This collection of social posts throughout 2021 spanned multiple social platforms, and were all branded ads promoting HEMLIBRA, a prescription drug for hemophilia A.

Hemophilia A is a rare bleeding disorder that affects 20,000 people (almost all men) in the US. We needed to reach the Gen Z segment of this community (specifically men aged 18-30). Gen Z is notoriously skeptical of brands, and these men with hemophilia are often disengaged with information about their condition. We needed to reach this audience about a topic that was outside of their interests on social media.

To promote HEMLIBRA on social, we decided to find a way to make our message feel indistinguishable from the specific type of content these patients were looking at, liking, and sharing online. We needed to stop the incessant scrolling and find any way to get them to pause, watch, and ideally, tap.

The social campaign was anything but “matching luggage.” Each series of posts was specifically created to align with a different type of content that our target audience was consuming online, as well as the specific type of information that was important to them when considering their medication for hemophilia.

“HEMLIBRA Hot Takes” mimicked this TikTok trend with quick-hit messages packed with humor and brand messaging. We learned this audience loves horror movies, so we created posts that showed how “Bloody Mary” (a ghost who according to legend, may appear in a mirror covered in blood) might look after HEMLIBRA (since HEMLIBRA helps patients avoid bleeds, our Mary was just an everyday mom, hilariously trying to shed her bloody past). “Tell Me Without Telling Me” posts featured brand ambassadors showing how HEMLIBRA made an obvious difference in their lives.

The results from this highly personalized approach were beyond all expectation. All of the campaigns exceeded benchmarks both in video completion rate (95%) and click through rate. Notably, the social ads overall garnered an increase of 340% engagement versus previous social posts. And based on an analysis of social media conversations using a proprietary tool, we saw mentions of HEMLIBRA on Reddit increase by 45%——and an interest in HEMLIBRA as a medication as well.

Beyond the KPIs, we saw conversation happening around the posts online, including people wanting to see more and sharing the ads on their own social feeds. And it succeeded in something we didn’t expect at all—reaching those who were not as connected to their rare disease community. The campaign resulted in patients turning to one another to share stories, ask questions, and offer advice—a signal of a growing community engagement alongside business growth for the brand.

This project was created by a US biopharmaceutical company for a prescription medication. It was subject to review by internal medical/legal/regulatory teams at Genentech as well as the FDA.

The target audience was young men living with hemophilia A, a rare bleeding disorder. The work promoted various aspects of a prescription drug to treat the condition in a way that would appeal to the Gen Z audience.