Title	INSIDE HEART FAILURE
Brand	NOVARTIS
Product/Service	HEART FAILURE AWARENESS
Category	A02. Healthcare
Entrant	WEBER SHANDWICK Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation	WEBER SHANDWICK Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation 2	McCANN PARIS, FRANCE
PR	WEBER SHANDWICK Paris, FRANCE
Production	CRAFT PARIS, FRANCE
Additional Company	AUREVOIRCHARLIE Levallois Perret, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Eloi Asseline	Weber Shandwick France	General manager France
Jean Paoli	Weber Shandwick France	Senior Strategist and Creative
Elise Decultot	Weber Shandwick France	Strategist
Valentin Vezinat	Weber Shandwick France	Senior Art Director
Emilie Barrail	Weber Shandwick France	Associate director
Merryl Marcout	Weber Shandwick France	Associate Director, Head of Healthcare
Anaïs Petit	Weber Shandwick France	Account Director
Elodie Ferreira	Weber Shandwick France	Associate
Adrien Le Grand	Weber Shandwick France	Senior copywriter
David Puiroux	Weber Shandwick France	Art Director
Riccardo Fregoso	McCann Paris	Executive Creative Director, Creative President
Julien Chiapolini	McCann Paris	Executive Creative Director
Sebastien Boutebel	McCann Paris	Creative Director
Romain Benard	McCann Paris	Art Director
Anne Sophie Guerin	McCann Paris	Copywriter
Vincent Rebouah	McCann Paris	Copywriter
Sylvie Hirrien	Novartis France	Head of Communications & Patient Advocacy
Elodie Charmat	Novartis France	Marketing Lead Heart Failure
Annick Roche	Novartis France	Patient Advocacy manager
Cecile Gonsard	Novartis France	Communications Manager
Yannis Cullaz	CRAFT France	Managing Director
Martine Ferey-Youssourou	CRAFT France	Head of post production
Alexis Goldenberg	CRAFT France	Editor / motion designer
Yoel Dreux	CRAFT France	Productor

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Heart failure is impacting more than one million people in France. With early detection of the disease, patient outcomes are greatly improved thanks to innovative treatment provided by Novartis. However many patients are not aware of the early signs of heart failure leading to delays in diagnosis which can have fatal consequences. Disease awareness and education is therefore top of the agenda for Novartis, and in order to drive mass awareness of the symptoms of heart failure, we created a PR led creative concept that allows healthy people to actually experience what it’s like to live with the symptoms.

Background

The brief was to make Novartis the authority on heart failure among 4 targets: journalists, patients, patients' relatives, general public. Heart failure is impacting more than one million French people: their heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. As the provider of one of the most effective heart failure treatment, Novartis has a leading role to play in its management and awareness. We learned that half of the hospitalizations could be avoided if the patient had been diagnosed earlier. But in France, only one in ten people knows the first signs of the disease. From that our objective was simple: to raise awareness of the symptoms of heart failure by spreading the message about what it’s like to live with it, and ultimately help save lives by increasing early detections.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We created an apartment where everyone can feel the symptoms of heart failure. Partnering with the 4 biggest heart failure patients associations in France we gathered hundreds of testimonials from real patients explaining in their own words how their symptoms affect their daily life, as well as the first warning signs they noticed that led them to visit their doctor. Based on these testimonials we transformed every detail of the apartment to make journalists, friends and family of patients, and the general public feel what it’s like to live with heart failure, and to get them talking about the symptoms. The apartment was created in Paris. To extend the reach of the idea we also created an immersive website experience that allowed people to virtually visit it. Additionally, we created video assets that were shared online.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The main strategic challenge was the diversity of the target audiences that we needed to reach: patients, general public, patients' relatives, and journalists, as well as the complexity of explaining abstract symptoms to them that are difficult to imagine unless experienced. So we involved patients themselves, consulting with them directly via a partnership with the 4 main patient associations in France to learn what it’s like to live with heart failure, enabling us to create a campaign that truly reflects the lived experience of patients, and therefore helping to better raise awareness among the 3 other target groups, in one place, at the same time: an apartment. The apartment was created to directly reflect patients’ experience of their symptoms so journalists and everyone else can see and share what it’s like to live with heart failure; because ultimately the best way to understand something is to experience it directly.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

A message from a patient was sent to journalists, inviting them in an apartment in Paris to discover its daily life. Inside, journalists discovered that the apartment was completely modified to create an experience that showed what it’s like to live with heart failure. We made the floors spongey so people could feel what it’s like to have heavy legs, we made objects in the apartment heavier, and the sofa more difficult to stand up from, so people could experience the extreme tiredness associated with heart failure. Every single detail of the apartment was considered to create a truly immersive experience for those who entered. An audio guide was given with patients' testimonials so they could understand why different aspects of the apartment had been modified in the way they had. At the end, people and journalists were invited to meet heart failure patients and professionals to discuss the experience.

List the results (30% of vote)

- Over 135 millions organic impressions highlighting the main symptoms of heart failure to a mainstream French audience, educating them about the early signs of the disease and promoting association of Novartis as the experts in heart failure (Kantar). - 100 pieces of coverage including national TV, newspaper and radio - One article in the most read daily newspaper in France - A 5 minute documentary on national TV following someone in the apartment - Over 90% of coverage mentioned Novartis + 110% increase in Google searches for “heart failure symptoms” (Google Trends) 17,440 average number of monthly searches for “heart failure” in France before activation 30,100 average number of monthly searches for “heart failure” during the campaign (source: Google Keyword Planner)