AbbVie has identified a previously under-recognised yet potentially life-threatening issue which many of us are living with.

Throughout the campaign, we were touched by the unexpected numbers of people who opened up to us about their personal FOFO stories, paving the way for the next phase engaging policy and decision-makers.

British pharmaceutical companies must adhere to the ABPI Code of Practice. This was an above-brand campaign and to ensure ABPI compliance, our campaign did not make reference to any brands (medicines) manufactured or marketed by AbbVie, or corresponding disease areas.

Together with think tank, 2020health, we uncovered a health phenomenon, the 'Fear of Finding Out', which accounts for a third of reasons why individuals avoid visiting their doctor. Tapping into popular culture, we abbreviated the issue to the now widely recognised 'FOFO'.

To reach and engage our audience and truly understand their psychology, we needed a novel approach, combined with external expert counsel. So we convened an illustrious but unconventional coalition from beyond healthcare including Aardman (Wallace & Gromit creators) and Glitchers (game designers behind Sea Hero Quest).

With Aardman's counsel on the power of storytelling and characters, and Glitchers' expertise in designing games for mass use, 'Crush Your FOFO' was born.

Crush Your FOFO featured interactive questions and short games, allowing players to confront and defeat their particular FOFO character - depicted by a gremlin. Importantly, the quiz also collected open-data to allow us all to better understand FOFO.

In February 2018, Crush Your FOFO launched to the general public, via a press release leading with the shocking research finding that 61% of Brits avoid medical attention due to diagnosis fears.

Our spokespeople took part in interviews, including: celebrity, Jeff Brazier, whose former partner Jade Goody died of cervical cancer after avoiding a smear test; case study, Mark McGovern, who suffered a stroke after ignoring diabetes symptoms; TV doctor, Dr Zoe Williams, interviewed by over 30 stations nationwide; and a range of our expert collaborators including Professor Sir Muir Gray and the Rt Hon Alan Milburn.

The full media package also contained imagery and video content, including our hero piece of content - the creative 'Fear Box' video - bringing to life how prohibitive fear can be.

A full-scale social media strategy ensured that we reached both passive and engaged consumers with a suite of highly shareable content.

The Crush Your FOFO launch generated over 68 million media impressions across top-tier media, including broadcast, national and consumer outlets. Of note, we secured TV interviews with Jeff Brazier on ITV's Loose Women, BBC's Victoria Derbyshire, and Channel 5 News. Other notable broadcast interviews included Professor Sir Muir Gray and case study, Mark McGovern on BBC Radio 4, Dr Zoe Williams on Talk Radio, and a senior director from AbbVie on BBC World Service.

There were over 4,000 completions of Crush Your FOFO - doubling the 2,000 target and richly contributing to our pool of available open-data for the next stage of the project.

Our social media strategy was hugely successful, generating 3 million social media impressions in the first week alone, driving traffic to Crush Your FOFO. To date, the 'Fear Box' hero video (in which people were invited to reach into a box without seeing the contents, demonstrating how debilitating fear can be, and sparking a range of reactions from humorous to deeply moving) achieved excellent engagement of around 303,000 views (an engagement rate of 71%).

Positioning the project as a serious initiative within the healthcare space, whilst targeting our end-audience with a fun quiz, required a sophisticated strategy and phased approach.

Phases 1-2 focused on establishing credibility amongst industry stakeholders - publication of our 2020health report was followed by the announcement of 'Live:Lab' collaborators. Each was accompanied by vlog content, exploring the making of the project, housed on our professional hub, Live:Lab.co.uk.

Phase 3 saw the consumer launch of Crush Your FOFO, requiring a complex media strategy - involving celebrity support, spokespeople, media medics and case studies. We undertook attitudinal research to bolster the news story, created more video content, and developed a multifaceted social media strategy.

Phase 4 will see analysis of collected data, and a hackathon will convene developers to create prototype solutions informed by our findings. These will be released to the public and showcased at a high-profile event attended by policy-makers.

An estimated 12 million GP appointments are missed annually in England, with the NHS spending £11 billion each year on managing ill health caused by lifestyle choices, and £150 million on late diagnoses of cancer.

AbbVie sought to utilise its recognised equity in research and evidence to better understand why the UK public sometimes neglect their health and put off seeking medical advice, even when they have troubling symptoms. The ambition was to help build a more sustainable NHS, achieved through earlier diagnosis and less complicated, costly treatment. Through a sophisticated above-brand campaign, AbbVie wanted to reach those identified as most likely to deprioritise their health: 40-60-year-olds from humble socio-economic backgrounds.

The campaign needed to position AbbVie as innovators in preventative health - an unexpected area for a pharmaceutical company and industry with mixed reputational challenges - while demonstrating a beyond-medicine approach to genuinely improve real health outcomes for society.