In India, prescription drugs can’t be promoted/advertised directly to patients/consumers in any format/circumstances. However, unbranded disease/category awareness/education campaigns can be utilised for category building. These unbranded campaigns can carry company logos and can be linked back for doctors through branded communication, if required.

We unearthed the insight: Surprisingly, most last words are heard by nurses, not families.

The creative idea: Could these dying last words – so far unheard by families – bring alive the need for palliative care? We interviewed more than 200 nurses across India and the most heart-rending last words they heard became the heart of our campaign – the film.

The video used these real last words to start conversations on palliative care and got consumers to the website that provided detailed information. Consumers were encouraged to make the decision of opting for palliative care through online pledges.

Consumers needed to hear the real last words of patients to bring alive the need for palliative care. So, 200 nurses – with 2,000+ years of nursing service – were interviewed across India and the most heart-rending last words they heard became our online video, which was launched by the Human Rights Commissioner.

This online video became the heart of our campaign giving it virality and scale. The real last words started conversations on palliative care. The clickable video got consumers to the website where they could learn more about palliative care and pledge to opt for it.

Palliative care associations across the world were approached to endorse the video and strengthen credibility.

This campaign was focused on building the awareness and need for palliative care – thus needed to reach the maximum possible consumers but with extremely limited budgets. The online video solved this, allowing for a viral campaign that could get a life of its own.

In India, talking about death is taboo. Achieving cultural change required initiation of conversations through influencers, unpaid media and peers. Sharing real last words through our film solved this challenge too.

Once the need for palliative care had been established, it was critical to provide complete information. Hence, the video was made clickable, leading to the website.

When palliative care is required – at the time of imminent death – caregivers are in no shape to make this decision. Hence, like organ donation, it was critical to drive decisions during the campaign itself through pledges. To influence this critical decision, the film required strong endorsements.

Palliative care provides comfort and dignity in death. However, even though the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) has helped establish infrastructure to provide palliative care over the last decade, only 1% of the 6 million eligible Indian patients avail it. Because consumers just aren’t aware. Hence, IAPC identified the need for a public awareness campaign on palliative care. But this campaign faced several challenges:

1.How does one drive awareness on palliative care in a country where even talking about death is taboo?

2. Across the world, even though doctors are a more focused audience, palliative care is not accessed until consumers request for it

3. Consumers do not realise the value of palliative care – so the need has to be established, along with driving awareness

4. When palliative care is required – at the time of imminent death – caregivers are in no shape to make this decision