The Campaign

Life should be filled with memorable moments. An overactive bladder shouldn’t rob anyone of this. And as humans, we have an inherent need to be in control of our lives. Based on these insights, we created Hold On to More: a campaign grounded in the idea that when you look back, you want to hold on to life’s moments by taking back the reins of your life. The creative approach aimed to emotionally connect with patients and caregivers through visuals and ad copy, then empower them with information to manage their health. Visuals reflected culturally relevant and relatable scenarios from Hongkongers’ lives including mahjong games with peers, send-offs for a family holiday, and important work presentations. Instead of everyone being present at the climax of each scenario, a person in the scene was absent – indicated by their silhouette overlaid with a Chinese character that expresses the need to pee.

Creative Execution

Over the two-month campaign, we deployed owned, paid, and earned content to drive audiences to the campaign website. We collaborated with a healthcare magazine to activate on Facebook, which furthered reach and ensured campaign content was being seen by an audience invested in health information. Clever search ads and keyword groups spoke to the nuances of how people could be searching for overactive bladder online, ranging from symptom-related copy to content related to “toilet search behavior”. Optimization and A/B testing helped determine what creative scenarios, messages, channels, and targeting were most effective in driving test completes. Big data and audience segmentation enhanced the campaign to ensure engagement throughout the campaign. Traditional media supported digital activities, with messaging informed by primary research on Hongkongers’ awareness and understanding of overactive bladder. A urologist served as a campaign spokesperson for media interviews to provide disease information from a credible source.

During the two-month pilot, campaign content received over 4.08 million impressions and drove over 44,000 website visits. Nearly 16,000 people who visited the website also completed the symptoms test – exceeding campaign benchmarks by 386%. Sales of Astellas’ overactive bladder medication increased by 60% compared to the same time period in 2017, indicative of a positive correlation between our communications campaign and sales. Overall results indicating a return of $12 USD on every media dollar spent. Most importantly, we empowered Hong Kongers to retake control of a health condition that while largely invisible, has a profound impact on everyday life.

The campaign strategy set out to move patients and caregivers from feelings of resignation and acceptance to feelings of empowerment and action by connecting symptoms to condition, raising awareness that overactive bladder is a treatable condition, and encouraging conversations with healthcare providers. Knowing that overactive bladder is a very private and often stigmatized condition, we chose to reach our audiences through channels with an inherently personal experience. The centerpiece of the campaign was an educational website with a simple self-assessment for visitors to determine their risk for overactive bladder.