Reimagining the Testimonial
Testimonial videos are tried and true staples of pharma advertising. But how do you best use this traditionally patient-focused medium to reach a non-patient audience?
One DH team spent a year reinventing the testimonial video to better resonate with a prevention audience—and in the process, reinvented how they worked together.
A quick refresher…
PrEP is a small daily pill to help reduce the risk of HIV. Seems like a no-brainer, but surprisingly 4 out of 5 people who could benefit from PrEP are not currently taking it. This is due to an array of reasons: from lack of knowledge about PrEP and whether this treatment is right for them, to fear of the stigma associated with taking PrEP, to misinformation about cost. The goal of the Real Stories series is to help normalize the conversation around PrEP, helping people see how they too can benefit from DESCOVY.
Representing authentic voices
Knowing the important role peer-to-peer interactions play in the decision to start a PrEP routine, DESCOVY wanted to bring these authentic voices into our campaign. Not just any voices—a true representation of PrEP users, highlighting a range of ages, ethnicities, sexual identities, relationship statuses, and geographies.
But we didn’t have the assignment…yet
When DESCOVY for PrEP first launched, the DH team was focused on the Step Up. PrEP Up. campaign, and the consumer testimonial work was with another agency. The first video they created was a very traditional patient testimonial, which wasn’t right for the DESCOVY audience. So, the client subsequently awarded the work to DH. The catch—it happened during the very beginning of the pandemic.
Moving full speed ahead during a standstill
In spring 2020, production came to a halt…right when we started creating the concept for this series. We had to quickly align on an efficient, flexible, and COVID-safe way to capture real people in their homes across the country that was 100% remote. We also found the perfect production partners in CBN and director Mike Kelton, who had already been leading remote shots for a few months. Once the production plan was in place, we dove into all the prep work to pull off the first few remote shoots.
Making Real Stories more REAL
Afterwards, our client asked if there was a way to make these videos even more engaging to a prevention audience and more distinctly DESCOVY. Challenge accepted. The team quickly redeveloped a concept for a fresher, more “ownable” approach. This new direction incorporated more motion graphics and a user-generated content style, featuring a mix of the talent’s existing photos and videos and new self-capture content. The biggest shift? We began individualizing each video treatment, making every Real Story as unique as the person we featured. To pull this off, we needed to get to know our real people on a very personal level not normally achieved during such a project.
Process, Pivots, and Partnership.
There isn’t a guidebook on how to capture and create original remote mini documentaries with ever-changing logistical challenges. Every shoot was an opportunity to build upon our process. To figure out what worked, what didn’t, and where the new opportunities were. With our new individualized treatment style, we needed to concept the videos from scratch every time, which led to earlier and greater partnership with our production and motion media teams. As shoots began to overlap, we had to pivot to a “SWAT” approach with two separate teams of creatives and production simultaneously tackling different videos to meet demanding timelines and maintain creative excellence (huge shout out to everyone who helped along the way). Shoot after shoot, one thing became clear: the better we worked together, the better the videos we produced.
Inspiring a prevention audience
Most importantly, people who would benefit from PrEP who saw the videos were inspired to take action. In research, 80% of the respondents who had watched at least one video said that they were extremely likely to initiate a DESCOVY for PrEP conversation with their HCP. That’s more than double the amount of intent to action we’ve seen of any tactic currently in the market.
Making lemonade
Despite the challenges of a remote production, lack of in-person contact, and a chaotic shoot schedule, the team was able to find opportunity within the limitations. Ultimately being able to create 13 docu-style videos that highlight our talent not only as DECOVY users, but as human beings. Visit descovystories.com to watch all their stories.