SHADOW

TitleSHADOW
BrandJANSSEN
Product/ServiceMDD
Category G01. Regulated
Entrant HAVAS LYNX Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation HAVAS LYNX Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Production HAVAS LYNX Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Paul Kinsella Havas Lynx Group Creative Director
Matt Crosby Havas Lynx Group Senior Creative
Richard Hague Havas Lynx Group Copywriter
Lorna Kempley Havas Lynx Group Account Director
Nick Meeks Siobhan Squire Photographer

Describe any restrictions or regulations regarding Healthcare/RX/Pharma communications in your country/region including

Because of strict guidelines, we couldn’t say that something new was coming, so we had to tell the audience to look at MDD in a different way.

Describe the target audience and why your work is relevant to them. Pharma audience types:

This multichannel campaign was based on patient and HCP research and insights into unmet needs. Research told us that due to contradictory guidelines on how best to treat MDD, clinicians are frequently unsure about how best to deal with patients who are unresponsive to treatment.

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Through delicate rotoscoping and VFX, our film showed how the shadow of depression engulfs a patient over a period of time, leaving them isolated from the world around them, even in their own home. We see how the longer a patient lives with depression, the more of their personality, passion and hopes were left behind – until they fully succumb to the disease, and turn into ‘a shadow of their former selves’. A feeling often described by those who are ‘unresponsive’ to all current treatments for MDD.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects approx. 40.3 million people across Europe, and it is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In 2004, depression cost Europe approximately €118 billion, which corresponded to 1% of the total economy. The current standard of care is SSRIs/SNRIs, but these oral treatments have a slow onset of efficacy (3-8 weeks), and up to 1/3 of patients do not achieve complete remission. Despite this, treatment has changed very little in 30 years, leading to resigned acceptance of suboptimal outcomes, which means patients’ suffering often continues longer than it should. Our task was to encourage clinicians to recognise treatment failure sooner, and to act earlier in order to help their patients finally achieve remission. By communicating a consistent disease awareness narrative, we aim to redefine expectations in MDD and begin to restore hope for both patients and HCPs.