Fleishman Hillard Dublin picked up a Bronze Cannes Lions Award at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in the South of France.
The Dublin-based agency, which is part of the global Fleishman Hillard network, won the award in the Pharma category for its work Roche Products (Ireland) and MS Ireland.
The campaign set out to challenge the fact that Ireland has the worst access to new and innovative medicines compared to any other country in Western Europe due to reimbursement delays by the government. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological disease of young adults in Ireland affecting the motor, sensory and cognitive functioning of the body and due to access delays, people with MS in Ireland are waiting for life-changing medicines that people in other European countries can already access.
The campaign set out to ensure that the Irish public understands the critical and immediate need for access to new medicines, to raise awareness of MS and empower patients to be part of the conversation.
As part of a carefully executed strategy, an empty shop on a busy street in Dublin was transformed into The MSunderstood Café and all materials, furniture and visuals were distorted so that customers’ sensation of touch and their vision were affected, mimicking symptoms of MS. Customers visiting the Café had no idea that they were part of an experiment. Actors staffed the Café and made sure each customer experienced the various interactions, and their reactions were captured on hidden cameras.  In addition, political and policy stakeholders were targeted to make them aware of the Café  while a comprehensive media relations and social strategy amplified the noise and awareness around the activation.
Over 2,000 people visited the pop-up Café which was open for less than 8 hours and the campaign had a reach of over 13 million, in a country of 2 million adults.
