Havas Health Makes Heartfelt Appeals to Spotlight Medical Advances

A look at 3 innovative campaigns

Healthcare agencies are used to taking the most recondite terms and deriving emotionally direct, creatively compelling appeals. But even Havas Health was challenged with finding the right balance between education and emotion for three separate client campaigns; the first focused on racial bias in peripheral pulse oximeters; the second on raw FeNo scores and how they correlate with asthma attack risk; and the third on unwarranted stigma experienced by HIV positive individuals.

If there’s a common thread that runs through all these efforts, it’s that balance between showcasing technical medical advances grounded in feelings associated with personal care as well as caring about the impediments that make accessing treatment unnecessarily burdensome.

Addressing Stigma

A collaboration among ViiV Healthcare, Havas NOW and Havas CX brought the “Chapters of Stigma” to life. The effort is represented by a virtual reality experience designed to combat HIV stigma among healthcare professionals. The project, led by Dr. Maggie Czarnogorski, head of digital innovation and implementation science at ViiV Healthcare, brings to life real stories from people living with HIV who have faced stigma.

“We collaborated closely with Patient Panels to ensure authenticity,” says Robert Wainwright, global innovation lead/AMD, Havas NOW. “Virtual Reality became the ideal tool to immerse healthcare professionals in these experiences and help them feel the impact of stigma firsthand.”

The VR experience has already reached over 10,000 healthcare professionals across countries like the U.S., Netherlands, Australia, and the U.K. Its impact has been profound, with many doctors reporting that it changed how they view and treat their patients.

“We see tremendous potential in using Virtual Reality to address stigma surrounding other health conditions,” adds Javier Gómez de Quero del Castillo, founder and managing director of Havas NOW. “Empathy is central to our work, and VR has proven to be a powerful tool for helping people truly understand others’ experiences.”

FeNOMENAL Technology

Every 10 minutes, someone dies from an asthma attack. High level of FeNO (a marker of inflammation) put people with asthma at 3x greater risk for severe, and potentially life-threatening attacks. Yet, FeNO is not completely used by healthcare professionals, nor is its importance known in the asthma community.

FeNOMENAL is the first technology that helps patients see and hear their risk for an asthma attack. The campaign brings to life an individual’s risk of asthma attack with a unique combination of data visualization and sound design. Raw FeNO scores are correlated to a bespoke algorithm of shapes, colors, and sounds that create a 360-degree sensory experience. FeNOMENAL urges asthma patients with elevated FeNO to talk with their doctor about a plan that could save their life. 

Airquity: Breathing Room

Havas Health’s “Airquity” campaign tackles the issue of racial bias in traditional pulse oximeters. Those little devices, which a nurse typically puts on your finger to measure your oxygen levels, have been known for decades to overestimate the oxygen levels of people with darker skin. This initiative, spearheaded by Havas Lynx Manchester, exemplifies the network’s commitment to addressing critical health disparities through creative solutions.

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The agency’s collaboration with EarSwitch aims to address the inherent inaccuracy and potential racial bias in traditional peripheral pulse oximeters. The campaign not only raises awareness of this medical and social injustice but also promotes EarSwitch’s technological breakthrough.

“We believe this is unacceptable,” says Vernon Bainton, chief medical officer, of Havas Lynx, referring to the potential inaccuracies in pulse oximeter readings for people with darker skin tones. “EarSwitch is gathering clinically validated evidence that their device has less variability and inaccuracy, and works better across ALL skin tones.”

The goal is to achieve regulatory approval as a Class 2b UKCA medical grade device for use in Intensive Care Units by late next year, with clinical trials planned to build the regulatory file.