Meetings, Events and Exhibitions

At EULAR 2023 in Milan, GSK introduced Albert, the first humanoid robot resembling a typical shingles patient.

Representing a 50+ adult with a blistering facial rash, Albert instantly captivated HCPs with his interactive presence. His charm and storytelling prompted delegates to learn about the patient perspective surrounding the burden of disease. Scripts tailored to rheumatologists attending the congress helped enhance disease awareness and brought HCPs face-to-face with the disease’s impact, helping to foster empathy and urgency to protect their patients.

After EULAR 2023, Albert continued engaging HCPs at medical events in Europe and the United States, spreading awareness of shingles.

Judges Comments

Albert is something to behold! A real crowd-pleaser, Albert pulled in lots of attendees to the booth and got the message across; it was a distinctive way to bring a low-priority condition into the spotlight. The simple idea had innovation, was well executed and is very repeatable as something that could be rolled out again without it getting boring. Innovative, engaging and credible—as remotely voiced by a shingles expert—Albert is possibly the future in gathering a better understanding of patient insights at conferences.

Judges thought the definite stopping-power made Albert a clear winner in this category, saying they would want to come back again and again to this at a booth. With great results from HCPs attending the congresses and recognition by the congress organisers too, it’s even better that Albert is simple and reproducible at different-sized booths in different countries. This concept may have had some doubters during the development phase due to time and cost, but Albert is an undeniable show-stopper, really does hammer home an important message, and will be remembered for years to come. How many times can you say that about an event campaign? Great work!

Daniya S. Malik, Codex Pharma

Hypophosphatasia, or HPP, is an evasive disease that does whatever it takes to stay in the shadows. Alexion Pharmaceuticals needed to make HCPs more suspicious of symptoms and low alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a smoking gun for an HPP diagnosis.

Inspired by HCPs who “love playing detective” when diagnosing diseases, we created an immersive congress experience. The booth became a precinct right out of your favorite crime drama, complete with cluttered desks, coffee, doughnuts, and suspect photos. HCPs plunged their hands into the investigation, interacting with evidence boards, getting mugshots, reading case files, interviewing other “detectives” (sales reps), and more.

In August 2023, new guidelines were announced at the ESC Congress in Amsterdam changing existing treatment pathways. AstraZeneca rapidly convened a global panel of cardiologists to debate the new guidelines, comprising cardiologists from, the USA, China, India, Spain, Italy and Turkey.

To accommodate the global panel, and to enable rapid deployment, the symposium was deployed via VR, using Box Bear’s VR Teamspace platform. The livestream included audience polls and a live Q&A session.

Broadcast just 15 days after ESC, there were 650+ registrations, with 330+ cardiologists across 30 countries. Audience retention was over 90% after 90 minutes at close.

The congress brief: launch BRUKINSA in the EU, raise BeiGene’s profile and deliver a reusable booth.

We made the global campaign a reality at multiple congresses by creating a life-size street scene, complete with buildings, pavements, landscaping and signage. Delegates engaged with “tourist information” screens, integrated meeting rooms, and a coffee cart with café-style seating.

The pièce de résistance? Jumping into a puddle on the pavement triggered a colourful digital SPLASH and campaign messaging, announcing BRUKINSA’s entry to market.

The stand’s creativity, interactivity and focused messaging delighted both client and clinician, fulfilling the objective of “Making a Splash” with BRUKINSA.

To bring the burden of the RSV season to life, we created the “Chaos to Calm” booth. HCPs were able to go on a journey through a set of immersive activities that let them experience the entire RSV season, from chaos—to calm.

Across ECCMID and ESPID, we got HCPs talking, with Sanofi dominating Share of Voice with 77% compared to the leading competitor at 4%.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition affecting up to 160 million people worldwide. To help dermatologists understand the full impact of this condition, we designed a bespoke disease awareness stand at AAD 2023. The booth showcased the physical and psychosocial effects of the condition with real patient testimonials, educated dermatologists on the importance of the SALT score (an industry standard for assessing scalp hair loss) through a gamification technique, and included CGI models visualising real patterns of hair loss.

#KnowTheScore was incorporated to extend the booth’s impact beyond the congress, successfully increasing awareness about alopecia areata.

At ICML 2023, Takeda wanted to highlight that ADCETRIS brings “Hope to Life”—giving patients and HCPs renewed optimism in the fight against CD30+ lymphoma.

At the start of the congress, half the booth was intriguingly blank. Then, an artist on the stand painted a black and white floral mural across the main booth panel.

Whilst the artist painted, moving images of butterflies and hummingbirds were projection mapped onto the mural. The projections changed as the congress progressed so that, by the end, the booth was flooded with colour. The overall effect demonstrated the ADCETRIS core message: Bringing Hope to Life.

We were launching the first IV migraine treatment and had 20 minutes during the launch meeting to overcome concerns around its administration.

“The Time Back Room” was an experience, demonstrating benefits of IV while giving delegates a break from presentations. We transported delegates inside the IV bag, surrounded by liquid wall lights to create the illusion of being underwater.

We built three jellyfish, each with IV tentacles connecting to a “time-back” activity—wellness podcasts, adult colouring or just recharging your phone. The focus was on how forced time-out can be a positive, a chance to destress outside of daily life.