Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards - 2024

Campaign: Sickle Cell Speaks
Agency/Firm: Riester Rx
Client: Pfizer (Oxbryta)

When Pfizer acquired Global Blood Therapeutics in October 2022, the flagship drug in the company’s portfolio was Oxbryta, a groundbreaking treatment that targets the root cause of sickle cell disease, not just the symptoms.

To pave the way for the launch of Oxbryta, Pfizer’s GBT unit approached Riester Rx to conduct research and develop a market-shaping campaign to increase awareness of sickle cell disease. Riester reached out to patients, caregivers, health care providers and community champions to gain insight into how SCD is widely misunderstood not just by the general population but even among health providers and the Black community.

Informed by focus groups and in-depth interviews, Riester created “Sickle Cell Speaks,” an emotional, stigma-defying campaign to give sickle cell patients and caregivers a voice. The campaign aimed to educate people about the causes and effects of SCD while engendering hope and respect.

All campaign elements drove people to the landing site sicklecellspeaks.com, using a mix of paid media, paid and organic social, over-the-top and social video, plus consumer and trade print, radio, posters and community presentations.

The Sickle Cell Speaks social campaign has drawn 163,000 followers, the agency said. Given that only approximately 100,000 people in the U.S. have the disease, that indicates the campaign not only engaged patients but also caregivers. Campaign videos have been viewed more than 55.4 million times, and social posts drew more than 2.2 million engagements.