Search our sites

Search past winners/finalists


  • MESA logo

FGS Global, New York, New York, United States: The PAN Foundation: Engagement Campaign for Continued Patient Need

Company: FGS Global, New York, NY
Company Description: FGS Global is a leading global strategic communications consultancy, with 1,300 professionals around the world, advising clients in navigating complex situations and reputational challenges. The only firm ranked Top 10 in all regions, FGS offers counsel in all aspects of strategic communications — including corporate reputation, crisis management, digital strategy, and stakeholder engagement.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Healthcare
2024 Stevie Winner Nomination Title: The PAN Foundation: Donor Engagement Campaign for Continued Patient Need
  1. Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
    Written answers to the questions
  2. Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):

    Total 66 words used.

    • The research PAN conducted is documented in the Avalere Research deck
    • Samples of the campaign's creative assets can be found in the Creative Library
    • The Patient Storytelling Report outlines the planning, execution, and performance of the user-generated video testimonials
    • A summary of overall campaign results and takeaways can be reviewed in the Campaign Performance Report 
    • All URLs are hyperlinked within the entry and included as attachments
  3. If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.

     

  4. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:

    July 10, 2023

  5. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):

    Total 192 words used.

    In the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Medicare Part D reform that will cap out-of-pocket prescription costs, the PAN Foundation – one of the nation’s largest and most impactful charitable patient assistance foundations that helps 130,000+ Medicare patients cover their drug costs – had some of its largest pharmaceutical donors stop and/or reduce their contributions due to a perceived lack of patient need. 

    PAN conducted research to measure the impact of these healthcare policy reforms on Medicare patients and found that:

    • 75% of Medicare beneficiaries (2.6 million Americans) would still struggle to pay $2,000 out of pocket in prescription and treatment costs.
    • 1 in 5 adults skip or delay prescribed medications due to cost.
    • Even with Medicare reforms, patients will spend >10% of their income on prescriptions.
    • 96% of current PAN patients report that PAN’s support helps them take their medications as prescribed.

    To help educate key audiences about the important role that charitable patient assistance organizations continue to play in bridging the healthcare gap, the PAN Foundation engaged FGS Global to create a campaign designed to raise awareness around continued patient need among institutional donors. 

  6. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):

    Total 250 words used.

    FGS responded to PAN's problem by creating, executing, and optimizing a two-phase digital ad campaign reaching key decision makers and influencers at relevant [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] companies with a combination of fact-based messaging and personal stories.

    Creative Assets

    FGS’ in-house creative team designed 15 suites of ads accompanied with copy adapted on a platform-to-platform basis. Each suite was optimized for Meta, LinkedIn, and various programmatic display placements, which required hundreds of unique formats.

    Phase I: Highly-Targeted Decision Maker Audience

    Partnering with an audience data provider, [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION] FGS was able to target key decision makers directly with programmatic display ads, Facebook ads, and LinkedIn ads.

    To further reach relevant audiences, FGS sponsored popular industry newsletters and served ads to attendees of healthcare conferences using a targeting tactic called geofencing.

    Phase II: Patient Storytelling via User-Generated Content

    Partnering with a SaaS provider that specializes in digital advocacy tools, FGS built a call-to-action landing page that encouraged PAN patients to share their testimonies about how difficult life would be without PAN assistance. PAN emailed out the announcement, and in the span of one week, over 100 patients submitted videos using the integrated recording feature. Some of the videos can be found in PAN’s dedicated video library, and 3 of the testimonials were amplified as ads to retarget the previous decision maker audiences as well as pharma audiences built via attribution targeting.

  7. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2022. Even if your initiative started before 2022, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2022 only (up to 250 words):

    Total 248 words used.

    Phase I Summary: Decision Maker Targeting

    Phase I was conducted from July 10, 2023 through October 10, 2023 and consisted of two approaches: 1) decision maker targeting via licensed custom audience lists, and 2) contextual targeting.

    Tactics in Phase I included:

    • Decision maker network targeting (via Programmatic Display, Meta, and LinkedIn);
    • LinkedIn attribution targeting;
    • Newsletter sponsorships (Modern Healthcare ALERT and Fierce Pharma); and
    • Conference geofencing & geotargeting (Healthcare Advocate Summit and National Association of Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting)

    Phase I Metrics:

    • 6.44M impressions
    • 12K clicks to PAN website
    • 25.54x average ad frequency per user

    Phase I effectively reached target decision makers, efficiently serving ads to their networks. FGS used engagement tracking to document targets' peers and colleagues actively interacting with PAN's ads on LinkedIn and Facebook.

    Phase II Summary: Patient Testimonials

    Phase II ran from November 13, 2023 through January 17, 2024, directing audiences to PAN’s Need for Patient Assistance Programs’ subpage. The campaign retargeted previous PAN website visitors with research ads and patient video testimonials, as well as reached relevant pharma/biotech audiences via YouTube ads, LinkedIn attribution, and programmatic display ads.

    Phase II Metrics:

    • 2.70M impressions
    • 18K clicks to PAN website
    • 582K video views
    • 30.36% video completion rate

    Overall, the campaign produced 9.1M impressions and drove 30K clicks to PAN's website. The patient testimonials proved very effective, as they produced impressive engagement rates across all channels. 

    Most importantly, PAN cited receiving a record number of institutional contributions during the 2023 donation cycle.

Attachments/Videos/Links:
The PAN Foundation: Donor Engagement Campaign for Continued Patient Need
PDF PAN_Continued_Need_Digital_Campaign_Performance_Report.pdf
PDF PAN_Avalere_Research___Impact_of_Part_D_on_Patient_Behavior_2023.pdf
PDF PAN_Continued_Need_Patient_Storytelling.pdf
PDF PAN_Digital_Ad_Creative_Library___Continued_Need_Campaign.pdf
URL PAN x FGS Patient Testimonial Landing Page
URL The PAN Foundation Patient Stories Library
URL PAN: Continued Need for Patient Assistance