CONSUMER WEBSITE/ONLINE INITIATIVE
Supartz: "My Knee and Me" Smith & Nephew and Beacon Healthcare
The Supartz "My Knee and Me" campaign put smiling faces on people's knees in order to put a smile on viewers' faces. MyKneeAndMe.com is award worthy because it goes beyond just providing information for patients trying to make a decision about treating osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee; it elicits a feeling of hope—the hope of relief. As one judge put it: "The Supartz campaign was motivational and simple, yet gets the point across. The information is still relevant, with data that is important for a patient to make decisions, the site gives hope and [improves the sufferer's state of mind]. The positive tone is reflected throughout the site, which also has a happy feel."

In addition to information about Supartz Joint Fluid Therapy (JFT), the website also features the downloadable "My Knee Assessment Tool" PDF and "My Knee Pain Tracker" PDF to help people better understand and explain their knee problems to their doctors, a patient testimonial video, various tips for people who experience knee pain, and a geo-locator of trained Supartz specialists. A new eCRM program was also designed to guide OA knee patients through the learning and decision-making processes.

MyKneeAndMe.com has exceeded the site traffic of the previous site by more than 250% and the sign-up rate for the new eCRM program is six times higher. Data collected through Google Analytics suggests that when compared to similar sites in the medical device and equipment category, MyKneeAndMe.com gets 58% more visitors, has 90% higher pages viewed, and visitors stay on the site 23% longer.

DIRECT MAIL
Orencia: "One Patient at a Time" Bristol-Myers Squibb
Direct mail campaigns rarely (if ever) are designed to get to know each person on the targeted mailing list, but this year's winner proved to be the exception. Bristol-Myers Squibb's "One Patient at a Time" campaign for Orencia (abatacept) truly lived up to its name by putting the patient at the center of the campaign and tailoring the materials to fit each patient's individual needs. Orencia is indicted for patients with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), which because of its autoimmune nature is different for each patient and can make it difficult for HCPs to choose the right treatment option.

This campaign was the first dynamically generated, full dialogue enabled relationship marketing program. The communication materials are focused on trying to see things through the patient's eyes rather than just tell the brand's story. There is also a dialogue established with each patient through a set of listening posts that help establish how the patient's needs are changing and allow for adjustments and personalization of the communication materials to ensure each patient is reached at the right time with the right message. There were 17,000 variations of the communication materials varying in tone, content, and imagery.

"The One Patient campaign is extremely comprehensive, creative and provides the information needed to understand the therapeutic category, market and product. The advantages are apparent and the benefits to the patient provide optimism to the reader," one judge said. The campaign has been experiencing positive results. Patient requests to their doctors for Orencia increased by 55%, conversion rates increased by 30%, and communication engagement rates are 17 times higher than historical rates.

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER CAMPAIGN
Balloon Sinuplasty Campaign Acclarent, Inc. and Roska
Acclarent needed a DTC campaign that did more than just raise awareness about their brand. After all, they were trying to market to chronic sinusitis sufferers who are typically accustomed to suffering in silence for years with their painful symptoms. Research showed that most had experienced little to no relief from the multitude of OTC and prescription treatment options they tried, while others had mixed results with surgical options.

Acclarent needed a DTC campaign capable of convincing reluctant patients to explore Balloon Sinuplasty as a solution that could bring them relief. The multiple-media campaign (TV, radio, bus, billboard and paid search) directed consumers to respond via a phone number or through a URL that took them to a micro-site where visitors could take a quiz to see if the procedure was right for them, hear testimonials from people who had the surgery (including former NFL star Marshall Faulk), watch an animated video to see Balloon Sinuplasty in action, and find a nearby doctor trained in the procedure. Acclarent was able to precisely track each call made to a trained physician through the use of unique phone numbers given on the micro-site.

"The Acclarent DTC plan was comprehensive, targeting a very specific audience in a select market place, and evaluated ROI along the way. I really liked the creative, memorable DTC ads that nicely illustrated the problem," one judge said. Sales in markets where the campaign ran were 24% higher, and overall ROI was as high as 65%. The campaign also proved its lasting appeal-calls to surgeons remained at 90% of campaign levels even after the ads went dark.

