We recently won a Bronze Clio Heath Award for a film we made about psoriasis awareness and we’ve been shortlisted for EVCOM awards this year also for the same film. Not only are we incredibly proud to have made a film that has made a difference, it’s also great to get recognition for it.
The main aim of the film was not only to raise awareness of the condition but also to get sufferers to re-think their options and visit a medical professional as new treatment options exist. One of the key requirements was that they didn’t want to show the condition itself bar from the final key visual as they just wanted to deal with the emotional aspects and therefore we really needed to get inside the heads of those with the disease and work out stories that would resonate with them and would be easily recognisable in terms of story line.
As the film was intended for a pan-European audience, one of the key challenges was the filming needed to feel European both in terms of casting and locations despite being filmed in central London.  Therefore, casting and location search was key in the pre-production phase.  Casting as always was critical, as we needed to ensure that the actors would be credible to someone with the condition and know where psoriasis generally appears and to what extent you would see it.
As you will see, with no dialogue to work with, emotional integrity and subtle performace were a key requirement to the success of the film.  And with no dialogue, it allowed Celgene to distribute the film more easily to its pan-European audience.
One of key challenges was getting the invisible barrier to feel like a psychological one rather than a physical one which was key in terms of making the film credible. We also wanted it to feel real rather than an effect created in post.  Using inspiration from Shane Meadows ‘Abuse’ Ad campaign we decided to use a sheet of thick Perspex to achieve the affect we needed. The next challenge was to get credible performances as it’s actually harder than you think to walk into an object you can see and make it look authentic.  And also to be sensitive to how those with the disease behave in public / private in terms of body language and instinctively hiding it without it feeling obvious.

Celgene – ‘Stopping’

The initial phase of the campaign has been rolled out across Austria.  We produced an online master film, 10 and 20 second teaser films for outdoor digital sites and doctors waiting rooms, to help drive people to the website.
The results were fantastic.  In a country with 8,000 psoriasis sufferers, the online video had 200,000 views, 60,000 visits to the campaign site and 1.4 million earned impressions across social media.  70% of people said they would share the film with friends, and more importantly, 72% of people not seeking treatment said they planned to book an appointment with a dermatologist after seeing the campaign.

Celgene – Effectiveness Case Study

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