With many questions and no time, couples inevitably turn to Google for answers. Rather than leaving them to the wilds of WebMD, the CDSS had the true experts answer their questions – people living with Down syndrome every day.

Down Syndrome Answers is a series of searchable videos that answer all of the 40 top Googled questions on Down syndrome as answered by people with Down syndrome. Launched during Canadian Down syndrome Awareness Week, the series covers everything from physical and intellectual development to the cause of the condition. The videos offer a window into the lives of people who are often misunderstood. People who, just by their very existence, can dispel some common misconceptions.

Our videos live on Youtube, a hub of “peer to peer” content where everyday people are considered experts. This meant our real life experts on Down syndrome would fit perfectly with native content on the platform.

While search is typically considered to be functional, the campaign used it in a much warmer way by serving parents video answers to their questions that put a human face on factual content.

We optimized individual landing pages for each major question and video that directly connected parents to the real experts on Down syndrome. ?And by hosting the videos on YouTube, we we’re able to take advantage of community elements of the platform, arranging videos into playlists to connect parents with even more information.

Because we took the data-driven approach of answering parents’ top searched questions, we’ve ensured our video’s organic rankings will continue to rise. This means that Down Syndrome Answers is effectively a self-sustaining, always-on campaign that will live far beyond its initial launch, providing expectant parents faced with a Down syndrome diagnosis a searchable resource to turn to, today and into the future.

To date, Down Syndrome Answers has achieved:

• 519 million media impressions

• 101% increase in organic traffic to site, of this over 50% was through Google Search

• 893% increase in referral traffic to cdss.ca

• 240,000 of views, which is a significant amount since there are only 25,800 of Down syndrome pregnancies in North America every year.

• Down Syndrome Associations in 10 countries now support our assets as a resource for parents

• A Think with Google Best-in-Class case for search-based marketing

We knew expecting parents would turn to Google for answers because they use search twice as much as non-parents1 . But for parents who have just received a Down syndrome diagnosis, they use search even more intensely, asking 57,000 Down syndrome questions/month – an astronomical amount since they only account for .1% of pregnant couples.

Knowing this, we revolved our strategy around search to reach parents when and where they were seeking information and primed to take action. First, we found the top 40 searched questions about Down syndrome. Then using Google AdWords, we intercepted parents’ searches so we could drive them directly to our answers in the exact moment they needed them.

Since there’s no way to target parents of an unborn child with Down syndrome in traditional media, AdWords allowed us to find this very niche and tough to reach audience in a way that other platforms would not.

When parents learn their unborn child has Down syndrome, they have about 10 days to decide whether to keep the baby or not. Shell-shocked and overwhelmed, they leave the doctor’s office with a list of unanswered questions.

To make it worse, when parents do search for answers, they are confronted at every turn with the cold and clinical language of Down syndrome: Genetic defects. Developmental delays. Abnormality. Language that is far removed from the emotional reality of the agonizing decision at hand.

Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) realized there was a gap in information geared for expectant parents facing a diagnosis.

The campaign’s goal was to be there for these parents by simply giving them the answers they were seeking.