DIRECT-TO-PATIENT CAMPAIGN
Spiriva: "Guide to Managing COPD" Boehringer Ingelheim and Everyday Health
Boehringer Ingelheim and Everyday Health developed a campaign for COPD patients that may prove the old adage wrong—you can teach an old dog new tricks. The target audience for Spiriva consists of older adults most of whom are (or were) longtime smokers and choose denial as the best option to deal with their condition. Everyday Health created an integrated media plan that included targeted site placements, roadblocks, user-targeted placements, special report emails, and a COPD Awareness Month sponsorship (November 2011). At the center of this initiative, however, was the Guide to Managing COPD, a custom online destination with content designed to inform, entertain, and inspire COPD sufferers.

The website features videos of people living with COPD; daily lifestyle tips to "Breathe Easier with COPD"; a COPD Checkup Tool to assess symptoms, determine treatment compliance, and make doctor follow-up recommendations; podcasts and a blog by a COPD expert from the American Lung Association; an Air Quality Forecast tool indicating air quality by zip code; and the "Take a Breather" Solitaire Game with tips for better breathing included at the completion of each game. Not only are people visiting the site (451,226 total page views), but they are engaging with all of its resources. Currently, the Guide to Managing COPD has reached over 165,109 users and is on pace to reach more than 300,000 people. The average time spent is 4.40 minutes—120% higher than brand.com averages— and the solitaire game has an even higher average time spent of 8 minutes. A click-through-rate of .10 shows that visitors are also seeking information about treatment by visiting the Spiriva website.

INTERACTIVE MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Nplate Integrated Marketing Program Amgen and Cell Division, Inc.
Right Content. Right Channel. Right Person. Right Time. That was the strategy behind Amgen's Nplate Integrated Marketing Program (NIMC), a comprehensive, cost-efficient, multi-channel, non-personal promotion platform designed to drive physician engagement, manage sustainable relationships, and drive Nplate sales. The campaign included major enhancements to NplateHCP.com, which served as the campaign hub, and a "surround sound" approach to reach the relatively small universe of physician targets through waves of direct outreach campaigns (e.g., outbound eDetailing calls, email campaigns, direct mail) and paid online and print media campaigns (banner ads, journal ads, etc.). The campaign also used a variety of tactics to track what was working as well as physicians' behavior in response to the engagement tactics, so that the message and delivery channel could be adjusted to fit each physician.

As one judge said, "For a small disease category, NPlate did a great job of reaching HCPs and communicating the disease state and treatment options." NIMC, however, is worthy of this award for doing far more than just reaching HCPs: It engaged them effectively in new ways, delivered meaningful clinical practice guidance, and drove prescription growth.

In fact, the program increased Nplate sales by high double digits for three consecutive quarters as it tripled the reach of the field sales force. And as a testament to the power of an effective non-personal promotion campaign to both support the field force and extend it, a significant percentage of new product sales were generated by physicians who engaged only through the campaign, without live rep visits.

PERSISTENCE PROGRAM
Improving Diabetes Care in the Pharmacy Novo Nordisk and BrainWorks Communications
Our judges felt the Novo Nordisk Improving Diabetes Care in the Pharmacy program was far superior to any of its competitors in this category and it's not surprising considering the response the program has received from patients with type 2 diabetes. Let's take one step back, however, to first examine the program itself. This initiative helped improve patient adherence by implementing brand marketing strategies throughout the entire pharmacy experience. Partnership agreements were negotiated with multiple national and regional pharmacy chains and pharmacists were educated on key product information using a variety of channels (newsletters, HTML e-mail, intranet, ads, mailings) and provided with the information and tools for counseling patients (Portfolio Pharmacy Kits, Pharmacist Intervention Aids and information sheets). The program also used patient messages (including branded and unbranded television commercials in select markets, tear pads, print-on-demand messages, reminder letters, in-store signage, and point-of-purchase brochures) to raise awareness and highlight the benefits of prefilled insulin delivery devices and remind patients to refill their prescriptions in a timely manner.

Now, back to the response. Feedback was solicited using a $10 American Diabetes Association contribution incentive and to date there have been more than 1,200 respondents. A vast majority (93%) found the Pharmacy Kits useful and 82% stayed in the pharmacy area for several months or longer. Additionally, more than 1,500 point-of-purchase product rebate redemptions have been received. This method also proved to be highly cost-effective as the ROI was four to one. A persistence program that both improved adherence and had a solid ROI: What more could you ask for?

