AstraZeneca has imagined a swarm of annoying anthropomorphized eosinophils—a type of white blood cell that causes airway inflammation and asthma symptoms—mucking around and ruining everything in their path.
These bug-eyed, snuggle-toothed purple “Phils” are the basis for AZ’s new educational campaign, Asthma Behaving Badly. The website launched last week, in September, and the campaign also includes social media content on Facebook and Instagram, plus there's a returning collab with actor Tony Hale of “Veep” and “Arrested Development” and the just released “Hocus Pocus 2”.
Hale, who also suffers from asthma, is releasing content across his personal socials on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as on AZ's corporate channels. He will also join the Phils on the Asthma Behaving Badly website later this month.
While an eosinophilic asthma attack is anything but quirky, the tone of the campaign is one of light-hearted annoyance, despite the obvious severity of the disease.
“It has to be a bit disruptive and has to be a bit eye-catching," Matt Gray, AZ’s executive director, marketing, Fasenra, said in an interview. “We feel like this is fun, but not necessarily funny. We’re trying to make sure that we're taking the disease seriously.
"I think the biggest thing you hear asthma patients say is, ‘my asthma is acting up.’" It's that idea of something acting up that AstraZeneca is focusing on, as eosinophils really do flare up in patients' lungs, causing a lot of inflammation, Gray explained.
Many people may not even be aware of eosinophilic asthma, but according to Gray, 1.5 million patients in the US suffer from this extreme level of asthma.
Part of the process of identifying eosinophilic asthma is counting the cells in the bloodstream—a person with eosinophilic asthma has more than 150 eosinophils per milliliter. While the Phils in the campaign are pretty goofy looking, they are based on what eosinophils actually look like when stained purple from the testing—without the arms and legs, of course.
To get the word out, besides starting the Asthma Behaving Badly website and launching messages across Facebook and Instagram, the company will also have paid search ads and information for HCPs.
AZ’s Fasenra is approved for eosinophilic asthma. Last year, it reached blockbuster status with sales of $1.26 billion, up 31% year-over-year.
Fasenra’s in-class rival, GSK’s Nucala, had a smaller 22% growth at constant exchange rates, reaching 1.14 billion pounds sterling ($1.49 billion) in 2021. Nucala is approved for asthma and nasal polyps as well as other eosinophilic diseases including hypereosinophilic syndrome and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.