Case Study: How Johnson & Johnson’s Be The Change For TB created awareness among the TG of 18-29 years | #casestudy

Johnson & Johnson Be The Change For TB case study understands how the brand created awareness and brought about a change in perception around Tuberculosis, amongst the youth. The campaign saw an overall reach of 44 mn and 222 mn impressions in the TG of 18-29 years.

The Johnson & Johnson Be The Change For TB case study takes a look at the Be The Change For TB campaign by Johnson & Johnson that aimed at creating Youth Changemakers to tackle the epidemic of Tuberculosis that still tends to go undetected in many cases. The campaign is in line with the brand’s TB medicine.

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest epidemics and one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, killing more people each year than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Growing resistance to commonly-used treatments and service disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are compounding this challenge, which remains largely overlooked by the global community.

In India, 1,300 people die every day from TB, and more than 4 Lakh people are “missed” from diagnosis, and therefore treatment. Moreover, India contributes to 26 percent of the world’s TB burden, and young people aged 18-30 contribute to ~ 30 percent of India’s TB burden.

Brand Introduction

Johnson & Johnson has been a committed partner – from the lab to the last mile of healthcare – in the global fight against TB for more than two decades.

In 2012, Johnson & Johnson introduced the first novel TB medicine in nearly half a century, which is now recommended by the WHO as a core component of all-oral drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) treatment regimens. Since then, Johnson & Johnson has worked collaboratively to facilitate global access to the medicine, including to more than 135 low- and middle-income countries through the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility, while also safeguarding its long-term effectiveness. To date, Johnson & Johnson has provided more than 470,000 courses of treatment to 155 countries, including the 30 countries with the highest burden of DR-TB.

These efforts are part of Johnson & Johnson’s 10-year TB initiative, launched in 2018, aimed at helping drive progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of ending TB by 2030. The initiative focuses on three pillars: broadening access to and accelerating the scale-up of the Company’s MDR-TB medicine, helping to find the “missing millions” of people living with TB who have not yet been diagnosed and investing in the development of new TB drugs and regimens.

Johnson & Johnson Be The Change For TB Case Study – Summary

Johnson & Johnson India announced the launch of a youth-focused, digital-first initiative, #BeTheChangeForTB, as part of its commitment to the Corporate TB Pledge, a joint initiative with the Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Through social media, chatbots and other avenues, the #BeTheChangeForTB initiative aimed to create a cadre of Youth Changemakers who can act as catalysts of change and increase awareness about the disease, build youth engagement and participation, and improve health-seeking behaviour in support of the Government’s vision of a TB-free India. The program is supported by popular Indian youth icons – including Vaani Kapoor, a renowned Bollywood actress as the face of the campaign, and Kunal Pandagale, also known as Kaam Bhaari, a young Indian hip-hop rapper and lyricist – to inspire Indian youth to join the movement.

Problem Statement/Objective

Despite being a preventable and curable disease and the availability of free treatment to all Indian citizens under the Government’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), TB continues to be a major health issue for India. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation as TB resources were diverted and services disrupted.

Youth represent a vulnerable population in the fight against TB. Despite this risk, young people are less likely to seek care due to a lack of awareness of TB symptoms, the stigma associated with the disease, structural barriers in accessing complex health systems, and lack of family and social support, leading to millions going without a diagnosis.

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Brief

Nearly 2 billion people are infected with TB worldwide. As per the recently released India TB Report 2022, an estimated 1.9 million new active cases were notified in India in 2021. Further, youth in the age group of 18-30 years represent a significant proportion of the TB burden.

These numbers are disturbing because the fact is that TB is both preventable and curable. The Government of India has a comprehensive national strategic plan and programme which provides numerous facilities with free treatment to all citizens. However, three out of ten people still go undiagnosed and untreated, a situation exacerbated by health disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Successfully identifying these missing people remains one of the most significant obstacles in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal of ending TB by 2030.

Solving the challenges posed by TB, especially in the light of COVID-19-related disruptions, required us to think differently and work together in new and innovative ways. The ‘Be the Change for TB’ campaign was developed as a step towards this mission – taking a holistic approach and uniting the youth of our country against this disease.