PERSISTENCE PROGRAM
PR CAMPAIGN & UNBRANDED LAUNCH
DRIVE4COPD Boehringer Ingelheim and Biosector 2
Our judges described the DRIVE4COPD campaign as "extremely creative," "innovative," "empowering" and "educational." Those are just some of the reasons why the campaign won not one, but two of our awards. The campaign brought together a powerful group of drivers—including celebrities and sports, health, and entertainment organizations—to inform people about a largely unknown condition, encourage people to get screened for risk of COPD, and urge those that found out they may be at risk to talk with a healthcare professional. DRIVE4COPD has already screened approximately 2 million people for risk of COPD by reaching those at-risk where they live—through a combination of media outreach, public service announcement campaigns, social media activities as well as on-the-ground events at NASCAR races, state fairs and country music festivals.

The DRIVE4COPD team worked with celebrities and partners to create unique programs that would drive awareness and screenings for COPD, including Virtual Twitter Races in which Celebrity Ambassadors competed to see who could drive the most people to be screened for COPD risk, a songwriting competition in partnership with the Country Music Association and a four day cross-country RV tour with the Celebrity Ambassadors. DRIVE4COPD has also engaged corporate partners in working to raise awareness and screenings of COPD with their employees and customer bases through almost 50 in-kind employer and consumer wellness initiatives.

"DRIVE4COPD implemented an innovative mix of professional societies, celebrities and a validated tool to raise awareness of COPD and take it to the next step of allowing patients to actually get screened for the condition," one judge said.

PRODUCT LDexilant
"Tortoise and Hare"
Takeda Canada and Abelson Taylor
Launching a new product is not an easy task, and that task is made even more difficult when you are trying to break into an already flooded market that is also perceived to be very satisfied. The right campaign, however, can distinguish you from the competition. The perfect image can tell your brand's story so well that physicians will be forced to consider you. And an iconic image will make your new brand unforgettable.

When launching Dexilant, Takeda Canada and Abelson Taylor chose the perfect image to represent the unique feature that would help the brand stand out from the other proton pump inhibitors (PPI) already on the market. Dexilant, despite being yet another PPI, still filled an unmet need thanks to its novel dual release formulation that provided patients a second release of the drug later in the day. And what image is better suited to remind physicians about this unique dual delayed release mechanism than the tortoise and the hare. After all, who is not already familiar with Aesop's old fable? The mere sight of the pair combined with the use of pills instantly lets physicians know that one dose will speed to the finish line as the other will take its time and arrive a little later. As one of our judges said, all of the levels of imagery work brilliantly together to communicate so many levels about the brand. Research also shows that the campaign is quickly understood and physicians remember "2 releases of drug."

PROFESSIONAL CAMPAIGN
"Takeda Canada Switches" Campaign
Takeda and Abelson Taylor
This Prelaunch Disease Education Ad for Dexilant was the favorite among our judges due to "its arresting visual and educational message that's of value to physicians." Once again, Abelson Taylor and Takeda are able to quickly tell a story to their target audience using an impactful image that both captures your attention and stays with you. This steel stomach of "on" and "off" switches visually represents proton pump activation and identifies the limitations of current therapies. When you eat, millions of tiny pumps secrete acid to help you digest your food, however, at the time of dosing only about 75% of these pumps are actively secreting acid. At least 25% of pumps are available to be activated later in the day for acid secretion. These pumps that "switch on" later may miss the effects of most standard proton pump inhibitors (PPI). Dexilant, however, is a once-daily PPI with a unique dual delayed release formulation that is designed to help right away as well as later in the day when those other pumps are activated. By clearly communicating to physicians the limitations of existing PPI's on the market, Abelson Taylor and Takeda were able to set the stage for the launch of Dexilant in Canada. One of our judges summed it up perfectly: "Creative is simple, memorable, and dead on the strategy."

PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE/ONLINE INITIATIVE
My Vaccine Resource Website Pfizer and Hudson Global
Abbott Diagnostics and LehmanMillet
When it comes to vaccination, the attitude seems to be that children are the future and need protecting—while adults, well, they sometimes get forgotten. Child immunization rates are near 90% for most recommended vaccines in the United States; vaccination rates for adults have remained stagnant and below CDC goals for years. Pfizer believed that this needed to change and with the help of Hudson Global they developed MyVaccineResource.com to increase the prioritization of adult immunization among physicians and give them the tools and resources to make the practice of immunization easier and more efficient in their practice. MyVaccineResource.com is user-friendly, attractive, and (dare we say it) fun.

