The primary audience for MS LifeLines is people treating with Rebif looking for support, answers and guidance.

The secondary audience is newly diagnosed individuals with relapsing MS who are considering or switching to Rebif.

And finally, is people living with MS, care partners, and the MS community as a whole.

There is substantial guidance from the FDA on social media and internet communications about medical products. This guidance includes adverse event reporting, global drug safety management, HIPPA and patient confidentiality, recommendations for the presentation of risk and benefit information, etc. This directly impacts content, design, and the approval process.

The brand needed a rallying cry to amplify its strengths: efficacy, history, safety profile, patient experiences, and the extraordinary MS LifeLines support program. We would reignite the Rebif brand with “Strength in Numbers.”

“Strength in Numbers” was the idea that drove the campaign. Not only did Rebif have the “numbers” (or data) to prove their safety and efficacy, MS LifeLines had the “numbers” (or people) to supply the support. Together, these helped give people the security they so desperately wanted in the face of an unpredictable disease.

We knew that the “Strength in Numbers” campaign would let people know that whether they were in the early stages of their diagnosis or if they’ve been living with MS for years, when it comes to Rebif and MS LifeLines, there’s strength in numbers.

Not many pharma companies can say they placed “social” at the heart of their campaign. But Rebif can. In fact, we created an entire content-driven ecosystem to generate and share patient experiences across all platforms, with Facebook and YouTube bringing the larger MS online community into our “Strength in Numbers” campaign.

We encouraged people on Facebook to voice themselves on our posts, expressing a full range of emotions. And the people of MS LifeLines, Rebif’s patient support program, were there to respond.

Videos on Facebook and our YouTube Channel featured testimonials and stories of wisdom from Rebif patients and the people of MS Lifelines. People watched, engaged, shared and commented on our posts like never before.

We changed the rules for pharma in social media by inviting thousands of people from the MS community into dozens of conversations. We reignited, socialized and celebrated the Rebif brand with “Strength in Numbers.”

“Strength in Numbers” started as a campaign, but grew into something more. Our digital ecosystem does more than deliver campaign messages. By driving emotional engagement, we’re actually building strength in numbers.

In 2015, sales of Rebif began to trend upwards once again. In fact, it became the No. 1 injectable interferon for relapsing MS for patients new to therapy. Because of the connection to MS LifeLines, people on Rebif have become more emotionally invested in the brand and they are spreading the word.

In 2015:

• Each Facebook post was seen by an average of 12,000 people

• Over 152,000 people have liked the MS LifeLines Facebook Page

• Mobile visits on Rebif.com and MSLifeLines.com are up

• Every day our page posts are seen by an average of 4,600 people

• The MS LifeLines Facebook Page generated 14.7 million total impressions

The Insight: The unpredictability of MS creates insecurity.

The Proposition: Security for an unpredictable world.

How do we deliver this? Shared wisdom, extraordinary support and emotional return from the brand

We needed to more than say these things on social media. We needed to make them true. This required an integrated digital solution that prioritizes engagement, making it possible to share wisdom, support and emotional connections with others, all inside the brand platform.

Through our “Strength in Numbers” campaign, we saw an opportunity to:

• Create emotional connections to the existing MS LifeLines program and among patients themselves through social media

• Provide exceptional support services to the larger MS community that may have otherwise gone unnoticed

• Feed our digital ecosystem of properties including Rebif.com, MSLifeLines.com, Facebook/MSLifelines and our YouTube channel

Our challenge was to reignite interest in Rebif, a gold standard in MS treatment for 15 years. Rebif was also facing a total of 9 competitors in the market. Newer treatments were easier to administer. Some required self-injection and some could be taken orally. But NONE of them had the predictable safety record and efficacy that Rebif did.

On the other hand, MS is unpredictable. And everyone responds differently to treatment, and that can be scary.

The brand was facing the fact that patients were switching away from Rebif, and fewer new patients were starting. Rebif needed to retain current patients and restore brand relevance.

The patient Ambassadors and nurses of MS LifeLines added tremendous value to patient experiences. Their wisdom and warmth provide an emotional anchor to people who connect with them. We saw an opportunity to bring this human connection to the broader MS community on Facebook.