Creative Idea

One of the primary challenges we face in the fight against TB is a lack of awareness about the disease and treatment among youth.

Youth are a critical fulcrum to drive behaviour change in society and create meaningful and sustainable impact, both as a target of disease and catalyst of change. To help eliminate this disease from our country, the disease needs to be brought out of the shadows and youth should be meaningfully invested as champions of change.

So, when the youth see their icons – Vaani Kapoor and Kaam Bhaari advocate for the cause, the youth understand the seriousness of the issue. They were inspired to be a part of the movement to bring change to the TB narrative in the country.

Music has no language or barriers, and it resonates with youth. The brand, therefore, took the bold idea of narrating the message of this complex disease through a rap song. This was done to not just create awareness but also to initiate conversations around TB and inspire youth to be the change agent.

Execution

‘Be the Change for TB’ was launched on World TB Day (24th March 2022) in 8 cities around the country, targeting youth in the age group of 15-29 years old.

The strategic pillars of the campaign were:

• Digital activation by targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time through a central website and social media
• Creative communication strategy and execution that resonates with youth and simplifies the complex disease and normalizes the conversation around TB
• Integration into the National TB Program through various partners and offline activations
• Partnerships to drive scalability and sustainability as well as amplify synergies and unique strengths to take this forward

Different social media platforms are being leveraged for this campaign

The rap song video was distributed digitally through the program’s social media influencers on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram as well as a few targeted offline activations.

Also, programmatic ads were run on Google and Facebook platforms for the campaign.

The campaign was shared by several state programs (offline) on World TB Day including – 

• UNION under iDEFEAT program – LinkedIn, Facebook
• Multilateral organisations like
  • ChildFund – Twitter
  • Swasti, The Health Catalyst – Twitter
  • FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics – Facebook
  • PATH, a non-profit health organisation
  • UNION South East Asia

In addition, other influencers also supported the campaign and shared it on social media platforms including the face of the campaign Vaani Kapoor and rap artist Kaam Bhaari –

• Sangram Singh – Indian wrestler and motivational speaker
• Hrishitaa Bhatt – Bollywood actress
• Kirit Solanki – Member of Parliament

Johnson & Johnson Be The Change For TB Case Study – Results

Quantitative

• Within 3 months of launch, the campaign had an overall reach of 44 million and 222 million impressions in the target audience of 18-29 years of youth across the digital platforms (digital and social media)
• The rap song aimed at building awareness and encouraging people to take action had a reach of 572K people and garnered 845K impressions and 262K video views across social media platforms
• Close to 4.6 million engagements (views, likes, shares, comments) were seen across the social media handle of “Be the Change”
• “Be the Change’’ website has a traffic of 375,000 users in this short span of time
• In a month’s time, 82% of the campaign’s target reach had already signed up to be TB Changemakers – youth interested to invest their time and efforts to bring change in the TB landscape
• Within 3 months of launch, more than 32,000 youth signed up as Changemakers

Qualitative

• #BetheChangeforTB initiative received support on social media (Twitter) from the Central TB Program, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under the Corporate TB Pledge and iDEFEAT program, UNION.
• #BetheChangeforTB was presented and recognised as one of the best practices by a corporate organisation, by Central TB Division on the occasion of World TB Day Corporate Meeting, under the Corporate TB Pledge 
• #BetheChangeforTB was among the top 3 trending topics on Twitter on 25th March 2022 in India
• Diverse influencers and multilateral organisations such as UNION Southeast Asia, FIND Diagnostics, Pyxera Global, and Child Fund put up posts on #BetheChangeforTB 

Sarthak Ranade, Managing Director, Janssen India, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson – “Every individual and every organization has the potential to make an impact in the fight against TB. We invite people everywhere to join us in our mission of reducing the burden of TB by raising awareness in your community and advocating for health-seeking behaviour. With the power of multi-sector partnerships, coming together in numbers and uniting under one common cause, we can help turn the tide against this devastating disease – once and for all.”

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