The site uses multiple mediums and resources, including videos, interactive games, posters, expert commentaries, and handouts. An example of one set of handouts is "The Usual Culprits—Common Patient Rebuttals" which include a mug shot drawing, along with myths and facts for the types of people who commonly avoid vaccination, such as "The Naturalist," "The Fatalist," and "The Skeptic." The website also took a special interest in the Hispanic community, whose vaccination rates lag far behind their non-Hispanic counterparts', and offered Spanish language materials inspired by telenovelas. Whenever you can create something that actually makes it appropriate to have the words "vaccination" and "fun" in the same sentence, you deserve to win an award.

SELF-PROMOTION
Intouchsol.com Redesign
Intouch Solutions
Solid goals, well-established benefits, and proven results were the attributes that led our judges to choose the redesigned Intouchsol.com as the victor in this category. As a showcase for all the agency has to offer, www.intouchsol.com features a user-centric and eye-appealing design, innovative technologies, and the latest in emerging media. The addition of rich and compelling content was also a focus during the redesign, which is when the agency launched their new blog Intouch Soul to offer industry insights from a range of their own subject matter experts. The blog posts along with point-of-view briefs and other feature articles not only make the site more attractive to search engines, but also to perspective clients. When an article was posted about how the changes to the Facebook comment policy will affect pharma, it was viewed a total of 900 times and was tweeted, shared via industry publications' websites, and individual blogs and has resulted in multiple public relations/interview opportunities for Intouch.

The website redesign has also led to a 75% increase in overall traffic, a 72% increase in traffic from search engines, and a 24% increase in pages viewed per visit. Best of all, business development is up. Since the launch, the agency has seen an increase in calls, emails, and Tweets from prospective clients offering their comments and accolades as well as inquiring about doing business with the agency. Another added bonus is that traffic to the site's careers section is up—a signal that more and more people are recognizing Intouch Solutions as a great place to work.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Leveraging Social Media Engagement to Better Deliver on Patient Needs
Sanofi and Intouch Solutions
When it comes to social media, pharma companies can feel like they are operating with two hands tied behind their back. The lack of official guidelines from the FDA can make establishing a social media presence challenging, but when done correctly (and compliantly) the payoff is huge—engagement. Meaningful engagement with a patient group means real-time feedback as well as the chance to establish your company as a valuable partner throughout the treatment continuum. The sanofi-aventis U.S. Diabetes Division, along with Intouch Solutions, deserve this year's award because they embraced multiple social media channels, remained compliant, and developed a relationship with the Diabetes Online Community (DOC).

Sanofi's social ecosystem involves a Twitter handle, Facebook page, and the "Discuss Diabetes" blog (discussdiabetes.com). Sanofi executed a groundbreaking model in pharma by creating a dedicated Community Manager position to manage these social media channels and engage in two-way dialogue with the DOC. The program has already surpassed its early goals by getting more Facebook fans (135% of goal), Twitter followers (160% of goal), and blog visitors (132% of goal) than originally anticipated. The initiative has also achieved over 10 million word-of-mouth conversations and high blog engagement. Feedback has been strong as well. One DOC member had this to say: "… a rep [Laura K., the Community Manager] from Sanofi-Aventis picked up on the discussion and was able to relay a message to me to call them. That is online social networking at its best, and what the earliest members of the DOC wanted this to become."

VIDEO COMMERCIAL
Restasis Interactive Learning Program
Allergan and Abelson Taylor
This marks the third award for Abelson Taylor, an agency that one of our judges said "has shown incredible breadth and depth of their creative range in all their submissions." This time they combined that creative range with cutting-edge technology to aid Allergan with their Restasis Interactive Learning Program (ILP). Restasis helps patients with Chronic Dry Eye by increasing tear production reduced by inflammation. This condition can make it hard for patients to go about their daily activities, yet many eye care professionals (ECPs) do not consider dry eye a priority because it is not sightthreatening. Allergan needed something to draw ECPs in and put them in their patients' shoes or— in this case—their eyes.

The program used augmented reality in a convention booth display to draw passers-by into the booth and literally into the scene on the monitor. When ECPs stepped up to the monitor, their faces were augmented with the Restasis branded eyes (from the "Running Low on Tears" campaign) superimposed over their own. The augmented reality did not stop there. ECPs could hold up a sales aid in front of the display and it would become a fully 3-dimensional data chart that could be manipulated in real time. Additional interactive data could be accessed by simply turning the sales aid to reveal a total of three charts.

The Restasis ILP drew sizable crowds and the visit time in the booth had to be extended so reps could elaborate on data seen in the ILP. ECPs left with an experience sure to make them remember Restasis.

—Trailblazer Award winner profiles by Andrew Matthius, Bruce Lacey, and Lauren Genovesi.