The South African pharmaceutical regulations prohibit any direct marketing/communication to consumers with regards to product in the Rx space. Any communication to consumers can only be around corporate branding. HCP’s are allowed to receive product based communication.

Asthma is advancing relentlessly across the African continent. Today, 70% of African asthma and COPD sufferers are undiagnosed and the WHO forecasts a 20% increase in respiratory related deaths in the next 10 years.

AstraZeneca asked us to create awareness and encourage early screening. Early screening allows for treatment – preventing deterioration of the condition, easing the burden on government budgets and saving lives.

We created an integrated campaign that touched people and created a movement across the African continent.

Using multiple channels we built momentum to encourage screening and to motivate the participation of governments and health institutions.

The movement is spreading, with on-going success in Kenya then Nigeria. Angola, Ghana and Mauritius are set to follow.

Our goal was and is, to inexorably decrease the 70% of asthma and COPD sufferers who remain undiagnosed. The main target audience was the population at large. We also talked to doctors through direct mail drops that actively helped encourage screening and influencers online, to stimulate conversation

An integrated approach was critical to ensure that asthma became an issue that was on top of everyone’s mind and to help rapidly build momentum for our movement.

We shared a “once-in-a-lifetime” digital film that showed the magic and preciousness of life through a unique “breathless moment”.

In print we used incredible images to reinforce the idea that not one breath of life should be ruined by asthma.

With cooperation from government and police, we created a roadblock to “breathalyse” motorists – but tested them for asthma instead of alcohol. Two thousand motorists were tested in just two hours.

Ambient media made sure that everyone else knew what was going on – creating a real event and the start of our movement.

And finally, we created a kit for doctors as a direct mail drop, to make screening easy for them.

We stimulated conversation online. We motivated doctors to screen. On the ground we tested 2000 people in just two hours with 40% of them testing positive for asthma. As the screening campaign continues, up to 9 million previously undiagnosed sufferers stand to benefit from early detection in Kenya alone.

Not only did we create awareness, we also created a movement – one that is spreading across the continent. Our initial and on-going successes in Kenya convinced Nigeria – Angola, Ghana and Mauritius have now also committed to the program.

The planning of the campaign was based on the understanding that, due to African regulations preventing the communication of scheduled products to the consumer, AstraZeneca was limited to stimulating screening. However, they were secure in the knowledge that the majority of doctors would turn to Symbicort as the most effective and popular treatment once diagnosis of asthma or COPD was confirmed.

A multi-faceted approach allowed us to talk to; people on the street, people on the web, doctors and to intervene and actually begin screening people.

Low awareness of respiratory issues in Africa has led to a situation whereby 70% of asthma and COPD sufferers are undiagnosed. Statistics for sub-Saharan Africa alone conservatively point to upwards of 70 million people currently undiagnosed. The burden of treating severe cases will be high and probably unsustainable for African governments. The opportunity was and is, to stimulate early screening so that treatment can help prevent deterioration of the condition – and save lives.