Meningococcal disease is sudden, aggressive and can lead to death or cause devastating impacts within 24 hours of onset. As early symptoms are often hard to diagnose, a strong need exists for disease education. To help educate parents on the importance of vaccination, Novartis Vaccines, in partnership with world-renowned photographer Anne Geddes and the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) (Australia) launched the global campaign, Protecting Our Tomorrows: Portraits of Meningococcal Disease. The project aimed to broaden awareness of the importance of vaccination to help prevent meningococcal disease, by illustrating the disease in a way that has never been done before: celebrating beauty and strength. Geddes traveled the globe photographing 15 survivors and their families; the images were compiled into a free eBook, launched on World Meningitis Day, April 24, 2014, which became the #1 Top Free Release in iBooks’ Arts & Entertainment section.

Conducted photo shoots with 15 meningococcal disease survivors from 12 countries in Sydney, London and Toronto, creating unique images for eBook that also tell impactful visual stories online/in print (2013-2014)

On World Meningitis Day, launched eBook (iBooks), supported by photo exhibits/press events in Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Brazil, global press release (2014)

London: A 3,400 bear-strong “Teddy Bear Picnic” installation illustrated UK meningitis incidence/mortality rate (2013)

Canberra: Geddes addressed Australian Parliament about campaign (2014)

Washington DC: Unveiled images with art exhibition/speaker panel; partnered with advocacy groups (2015)

Ottawa: Geddes met with First Lady of Canada, Minister of Health, spoke at CIC. Geddes/affected families shared experiences with Senators, Members of Parliament (2014)

Developed first-ever meningitis Tumblr; served as a global, central campaign hub with regularly updated creative content (2014)

Leveraged Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to showcase survivors’ visual stories across all Novartis, Geddes and CoMO platforms, achieving surround sound/increasing reach

eBook became the #1 Top Free Release in the iBooks Arts & Entertainment section

Average global user rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, 200+ positive customer reviews

12,625 downloads to-date

Generated significant real-time engagement and participation on social media platforms from parents, survivors, medical professionals and advocates

Saw traction via Geddes’ online community: they embraced and supported campaign by sharing, liking and commenting on all campaign-related posts

Gathered strong online support from worldwide advocacy group community

29,000+ Tumblr page views to-date from users across 116 countries

Twitter hours/takeover resulted in organic shares, program visibility

Primary driver of #meningitis and #WorldMeningitisDay2014

Videos received 25,000+ views to-date

Utilizing various channels for media efforts as global program owner, garnered 175+ Million impressions in traditional media

9 countries secured at least one national placement

100% of coverage was positive/neutral in tone