Despite recent advances, multiple myeloma (MM) remains a largely incurable disease, with fewer than half of patients surviving five years after diagnosis
Bristol-Myers Squibb's Empliciti was going to be the first Immuno-Oncology drug to treat MM by activating Natural Killer cells directly.
The true challenge was that doctors weren't interested. Despite the low survival rate, they were happy with the progress over the last 10 years. Our challenge was to set up Empliciti in advance. We decided the best way was to create awareness that direct immune activation of Natural Killer cells is critical in order to reach the next level of treatment success. We needed to both disrupt and educate doctors. And we did...
The juxtaposition of this harmless woman with a knowing smile and the bold Natural Killer headline got doctors to stop. Once they stopped, they were engaged by the scientific story that unfolded. This concept aced Global and US market research with engagement and retention of key takeaways.
The campaign had a comprehensive rollout including booths, websites, journal ads, MOA brochure, and more.
When Empliciti launched the following year, numbers were substantially hire than projections, which BMS attributed to this campaign.
Several awards were won, including one through Ad Age for best unbranded campaign, and the campaign was written up many times as an excellent example of the future of patient photography and HCP engagement.
The booth had much higher then normal engagement with significant follow through. The reps specifically credited the campaign for the success.
The Natural Killer web site was an unprecedented success for the BMS Oncology Franchise. Empliciti is the small sibling in comparison to Opdivo, or even Sprycel and Yervoy, and so had restrictive budgets. The web site had more visits than any of the other sites at the time, yet had a significantly lower ad buy driving people. The campaign was credited with this success.
In addition to creating materials for the US and Global teams, we also provided extensive materials and guidance for individual regions to develop their own marketing pieces.