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Services
Application Design & DevelopmentBrandingEmail MarketingOnline AdvertisingVRWeb Design & Development -
Industry
Healthcare -
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Services
Application Design & DevelopmentBrandingEmail MarketingOnline AdvertisingVRWeb Design & Development -
Industry
Healthcare -
Visit
Growing engagement and awareness for both patients and doctors.
The Challenge
We’ve been working with Bausch + Lomb for over a decade, helping to launch and grow many of the company’s most successful brands. But our work on a particular product became a mission for us.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss among Americans 65 and older. In this progressive condition, a blind spot, or scotoma, gradually grows to obscure a patient’s central field of vision, resulting in life-altering implications.
Bausch + Lomb has an industry leading treatment to help AMD: PreserVision is the only vitamin that matches the NEI formula that helps slow AMD’s progression. That said, Bausch faced two big hurdles:
1. Eye Care Professionals were not recommending their product to AMD sufferers
2. Consumers had no clear AMD resource to find information to help them
Digital Pulp saw both these challenges as opportunities to do something big to turn attention to this product and get it in the hands of people who needed it. We undertook 2 major projects to solve Bausch’s challenges:
1. A “Gold Standard” web destination for consumers to learn about their condition, and position Bausch as a compassionate thought leader
2. A virtual reality experience for Eye Care Professionals (ECPs) to create empathy for the condition and awareness for Bausch’s treatment
The Solution
The PreserVision team had a legacy of websites that were no longer producing the results the brand needed. They had a coupon loyalty program, a branded product site, and an annual campaign tied to AMD Awareness Month. Digital Pulp’s challenge was to streamline this digital ecosystem while driving more enrollment into the loyalty program.
After a thorough audit of the site analytics, audience needs and marketing drivers, we determined that the current sites were only attracting late stage-diagnosed AMD sufferers, and missing a wide swath of potential customers earlier in their condition’s progress.
Our strategy told Bausch that the real opportunity lay in connecting the brand to the consumer in the earlier stages in their patient journey, a pivotal time frame that no brand owned. Our mission became clear: Develop a “Gold Standard’ website for AMD sufferers that would help AMD sufferers at any time in their journey. The site would provide tips & tools, expert advice, and a community to connect with other sufferers. And of course the site would also sign up users to a loyalty program, but one that would bring even more useful information to their doorstep along with coupons for PreserVision.
Thus SightMatters.com was born. Our team worked hard with our clients to develop a brand for the program, with a catchy but compassionate name and an approachable and friendly visual language. As we moved forward, we strategized the consolidation of the existing properties and created a far more coherent online content destination, optimized for SEO discovery.
Today SightMatters has transformed into a robust, multi-platform marketing strategy. A robust social media campaign reaches new patients every day, complemented with a CRM campaign that delivers supportive information about AMD and easy ways to save money buying PreserVision online and at retail. PreserVision continues to dominate the market for AREDS 2 formula supplements–US sales rose 26% in 2020–and Bausch + Lomb continues to deliver useful health information to AMD patients at all stages of their journey.
The Result
Most opthamologists have years of experience treating AMD and know about its clinical prognosis, but few really understand what it feels like to have the condition. This lack of empathy often leaves patients untreated and confused about what to do next.
Our solution was radical: let doctors experience the effects of AMD first-hand, and let the experience drive compassion and recommendations for PreserVision. We proposed using Virtual Reality (VR) technology to simulate the effects of AMD and let the doctors who treat the condition see through their patients’ eyes. We started with a dedicated Oculus virtual reality app that ECPs got to experience at trade shows around the country. The experience transported a doctor into a world of 360º scripted stories and 360º video environments.
The results were overwhelming. We’ve seen countless people remove their goggles with tears in their eyes, often saying “I had no idea…” with many asking “Can I use this with patients in my office?” As a result, we developed mobile app versions of the experience for Android and iOS that can be used in ECP offices across the country.
