. Parents are engaged and watching.

TBD

Our informal research included speaking to MS LifeLine patient ambassadors who are also moms and dads living with MS. They described to us some of the issues they faced when it came to telling their young children about their MS, and about some of the analogies they used when talking to their children. We listened.

We also used “social listening” tactics to see how users responded to a single post on the MS LifeLines Facebook page about talking to kids about MS. Hundreds of people commented about the difficulties their children had to overcome. In the end, we never wanted kids watching to walk away from the animation feeling pity or sorrow for their parent. We simply wanted them to better understand what she was going through.

A child growing up with a parent who has multiple sclerosis has to deal with a lot of fear and isolation early on. Adjusting to MS is no easy feat for anyone, let alone a child who is just starting to learn about the world. In most cases, the parent will be a mom as there is a 2:1 ratio of women to men diagnosed with MS. Challenges for kids can manifest in fears like, “will my Mom die?” or “will I get MS, too?” There can also be smaller, but equally impactful, frustrations like, “Why didn’t Mom come to my ballet recital/ball game?”

While organizations like MSAA make children’s books available, our client, MS LifeLines, could see that there was a strong need for an easily-accessible online resource to help parents explain MS to young children and help allay their concerns.