Pain and stiffness from conditions that cause inflammatory back pain (IBP) can seriously affect people’s lives. Everyday

activities, such as working, playing sports or even sleeping can become difficult or impossible. In severe cases it can result in fusion of the spine and, for some, diagnosis can take up to 10 years of suffering in pain.

It was this unacceptable delay that drove us to build Don’t Turn Your Back On It (DTYB) - an initiative built on insights from patients and the healthcare community to ensure that it captured imaginations, resonated with the right people and had impact across multiple markets, in order ultimately change behaviour and reduce the delay in diagnosis of conditions that cause IBP.

Since its launch in the EU5, the success of DTYB has surpassed benchmarks with a total of 33 markets around the world either launched or planning to launch the initiative in 2015.

PARTNER:

•Meeting with taskforce to plan the initiative and ensure all materials/activities addressed challenges and maximised opportunities in each market

LAUNCH:

•Activities directed traffic to simple and mobile local websites where people with back pain can use a symptom checker to see if their pain could be inflammatory and download materials to make speaking to HCPs more productive

•35+ materials (leaflets, backgrounders, infographics, T-shirt designs, videos) supported and inspired local creative launch events including flashmobs, street marketing activities, national roadshows

•Content shared via local partners' social networks and affiliate-owned social media pages (France Facebook, Spain YouTube)

MAINTAIN:

•Advertisements, based on patient and partner insights, implemented in locations with increased opportunities for audience to see/hear (out-of-home, digital banners, radio)

•Paid search to increase likelihood of people finding the websites and test whether certain advertisements resulted in higher website engagement

•Website design optimisation based on analytics and taskforce and target audience feedback

DTYB was designed to be highly targeted to reach the right people and this was reflected in our results. Within 12 months of launching the initiative, the EU5 websites achieved and then surpassed benchmark targets based on a similar AbbVie awareness initiative.

•280,000+ unique visitors (UVs) to EU5 websites through paid, earned and social media activities

•37% of UVs completed the symptom checker (SC) as a result of highly targeted media activities (vs. 25% benchmark)

•12% of UVs showed clear intent to see an HCP about their back pain by downloading/printing SC results or HCP discussion guide – a result of attracting the right people to the websites (vs. 2% benchmark)

And this was just the start – since the launch of the initiative in the EU5 in April 2014, a total of 33 markets around the world have either launched or are planning to launch DTYB in 2015.