UCB launched Make HStory, a patient-focused educational campaign to raise awareness of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic, inflammatory skin condition.
The marketing effort unveiled Wednesday morning features a 30-second ad running on select streaming platforms and social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
HS isn’t by any means a rare disease — it impacts around 13 million Americans — but early diagnosis of the condition is a key aspect to effectively treating the condition.
That’s why UCB is expanding its advertising around HS with this campaign so that healthcare professionals (HCP) and patients can engage in meaningful dialogues.
Last year, the drugmaker launched a website to support HCPs with educational resources about the disease.
However, following multi-day, in-person meetings at the company’s headquarters a few months ago with HCPs and patients, UCB decided to embark on a campaign amplifying patient stories of living with the disease.
Charity Williams, patient marketing director at UCB, told MM+M that it was critical for the campaign to incorporate real patients, physicians and influencers to underscore the impact of HS.
Williams noted that while a common trope in pharma advertising is that of the happy-go-lucky protagonist dancing or climbing a mountain during a commercial, UCB’s conversations with HS patients indicated that what they want more than anything is control over their day-to-day life.
These patients aren’t looking to go bungee jumping, she noted, they want treatment so they don’t have a pus boil on their back that makes sitting during a long drive or flight difficult.
“What we’re trying to do is empower those patients to say, ‘You can make history while living with this disease. You have the opportunity to own and control your disease and that should not stop you from living life and having those special moments,’” she said.
The ad follows along in that same vein, featuring a father hugging his daughter at the pool while his legs have bandages because of a flare up, a person in the gym with scarring on their arms from a previous flare up as well as someone preparing for a date with their bandages in tow.
In addition to the 30-second digital spot, is embarking on a series of unbranded media activations across consumer publications.
The pharma company also created a patient-focused website filled with testimonials, downloadable fact sheets about the disease, visuals for how symptoms manifest on various skin tones as well as tips for managing flare-ups and talking to HCPs about it.
Williams said the decision to go for a more digitally-aligned play with this campaign was driven by the HS community’s significant amount of social conversation between patients and caregivers. Supporting those conversations with often-requested educational resources like a dermatologist finder and leveraging relationships with patient influencers was a key mission for UCB, she said.
The main takeaway she said medical marketers should take away from Make HStory is that this group of patients should have access to tools that allow them to do the normal things many people take for granted.
Of note, UCB isn’t the only drugmaker that has dedicated its marketing resources to highlighting the experiences of patients living with HS.
Novartis premiered its docuseries, The Beacons: Illuminating HS Stories, at the Tribeca Film Festival last year to raise awareness of the painful skin condition. Throughout that docuseries, several patients lamented the years of misdiagnoses from dermatologists that impeded them from receiving timely and appropriate care.
The Make HStory campaign was also announced nearly a month after UCB launched a direct-to-consumer advertising push during the 96th Academy Awards in support of Bimzelx, its leading treatment for the psoriasis community.
