The advertising industry has spent decades telling patients they deserve relief. Now, at least one marketer is wondering whether the people who drive those patients to appointments might deserve a moment of recognition, too.
Genentech, the South San Francisco biotechnology company that has been part of the Roche empire since 2009, is introducing a campaign for Vabysmo, a prescription eye medication for older adults, that focuses less on the patients who take the drug than on the adult children who make sure they do.
The television spot, created by BBH, part of the Publicis Groupe, features what might be called an anxiety collage: documentary-style footage intercut with stop-motion sequences from the director Baz Sells. In one such segment, a woman rides a unicycle across a tightrope while eyes watch her from below. In another, she juggles open mouths as voices echo around her. (Subtlety, it seems, was not the assignment.)
The approach is aimed at the so-called sandwich generation — the estimated 16 million Americans who care simultaneously for children and aging parents, often while holding down jobs and wondering where they left the car keys.
"I've experienced firsthand how much is carried behind the scenes — supporting my own mom through vision loss," said Erin Echter, a marketing director at Genentech. "This campaign is about ensuring they feel seen, supported and recognized for all they do."
Alistair Robertson, a creative director at BBH, said the mixture of live action and animation was meant to convey "both love and resentment at the same time," a combination that pharmaceutical advertising has historically preferred to leave unexplored.
"By refusing to simplify the experience," Mr. Robertson said, "the campaign gives caregivers permission to acknowledge their full reality without guilt."
Whether caregivers will find comfort in an eye-medication commercial remains to be seen — if one may be forgiven the phrase. But in an industry that has long treated family members as props in the background of patient testimonials, the decision to put them at the center of the frame is, at minimum, a shift in focus.
Original story published in Muse by Clios | Discover the latest creative marketing and advertising news. Muse by Clio is the premier news site covering creativity in advertising and beyond.: "Putting the Caregiver Experience in Sharper Focus | Muse by Clios", by David Gianatasio