VRAYLAR
AbbVie Inc. and Publicis NY
VRAYLAR, an atypical antipsychotic, has found success helping patients with bipolar I disorder treat the full spectrum of their symptoms—bipolar I depression and acute manic or mixed episodes. In December 2022, VRAYLAR was approved as an adjunctive therapy for major depressive disorder (MDD), helping patients find additional symptom relief beyond what they were getting from an antidepressant alone. With this new approved indication, AbbVie worked with Publicis NY to establish VRAYLAR as the first-choice add-on treatment for patients with depression who are taking an antidepressant but are still experiencing unresolved depression symptoms.
To understand the impact lingering symptoms had and what these patients hoped additional symptom relief would enable them to achieve, the AbbVie and Publicis NY team conducted extensive quantitative and qualitative audience research and creative testing with MDD patients. These patients reflected on cycling through different antidepressants, balancing side effects and symptoms, and pouring time, money, and energy into managing their depression to only feel stuck. The patients also expressed hopes of eventually getting back to being more present each day and feeling connected to the people around them. But concerns about starting over on a new antidepressant left those hopes unfulfilled and their progress halted, as they wondered maybe their current treatment was as good as it gets.
These insights formed the foundation of the team’s campaign strategy: Progress is being more present. The team took an uplifting approach, utilizing bright visuals, upbeat music, and the empowering notion of what symptom relief could look like for a patient. The result was the creation of “For a Lift in Relief,” a story of a mother with MDD becoming more present in her own life and in turn, the life of her son. The TV spot shows the hero’s moments of connection—with a bike shop owner, food truck vendor, friends, and finally, her child—which may seem small to those without depression, but to patients, these day-to-day activities represent successes over their symptoms. These scenes of success were pulled through to social and display creative, with the goal of driving the target audience to the brand website where they can find more information and tools to get one step closer to a lift in symptom relief with VRAYLAR.
VRAYLAR is skyrocketing its way to becoming the first-choice add-on treatment for MDD patients with unique visitors to VRAYLAR’s aMDD website increasing by 364% compared to when the site launched in January 2023.
