Sanofi

The Brief

Sanofi Biopharmaceuticals’ and NRAS required an engaging patient insights film as part of their RefRAme the future campaign which aims to raise awareness about Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its challenges and to help empower people with RA to live the fullest life they can.

In addition to providing medications to help people during their health journey, Sanofi is committed to helping people with RA improve their mental resilience. To do this, we have partnered with experts and patient groups in the RA community to provide practical advice and tools to help people with RA and their families manage their condition and live better lives with RA.

‘Reframing’ describes a technique used in psychological therapy which helps to create a different way of looking at a situation, person, or relationship by changing its meaning. A person’s point-of-view depends on the ‘frame’ through which it is viewed. When the frame shifts, the meaning changes and thinking and behaviour often change along with it.

Blonde were asked to produce a film to help people living with RA ‘reframe their tomorrow’.

The Idea

RA affects everyone differently. It is a complex individualised disease, so our film would have to reach a wide range
of patients both in age, gender and ethnicity. To add to this, all patients have different levels of pain & different symptoms.

Sanofi worked with Behavioural Consultant, Philip Graves to uncover real-life insights from people living with RA. We took those insights, that deal with both the physical and spiritual effects of the condition and crafted them into simple everyday scenarios whereby ‘reframing’ your mindset, could create a more positive outcome.

We decided to focus on three sufferers of RA, to make sure we had a good cross-section of the demographic. A young woman in her 30s, a woman in her late 40’s and a man in his late 60’s. Throughout the film, we see the sufferers attempt to tackle day-to-day activities, which constitute ‘normal’ for everyday folk without RA.

To convey the idea of ‘reframing’, we wanted the patient in the film to be watched by a reflection of themselves, in the same scene; a ‘doppelganger’ present in the same moment. Having already ‘reframed’ their perspective they look upon with kindness and understanding their ‘other selves’ caught in the high drama of the everyday. They turn to the camera and speak directly to the audience, explaining how they arrived at their tomorrow.

Casting was incredibly important. We worked closely with the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) to ensure the actors reflected the audience of ‘everyday’ people. On-set, we had a person with RA overseeing the action in each scene, along with the NRAS, to guarantee the authenticity of the film, the characters portrayed and the advice given.

The Results

The film has been received incredibly well by the RA community, praised for its engagement, and it’s ‘down-to-earth’ simple but potentially life-changing advice.

Steffi Holman (Comms Lead) from Sanofi wrote a lovely quote for us:
“Every touch point with the team at Blonde throughout the development and creation of our film has been outstanding. From the first brief, translating that into a unique concept, to securing appropriate actors and venues, working with those providing valuable advice, to accurately present the condition, to meeting very tight deadlines. The feedback we have received for both the film, as well as Blonde, has been very positive.“