Escape the Castle

Client: EUSA Pharma

Experiential Congress Initiative to Create Awareness of a Rare Disease

163 HCP participants

3 patients identified

2608 minutes of active engagement with HCPs

MM+M Best Orphan Product Marketing Initiative

EUSA purchased SYLVANT® (siltuximab), the first and only treatment for patients with idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD), a rare disease with ~500 to 1000 new patients per year. Although purchased in 2018, SYLVANT had not been actively promoted since its initial launch in 2014.

VUE was tasked with rebuilding from the ground up and effectively relaunching SYLVANT as quickly as possible, starting with a coming out party at one of the largest medical conferences in the world: ASH 2019!

Marketing Insight

iMCD can be a frustrating puzzle for both the patients suffering with symptoms and their doctors who are trying to find a diagnosis. And there’s no better way to create awareness of the diagnostic process for iMCD than to let them solve that puzzle themselves.

Solution

With a disease called Castleman disease, the overall booth design was obvious—we built a giant castle. Most of the other booths were more typical of a pharma conference, so the surprise of seeing a castle complete with towers, turrets, and a chain-lowered drawbridge did wonders for getting our audience’s attention.

But the real surprise was inside—an escape room!

Escape the Castle was a 3-room challenge that took doctors through the full diagnostic process from the doctor’s office to the hospital room and, finally, to the pathology lab. We highlighted a different step of the differential diagnosis in each room: 1) IL-6 as the key mediator of disease; 2) the importance of the excisional biopsy; and 3) the ICD-10 code for iMCD. Once they solved the puzzle and escaped the room, they exited the booth to be greeted by reps to educate them on SYLVANT, the only treatment option indicated for iMCD.

In contrast with other booths at which the brands spoke at the doctors, a booth that provided a fun activity that was as much about the attendees’ enjoyment as it was about imparting information was a welcome change of pace.

CAPABILITIES PROVIDED/CAMPAIGN DELIVERABLES
- Conference booth design complete with experiential escape room
  - 3 distinctly themed rooms coordinated with a step in the diagnostic process
- Updated creative campaign on outer booth walls
- New sales materials for reps to detail following the escape room