In a world where looks are everything, from images in magazines to the selfies we take, imagine what it must be like to live with a facial skin condition you can’t control. This is the reality for the millions of people with rosacea. Many are embarrassed, and heartbreakingly more than half are unaware that they have a treatable condition. The medical cause, the triggers and, more importantly, the solutions that could help restore their confidence are poorly understood.

How do you encourage rosacea sufferers to better communicate with their healthcare professional and discuss the management options available to them? This was the challenge presented to us by Galderma.

Obj. 1 Validate sufferers’ feelings to empower them to seek professional advice and help solve the underlying problem of rosacea, through collecting detailed data and personal insights from >7,000 people across 8 countries

Obj. 2 Create an original and authentic story based on data and insights to engage media, sufferers, healthcare professionals and the general public to help educate on rosacea, its cause and treatment solutions

Obj. 3 Ensure healthcare professionals better acknowledge the emotional impact of rosacea on their patients with the end goal of discussing symptoms and treatment options

Incorporation into the creative campaign:

The survey results generated standalone content including a visually eye-catching 20-page report, videos and infographics distributed via multiple channels – physician congresses, PR, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, print, online banners and owned digital platforms. Insights helped focus beyond the physical symptoms to tailor campaign content that resonated with the target audience - helping to dispel misunderstanding and empower sufferers to seek professional advice.

Meeting our objectives:

Obj 1: How did facial redness sufferers view their symptoms?

Sufferers validated our insights telling us that rosacea affected them emotionally, socially, at work and in their relationships/dating behaviour.

Obj 2: Creating an original and authentic story to help educate on rosacea, its cause and treatment solutions:

Increased awareness of the importance of seeking a professional diagnosis, advice and treatment as results exposed that twice as many sufferers felt more in control once they’d been professionally diagnosed.

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Obj 3: Ensure healthcare professionals better acknowledge the emotional impact of rosacea on their patients

10,000 healthcare professionals reached at congresses, publication in specialist medical journal, results presented at the World Congress of Dermatology 2015.

Campaign Success:

Global media event announcing survey results generated >100 TV and print articles reaching over 120 million (100% URL coverage)

National events drove further coverage (+200 TV and print media articles), social media activity reaching >300 million

5-language multimedia release, resulted in 15,000+ views, 500 downloads, 150+ press release postings

Earned and paid media drove 3.1 million visitors to 21 national websites, viewing 4.1 million pages of tailored content

Significant increase in rosacea knowledge in visitors to the website:

87% learned something new

>40% increase in understanding of causes and triggers

81% felt confident talking to a doctor after visiting the website

71% were likely to book an appointment after visiting the website

The Face Values: Global Perceptions Survey involved nearly 7,000 adults across eight countries with data collected from a representative cross-section of people. Participants (aged 25-64), completed a bespoke psychological 'Emotix' assessment, which is based on the well-established psychological test, the Implicit Association Test (IAT).

As you look at someone, you start to make certain judgements. Without you even noticing, bias and preconceptions have quickly begun to influence your thoughts. IAT describes your immediate, subconscious reaction to the person. Emotix is specifically designed to capture those attitudes and beliefs that we hold but that we often do not voice due to social or political conformity, peer pressure and politeness. It is built upon statistical modelling and the latest understanding of neuroscience and decision making processes. Emotix has been seen to be scientifically robust, reliable and valid in gathering individuals’ otherwise hidden attitudes and beliefs in a number of situations including consumer and health behaviour. It highlights the difference between system 1 decision making (fast, intuitive, subconscious and emotional) and system 2 decision making (slow, considered, vetted, socially acceptable and rational).

Assessments based on implicit attitudes seek to isolate and identify this initial, subconscious response. During the assessment, participants were presented with images with and without facial redness. Respondents were asked to associate or discard words shown next to each image, with the speed of their response directly indicating their subconscious perception of the face appearing on screen.

Following the Emotix test, respondents also undertook a traditional questionnaire further comparing their attitudes towards images of sufferers versus non-sufferers. The respondents identified with rosacea via screening questions were asked questions about their views of living with the condition and how it impacts on various aspects of daily life including their emotional and psychological well-being.

The Face Values: Global Perceptions Survey generated substantial insights and qualitative and quantitative results that brought into focus some of the less well recognised aspects of living with an unpredictable skin disease and the impact of facial redness associated rosacea.

These insights and data formed a core part of the entire campaign, not only bringing to life the messages of the campaign, but forming core standalone content to engage with both healthcare professional and consumer audiences. The insights gained were also integrated into the look and feel of the campaign, making the reality of daily activities visually accessible ensured that, at a glance, the core survey data stood out to reflect both the physical and psychological impact of rosacea – a key requisite for the campaign. For example social stigmas and prejudices were sketched into infographics, mirroring the watercolour style, to support the campaign website, media engagement and healthcare professional education.

The key messages and results shaped the content of proactive media materials and created the fundamental hook for the launch of the Act on Red campaign. The strength and provocative nature of the data attracted leading experts and patient advocates to support the campaign and enable a broad, multi-channel reach to the 50% of sufferers who are unaware they have rosacea and that help is at hand.

The report of the data findings was actively supported by leading psychological and skin experts. These experts have advocated the outcomes through authoring a subsequent peer-review specialist publication, presentation of the findings at specialist meetings and media events, videos and participated in live Twitter debates across three continents to help destigmatise rosacea and empower people to take action.