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To bring this unknown disease out of the shadows, we wanted to give it a face. We decided to shine a spotlight on two children living with this horrific condition.

In the :60 spot entitled ‘Asa’, we made use of the butterfly motif to highlight childhood innocence, and used lighting techniques to dramatically reveal Asa’s grim reality.

The spots were directed pro bono by Chris Groban of AtSwim. The music in the spots was donated pro bono by Marmoset.

The campaign debuted at the 17th annual Debra of America Benefit at the Guggenheim, and helped raise a record level of donations at the event. Several U.S. broadcast channels are currently airing the campaign, completely pro bono. The campaign is also featured in online advertising.

As our first step, we tapped into the existing debra database to get to know our donors. Then we caught up with industry trends with Burke and similar reports. Combined with our understanding of US consumers and generational differences, we sought to build on one key insight: personal connection is the catalyst for charitable giving. We sought to make the work as personal as possible, and create a meaningful context for the EB experience. We wanted to talk about EB, not as a disease story but as a human story.

Additionally, we wanted people to feel like they were part of a collective energy that could actually alter the future of EB. We wanted people to feel like their donation wasn’t a “drop in a bucket” but one of many donations coming together to advance the research and bring about a cure.

Situation:

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a genetic, connective tissue condition that affects 1 in 20,000 births and causes the skin to be extremely fragile. Children born with this condition are covered head to toe in sores and live in extreme pain. While it’s as common as ALS and cystic fibrosis, it remains ‘the worst disease you’ve never heard of’. We set out to change that.

Brief:

Turn the ‘worst disease you’ve never heard of’ into the ‘worst disease everyone has heard of.’

Objectives:

Our ultimate goal was to raise awareness and drive donations to Debra (The Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America).