ORENCIA: The looming threat of RA

For our 2nd generation video in the "Ropes" campaign, we needed to show that active symptoms are not the biggest threat. It's the potential for disease progression.

BMS challenged us to evolve the "ropes" DTC campaign to go beyond traditional symptom ropes and "Pharma-friendly" outcomes.. Fundamentally, all RA treatments help fight symptoms and all help patients achieve activities of daily living. The key for ORENCIA was to show the ability to deter the threat of worsening symptoms and progression. So we created another set of CGI ropes, and modeled them after horror movie antagonists like in The Abyss or Stranger Things. The regulatory team was wary of overdramatizing the solution though and implying an overpromise. So we had to tone down the threat and the payoff too. Instead of just having vine-like or snake-like ropes chasing her, we had to always acknowledge that some symptoms had already taken hold of her. So we color-coded the existing symptoms as orange, and potential worsening symptoms as clear. In the scene shown above, only the threat ropes were allowed to be turned away. So the overall effect was too muted for my taste, and the actress too moody-looking. But one heck of a fun project, even if it didn't meet my lofty expectations. Besides, it got approved. That's better than falling on your sword and never getting to produce it at all.

See behind the scenes

This campaign was the intellectual property of Calcium USA and Bristol-Myers Squibb.