Sanofi takes medical advertising to the fashion high street with an IBS medication campaign

Irritable bowel syndrome strikes indiscriminately, and studies have shown that the gastrointestinal disease, which is commonly known as IBS, afflicts as much as 11% of the world’s population. In an effort to drum up brand awareness and encourage public acceptance of the condition, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi hired Interpublic Group of Cos.–owned shop MRM Spain to create an ad campaign for its abdominal pain relief medication Buscopan, which entered a realm largely unknown in medical advertising: the fashion world. That unorthodox campaign for Sanofi, dubbed “Fashion Cramps,” won gold for Print/Out-of-Home Campaign of the Year among suppliers, vendors and pharmaceutical companies in the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards 2023. Debuting in the U.K. during London Fashion Week, the ads feature sharp-dressed models experiencing visible IBS symptoms such as stomach cramping, juxtaposing their fashionable outfits and sculpted looks with the sometimes uncomfortable realities of the disease. Tying into the fashion theme, out-of-home placements ran on London’s Oxford Street while print ads were featured in industry-related magazines including Cosmopolitan, Stylist and ES. The campaign’s digital component geo-targeted those around the Fashion Week venues. The results of the highly targeted campaign were clear: Sanofi reported more than 5 million total impressions, at least 1 million of which came from the out-of-home ads, while conversations about and mentions of the brand increased eightfold on social media. See all of the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards winners here

Sanofi takes medical advertising to the fashion high street with an IBS medication campaign

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