Depression looks like me

Project overview

Mission

The LGBTQ+ community experiences significantly higher rates of depression than the general population, yet remains highly resistant to traditional pharmaceutical marketing due to decades of inadequate representation and a historic lack of culturally competent care. Conventional healthcare advertising has traditionally generated near-zero engagement within this audience. Within that context, Janssen asked us to help drive awareness and resource adoption for adults living with hard-to-treat, severe depression.

Discovery

Audience analysis revealed that LGBTQ+ patients weren't looking for a clinical solution — they were looking to see their lived experiences mirrored by a trusted institution. The barrier to engagement wasn't a lack of awareness about treatment options. It was a profound alienation from mainstream healthcare communication that had historically rendered their identities invisible.

Approach

Janssen could only break through by building something the community felt was genuinely for them rather than about them. So we partnered with prominent, non-traditional LGBTQ+ voices and mental health advocacy organizations to co-build a platform "developed by and for the community".

Landing

• Delivered a 23% conversion rate against a 1% pharmaceutical industry benchmark — a 2,200% outperformance of the category norm, driven entirely by the identity-first strategic approach.

• Generated 2.72 million highly targeted media impressions with a 96% positive sentiment rating within a historically guarded audience cohort.

• Won the PRSA Anvil Award of Excellence for Most Effective DEI Campaign.

• Named a 2023 SABRE Awards North America Finalist.

Janssen