Andy Badalamenti

Giving a powerful drug its due

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that affects movement. For most people, the disease becomes a daily battle of slow movement, tremors, and stiffness. GOCOVRI® is extended-release amantadine indicated for OFF episodes (slow movement) and dyskinesia (uncontrolled, dance-like movements)—two common motor complications associated with Parkinson’s disease. It’s the only drug indicated for both.

GOCOVRI is a good medication. It can make a serious difference in someone’s life every day. The problem was, it was virtually unknown. Our agency was tasked with changing that, and I was a lead creative. Here’s that work.

The gold standard in Parkinson’s treatment—levodopa—becomes less and less effective as the disease progresses, causing a lot of difficulty in movement. GOCOVRI actually reverses some of this effect. Our campaign imagery shows a person with Parkinson’s breaking out of the confines of her home, back to living life again.

The campaign moved both healthcare professionals and patients. We created:

• Brand design, voice, and messaging

• Websites for healthcare professionals (seen below) and patients

• A social media campaign for patients (primarily Facebook and Twitter)

• An email campaign to both professionals and potential patients, in addition to CRM

• Online patient testimonials videos

• Sales training modules

• …and more (see below!)

A key part of the selling strategy to neurologists was creating a series of patient profiles (right)—those ideal for GOCOVRI. I wrote each of these to tell a story of how Parkinson’s disrupts an individual’s life, including the emotional toll the disease can take. Each profile is backed with solid clinical evidence, too, so our physicians get a full picture.

Of course, patient communications were critical in this effort, too, which included in-office brochures, a robust website, ongoing social media, and an email campaign.