Gardasil® - A breakthrough for women worldwide
Parker & Partners was hired by the Australian bio-pharmaceutical company CSL to help them secure a billion taxpayer dollars from government for its unknown HPV vaccine, with media and media placement seen as a key vehicle to achieve this. If successful, we would help change the lives of millions of Australian women forever.
Challenge
Parker & Partners was hired to help manage public affairs for the cervical cancer vaccine GARDASIL, including government relations, key stakeholders and related media and issues management. Our core objective was to ensure rapid product registration and a universal funding program by Government. Such a program would cost more than half a billion dollars over the first decade and protect millions of Australian women.
Insight
We delivered this via a strategy of female advocacy over several distinct phases of the campaign. Our strategy's objective was to make it impossible not to fund the vaccine, such was the groundswell of support. The first phase of the campaign involved the Australian discovery story, the second was education on HPV and cervical cancer and the third was the efficacy and benefits of the vaccine itself.
Creative idea
Our strategy of female advocacy focused primarily on what we called VIMADS (Very Important Mothers and Daughters). Researching and then engaging 100 high profile and influential Australian women (and many of their daughters) was crucial for our campaign. These VIMADS, from across Australia and the fields of politics, media, business, academia and the arts, were extensively briefed and followed up regularly. When one male Australian politician raised the issue of concerns about paying for a vaccine to treat a sexually transmitted disease in young women, many of our VIMADS reacted immediately and strongly. The MP apologized and retracted his comments.
Campaign
The communications campaign was phased over a two year period to include the Australian discovery story, HPV and cervical cancer awareness raising and finally, communicating the specific vaccine and its benefits. The campaign undertaken covered media and government relations, with an emphasis on stakeholder engagement.
In August 2006, Parker & Partners helped launch the vaccine to the Australian public. Our creative concept was to have Professor Ian Frazer administer the first dose to a 14 year old school girl in his home state of Queensland. Media coverage was extraordinary and international. Within a week 10,000 doses were sold on the private market. But our launch objective was to also ensure the momentum of a universal campaign was maintained. Our focus moved squarely to Parliament House where briefings continued with female MPs and Senators in particular.
Outcome
In November 2006 the vaccine was rejected for funding because of its cost by the Government's pharmaceutical advisory body. The Australian public was outraged. 22 female MPs wrote a joint letter to the Prime Minister, media covered it across the front page and our VIMADS led a highly strategic media campaign to have the decision overturned. Within a week the Prime Minister intervened. Calling a live press conference on 29 November 2006, he announced a national campaign to vaccinate two million Australian girls and women starting in 2007, a year earlier than expected. As the Prime Minister said, it was a great day for Australian women.