• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

In the past, Marketing Daily has called Dupuytren’s contracture the “curled fingers disease.”

Turns out it’s also called “Viking hand,” as reflected in a new awareness campaign from Keenova Therapeutics, marketer of Dupuytren’s contracture treatment Xiaflex.

Keenova explains that the nomenclature developed “because of a historic genetic association with people of Northern European ancestry, although the incidence of the disease is now more geographically dispersed.”

So, a humorous :30 spot in the new “Don’t be a Viking” campaign follows the journey of a Viking patient, from frustration and confusion in trying to open a jar of pickles (he finally succeeds by using an axe) to seeking treatment for his condition. The spot encourages those with the condition to visit Xiaflex’s FindaHandSpecialist.com.

That was also the call-to-action in a 2024 unbranded campaign as seen in this much-more-serious spot, in which a man with Dupuytren’s contracture says, "I don't want to wait or have surgery for my Dupuytren’s contracture. I want a nonsurgical treatment.”

At that time, Xiaflex was marketed by Endo.  Late last year, Endo merged with Mallinckrodt to form Keenova, and “Don’t Be a Viking” marks the first major campaign from the new entity.

“We decided to push ourselves further creatively and use a bold concept to get attention and generate awareness and action,” Stephanie Wenstrup, Keenova’s head of marketing, tells Marketing Daily. “The campaign leans into humor and cultural references to encourage people to stop brushing off symptoms. It’s more direct and more memorable, and it’s designed to spark conversation across a broad mix of consumer channels. The goal is to break through avoidance and motivate people to take action.”

To get the message across, Keenova turned to Omnicom’s BBDO Chicago as creative agency, replacing Fingerprint, which had done not only the previous Dupuytren’s awareness campaign, but also a 2025 branded Xiaflex campaign for the condition.

Healix remains the media agency for the new campaign, with :30 and :15 spots for the current campaign running on broadcast TV (e.g., ABC, CBS NBC); cable TV (e.g.,  ESPN, Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, CNN, Fox News); streaming platforms (e.g., Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock); and online. Other content is running on social media, digital display, and search, with in-office materials also being used in healthcare settings.

The campaign is targeting men and women who are 50+, Wenstrup says, and will run in waves through the end of the year and likely through 2027 as well.  

Success will be measured by such indicators as traffic to FindaHandSpecialist.com and other resources, as well as interaction rates with content across social, digital, and video channels, she adds. “Our campaign aims to encourage more people to see a hand specialist and ask about modern nonsurgical treatment options as soon as they’re unable to lay their hand flat, and these indicators will help us determine our effectiveness in achieving that.”