THE CHALLENGE

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 76% of immunocompromised Americans already believed they would need supplemental protection beyond vaccines. Despite this, only 26% were seeking it, often unaware of the role monoclonal antibodies could play in the prevention of Covid-19. One the one-hand, AstraZeneca needed to educate immunocompromised people about its game-changing therapy and encourage them to ask their doctors about it. At the same time, the work couldn’t decrease vaccine confidence or create unnecessary demand for the therapy from those with healthy immune systems.

THE STRATEGY

Edelman aimed to acknowledge the enduring reality that COVID-19 created for immunocompromised Americans and provide them with a solution for everyday living through AstraZeneca's long-acting monoclonal antibody, EVUSHELD.

As EVUSHELD is the only monoclonal antibody authorized for prevention, Edelman created an unbranded campaign to diversify outreach and balance innovative creativity with the regulatory constraints of pharmaceutical marketing.

THE APPROACH

We began by gaining deeper insight into the post-COVID reality IC Americans face by exploring their COVID perceptions, education needs and testing key messages. Our approach also entailed spearheading audience insights research, enabling us to finely tune our strategy. Throughout the campaign, we supported paid social strategy to ensure we were connecting with the right people over the right channels with the right messages.

Finally, we devised a holistic, multichannel measurement framework encompassing paid social, earned media, social (earned and owned), web, publisher integrations, Social Media Research Tools, roundtables, press releases and partnerships with three celebrities and 14 influencers.

As the foundation for our ongoing measurement approach, the framework included baseline metrics and targets for most KPIs, enabling continuous performance tracking across channels and tactics.

The framework also incorporated data collected from inter-agency relationships and AstraZeneca's internal stakeholders to present a unified story around the success of Up The Antibodies.

THE MEASUREMENT

The online survey, conducted before the campaign launch and distributed among 400 immunocompromised patients, revealed that 76% believed they needed supplemental protection beyond the COVID-19 vaccine. However, less than half were aware such protection existed, and only 26% actively sought it. These results provided a concrete yet emotional understanding of the evolving pandemic experience for immunocompromised Americans, shaping strategy and informing creative content that would resonate, motivate, and be memorable. This led the Edelman team to develop a personal story featuring Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges, which brought the campaign to life as he shared his near-death battle with COVID-19 in a powerful PSA encouraging people to learn about protective monoclonal antibody therapy.

Throughout and after the campaign, DXI implemented a holistic measurement ecosystem, including operational and effectiveness measures to assess campaign performance. DXI measured campaign success using metrics such as offline patient surveys, brand lift studies, earned and owned media measurement, website analytics, influencer and celebrity partner analytics, traditional PR analytics, publisher integration measurement, and paid analytics.

THE OUTCOME

In six weeks following launch, we bolstered awareness of a long-acting monoclonal antibody as a preventative solution through …