Fierce Pharma awards best-in-class marketing campaigns in 3rd annual contest—and first live event

Argenx’s dive into rare disease myasthenia gravis (MG) swept three categories in the third annual Fierce Pharma Marketing Awards, which were held Wednesday night. Chosen as the best online film or video, best medical conference or event marketing for its premiere event and best consumer website, the trifecta came as a surprise to the winning pharma.

Katerina Gary, Argenx’s director of patient marketing and engagement, was delighted with the multiple awards centered on the “A Mystery to Me” docuseries and pointed to the unique and compelling real patient stories at the center.

“What’s really special is showing patients’ stories and what that meant for the community—to see people they know gives them hope and helps them know they’re not alone,” she said.

RELATED: Pharma advertising leapfrogged the norm during the pandemic­­—and creativity is flourishing, exec says

Going beyond the MG diagnosis to show the everyday stories of people with the disease exercising, dancing and just living life reminds everyone that “there’s more to patients than their disease.”

One other campaign was a multiaward winner, “A Love Letter to Black America from America’s Black Doctors and Nurses.” The work from the Black Coalition Against COVID-19 created pro bono by Real Chemistry picked up two wins for best multicultural campaign and best public relations campaign.

The campaign gathered Black doctors, nurses and medical school executives to send a variety of messages—including the titular “love letter” in a social media video—to encourage the Black community to take preventive measures against COVID-19, participate in clinical trials and get a vaccine when it became available.

RELATED: Pfizer, Roche, Teva grab pharma Cannes Lions for 2021, but a wearable company scores the top creativity prize

Pharma company TherapeuticsMD won for its lavishly shot, groundbreaking campaign for Imvexxy that celebrates postmenopausal women and their vaginas as gorgeous royalty in McCann’s lush DTC ad “Long May She Reign.”

Roz Silbershatz Tomas, the consumer marketing lead on the menopause business at TherapeuticsMD, was excited about the win.

“This campaign is dear to my heart. The work and the goal was to empower women to break the stigma of menopause, because women going through menopause are just told to put up with it,” she said, noting that after a long career in traditional pharma, she appreciated the ability to push boundaries with the frank-talking DTC work.

The other winners in the remaining seven categories were:         

Social media for consumer—Pfizer and Real Chemistry’s #StandWithScience campaign

COVID-19 pandemic-related campaign—Wear a Mask NY from Chimney Group

Print for consumer—”Eye opener” campaign from AbbVie and Xavier Creative House

Pharma TV—”No Time to Wait” from the Bristol Myers Squibb-Pfizer Alliance, Carat & iProspect, Havas Media, Heartbeat, Publicis North America and Real Chemistry

Nonsocial media digital campaign—”Expression Days” from Fresenius Kabi and Havas Life Medicom

Innovation challenge—Facial Anatomy app from MedTrix Healthcare

Professional marketing—Neuropathy Reality Experience from Proximyl Health    

https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/fierce-pharma-awards-best-class-pharma-marketing-campaigns-third-annual-contest-and-first