The Smallpox Simulator was designed to showcase to our target audience—officials in ministries of public health and defense—just how real the modern threat of smallpox is. Our client engages these individuals through one-to-one relationships with their sales team. The Smallpox Simulator was designed to support these one-to-one interactions. Through the Simulator, we used data, technology, and cohesive creative to elevate the sales experience and personalize it to the needs of various stakeholders.

The Simulator shows the most important data about a smallpox outbreak that ministries of public health and defense would likely prioritize. Additionally, we incorporated country maps and data.

Eradicated in 1980, smallpox has re-emerged as a modern threat. Highly contagious, it has a mortality rate of 30%. Intelligence communities have warned of smallpox being leveraged as a bioweapon.

Most countries have vaccine stockpiles as their main mitigation, but between logistical complications and a limited window in which infected people can be vaccinated, this main countermeasure may not be enough to contain an outbreak.

We had to drive understanding of the modern threat of smallpox and its impact to educate ministries of health and defense on the need to invest in a more comprehensive response plan, as vaccines alone may not be enough to contain the virus.

Government officials across ministries of public health and defense may not think of smallpox as a current threat compared to other more urgent present threats. And even if they did, they feel prepared due to their vaccine stockpiles.

How do you illustrate the potential threat of a weaponized development of a disease that has been eradicated for 40 years?

We brought the data to life through the Smallpox Simulator: a digital tool that leverages epidemiological literature on previous smallpox outbreaks, scientific literature on modeling the spread and casualties of infectious diseases, and data visualization technology to animate a smallpox outbreak in various countries.

To support the Simulator and the data story, we designed a suite of unbranded disease awareness materials to support Meridian’s salesforce as they educated officials on the impact of smallpox.

Our audience, a niche group of specialized officials in ministries of health and defense, is familiar with the historical impact of smallpox, but they may struggle to view this threat through a modern lens. Between this and vaccine stockpiles, they might feel fully prepared for an outbreak.

Our strategy was to leverage the data to show that smallpox is a modern threat they might be significantly unprepared for.

Understanding their priorities and need for credible information, we used historical data and models on infectious disease from the CDC and other sources to build a tool to help test common mitigations. We incorporated country-specific data to illustrate how smallpox would affect their country.

With an audience accustomed to data, we had to make ours stand out—we used data visualization technology to bring it to life.

The call to action: re-evaluate your response plans to be better prepared for an outbreak.

Once the simulator was complete, we developed an implementation guide to serve as a resource for the sales team during their individual meetings.

To launch the Simulator and facilitate a successful handoff between Marketing and Direct Sales, we hosted a training session for our client. Here, we explained how to leverage the Simulator in combination with the full suite of disease state awareness material to drive tailored conversations about smallpox preparedness. We also provided an overview of key messages and prepared the salesforce for various questions prospects may have.

The Smallpox Simulator was released to Meridian’s salesforce to support conversations in 9 countries across the EU, Asia, and the Middle East.

- Impacted the client immediately by providing the sales team with an elevated sales experience backed by data, technology, and cohesive creative.

- Modernized the Meridian Medical Technologies brand experience to match the credibility and innovation of their products and services.

- Leveraged data, technology, and design to visualize the more complex aspects of a smallpox outbreak, such as rapid spread of disease, potential hospital impact, potential GDP impact, and mortality rates.

- Drove urgency of our audience’s understanding of the impact of smallpox. This audience consisted of influential decision makers, across 9 countries, responsible for almost 350 million people throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.