Situation:

AstraZeneca markets Fasenra, a biologic medication that treats eosinophilic asthma, also known as ‘e-asthma’.

E-asthma symptoms are difficult to control because they aren’t tied to external triggers, but to an inflammatory cascade that occurs inside the body. This means traditional treatments such as inhalers don't provide adequate control of e-asthma. But Fasenra does. 

 Challenge:

Unfortunately, most patients continue to think all asthma is (and should be treated) the same, a belief that leads to complacency despite high treatment dissatisfaction.

Campaign Objectives:

- Highlight that there are different types of asthma, which can be treated differently

- Get uncontrolled asthma patients to toss their resigned “it is what it is” attitude in favor of a more proactive approach: learning about their asthma type

If they find they have e-asthma, a fit-for-purpose treatment plan with a therapy like Fasenra can help them gain the control and freedom they crave.

Since we were creating a fresh take for an old disease, we needed a talent partner who could speak to the asthma community and bring Lung Story Short to life in a way that embraced levity, brevity, and candor.

In our minds, there was a singular talent for the job: lifelong asthma sufferer and Emmy-winning actor Tony Hale. With a reputation for comedic characters with heart, like Buster Bluth of Arrested Development, or Gary Walsh of Veep (and anecdotally known as one of Hollywood’s nicest guys), Tony was the perfect messenger for an engaging and light exploration of asthma types.

We collaborated with Tony from concept to script development to ensure that his lived experience of asthma and comedic insights were central to our content, ensuring that it would be resonant, understandable, and actionable for the asthma community.

For the first time, the social ecosystem saw asthma in a totally different way.

The campaign was an incredible success, exceeding all performance goals and generating strong volume and rate metrics across the funnel.

It achieved:

- 855.5M+ earned media impressions

- 13.5M+ social impressions

- 198M+ social engagements

- 58K+ site visits

To ensure we reached every corner of the asthma community, we utilized Tony as our ambassador to further tell our asthma story to lifestyle, parenting and entertainment earned media outlets – securing coverage in Forbes, PopSugar, Yahoo!, Healthline, Endpoints News, Fierce Pharma, New Day, and Cheddar News.

Public response was incredibly optimistic, with personal stories and heartfelt comments reflecting gratitude for finally helping this community treat their asthma in a more focused way.