Earlier this year, pharmaceutical company Endo launcheda still-running unbranded campaign aimed at motivating men with Peyronie’s disease (PD), aka curved penis, to take action. Now comes a branded campaign for Endo’s Xiaflex, an injection treatment for PD: In three unscripted videos from Klick Health, four real PD sufferers – treated and untreated -- shoot pool while providing straight talk about their PD experiences.
A pool hall was chosen as the venue because it’s “representative of a place where men go with their friends,” Ian Ehrhart, Endo’s associate director, consumer marketing, tells Marketing Daily. “Using this as the setting helps us to normalize the conversation around PD, and to convey that those who suffer from the condition don’t need to suffer in silence -- because there are others out there with PD.”
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The “PD Pool Hall” videos, each around two minutes long (not counting disclaimers) have been posted at Xiaflex.com.
In the first video, titled “Is it Peyronie’s Disease,” the four men discuss how PD has affected them, such as “It was very much affecting me mentally and it was affecting me physically. And I couldn’t be the husband that she needed.”
In the second video, titled “Considering Xiaflex,” they discuss issues around seeking treatment, such as “Part of the reason why I haven’t done it yet is because of I’m scared of like, the needles.”
In the third video, titled “The Xiaflex Experience,” they discuss the treatment itself. You “basically get an injection in it and then get another injection,” says one. “And then at the third, he [the doctor] did some penile stretching and straightening.”
Excerpts from the three videos will run as a digital and social ad campaign that’s expected to begin around Dec. 18. Healix is the media agency.
“They’ll continue to run throughout the first half of 2024,” Ehrhart tells Marketing Daily, “with the potential to extend based on performance and other content priorities.”
The ads will link to xiaflex.com, where the full videos are housed along with additional info on both PD and Xiaflex, as well a “Specialist Locator” tool to find a Xiaflex-trained urologist.
Men 45+ continue to be Endo’s main media target, although Ehrhart acknowledges that “there are men out there suffering from PD that are younger (e.g., in their 30s).”
The campaign’s success will be measured by analysis of website visits video views and completion rate, as well as engagement with PD Pool Hall digital assets (e.g., social).
Endo, which says that PD affects one in 10 American men, began running unbranded TV spots and campaigns about PD in 2017, and launched the first branded Xiaflex campaign -- "Bent Carrot" -- in 2021.