Advertising prescription-only brands to healthcare professionals in Europe is governed by the ABPI (UK), the EFPIA (Europe), the FDA (US) and various regional or country guidelines across Asia Pacific and Latin America. In Europe, the guidelines stipulate that no prescription brand may advertise directly to the general public. Every ‘claim’ must be substantiated by published clinical evidence and must be done so with ‘fair balance’. Claims cannot be created using hanging comparators (e.g. ‘better’ without qualifying what better means and in relation to what) and vague unqualified superlatives (e.g. ‘best’). Every claim must go through regional (European) and then local (country) medical, regulatory, legal and marketing approval before being published. The guidelines also stipulate that you cannot directly disparage competitor brands, and when making explicit comparisons, only head-to-head clinical trial evidence must be used, with few exceptions. Promotional material cannot advertise the brand for conditions outside of its indicated use e.g. essential hypertension, not stress-induced hypertension. Promotional media at conferences are also governed by local regulations within the host country. All the above guidelines are usually used as a benchmark for the absolute minimum level of stringency, meaning clients often exercise even greater restrictions on themselves to avoid their contravention.

The objective was to demonstrate a clear positioning for Edarbi, a new ARB (angiotensin receptor blocker) for managing hypertension.

Based on our challenges, we knew that we had to find a unique voice for Edarbi and maintain consistency in communication. Edarbi has superior efficacy in BP lowering shown in head-to-head studies against three competitors, and it was immediately clear that we could own a simple, single-minded approach of being the most efficacious ARB. We differentiated ourselves purely through a collusive and conspiratorial tone of voice, providing the product with a perceived attitude previously unheard of within the category.

This was also supported by some customer insight that doctors are pressed for time and with some patients they just want to effectively control their blood pressure rather than worrying about other drug benefits.

This needed to be implemented across a range of core TPEU markets between November 2012 and June 2013, and so it is vital to have engagement and full buy in from the affiliates in order to ensure consistency in communication across the markets.

Based on our challenges, we knew that we had to find a unique voice for Edarbi and maintain consistency in communication. Edarbi has superior efficacy in BP lowering shown in head to head studies against three competitors, and it was immediately clear that we could own a simple, single-minded approach of being the most efficacious ARB. We differentiated ourselves purely through a collusive and conspiratorial tone of voice, providing the product with a perceived attitude previously unheard of within the category.

Being the eighth entry in its class into a crowded and satisfied market meant we had to find a unique voice for Edarbi. Rather than telling the story of why we took such a simple, direct approach in a twenty-five slide PowerPoint presentation, we took three minutes to portray the insight through the eyes of a customer.

Focusing on a day in the life of a GP, the combination of a compelling, quirky visual story, as well as a building music score emphasises the mounting stress of the GP throughout the day. This dramatisation of how many external factors touch his life in one day, reinforces the need for a brand that keeps it simple.

The campaign has been successfully adopted by the European markets as well as interest for use - being requested by Canada – which sits outside of the original internal remit.

In addition, an animation focusing on the day in the life of a GP, which used a compelling, quirky visual story to dramatise how many external factors influence a GP’s, life won a Best in Show at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

'Another busy day’ was used to close the first day of the European launch event and the anecdotal feedback from the delegates was very positive.

"The majority seem to have gone away fully prepared to be ambassadors for the Edarbi brand and also for thinking differently and embracing change in their areas." - TPEU Brand Manager

As a result of the campaign, Edarbi is now on a number of formularies for the treatment of essential hypertension by GPs.

‘Another Busy Day’ is designed for use across different mediums and markets. Based on insight from our core customer (GPs), it gives the viewer a true insight into the need for a brand that cuts through the noise to offer a simple solution for treating hypertension.

The campaign video used at sales conferences and at the start of sales pitches needed to act totally differently to the standard formats of heart drug communication. It was 8th to a very saturated and vastly satisfied market. The sales force needed to know where the new positioning was coming from, as did the delegates at conferences where the video was shown, as did the doctors at the start of interactive sales visits.