Patient stories that reach huge audiences, increase brand awareness and improve outcomes

When Season 1 of FIXING US debuted on NBC in the US, we followed four people with chronic health conditions as they embarked on their journeys to better health with the help of not only their families, but a whole network of US health system stakeholders, from doctors’ offices to hospitals, pharmacies and med tech companies.

The content was transformative for the people we followed and, via extensive omnichannel content spanning NBC and COZI TV channels, digital media, VOD streaming, social media, health systems and earned media, it also enabled its healthcare sponsor to reach tens of millions of viewers and challenge assumptions relating to the capabilities of sponsored co-productions.

Traditionally regarded to be tools for driving above brand awareness or category-level education due to regulatory constraints relating to healthcare marketing, FIXING US worked with NBC to find ways to extensively integrate the brand and key messaging into all TV and omnichannel content so we could empower audiences and increase a wide range of measures relating to brand awareness, intent and favorability.

FIXING US helped a brand to inspire a nation. From Chantee’s honest struggle with type-2 diabetes and weight management from poor mobility and an inability to walk up stairs in the first show to Melanie’s challenges relating to her hypothyroidism and chronic anxiety in the final episode, viewers across the US learned from these authentically emotional and inspiring stories that helped changed behaviors and bring them closer to a brand.

FIXING US collects extensive footage, enabling what we capture to become more authentic and more useful for our clients. As part of our deliverables, we offer Authentic Intelligence™ to help clients gain an unlimited number of insights and useful information to support their communications, research and insights-generation from a controlled dataset comprising compliance-approved recruitees. 

In the following example, we demonstrate the type of information that the tool can generate for clients in relation to just one of an almost unlimited number of questions that can be ‘asked’ to the rich footage that we captured for the shows – helping us to not just understand the footage that is being captured in real-time but to be able to have direct access to that footage at any time to support other needs they make have across communications, research, insights-generation and planning at any time.

Q. What role did loved ones play in influencing when patients first effectively engage with their health? 

A. Here is a summary of some relevant key insights from the provided samples:

1. Ben's case shows that his diabetes diagnosis was seen as a "gift" that put him on the right path to health and allowed for important conversations with his family.

2. Chantee's friend discussed how Chantee's health affected their relationship before and after diagnosis, indicating the importance of relationships with close friends in health management.

3. Chantee's caregiver mentioned that Chantee was neglecting her health while taking care of others, suggesting that loved ones can play a role in highlighting this need to re-prioritize to encourage health engagement.

4. Mark's case implies that health issues like diabetes and hypertension can provide an opportunity to strengthen love, trust, and understanding within a family.

5. Ben's caregiver makes a number of observations about Ben's long-term struggle with weight issues, indicating that loved ones often witness health challenges before formal diagnosis.

6. Ben's responses about his father's diagnosis shows how a parent's health condition and how they engage with it can impart important life lessons and influence health engagement for offspring.

These samples elicited from the dataset provides valuable some insights. Below is specific information to support understanding the role of loved ones in influencing when patients first effectively engage with their health:

1. A healthcare professional emphasizes the importance of helping patients find their own motivation for engaging with their health. While not directly about loved ones, this suggests that support from family and friends could help patients discover their personal goals. “My top tip, I think, for helping a patient engage with their health is helping them appreciate that the solution really does lie within them. They have to find what it is, what their wish is, what do they want to do, and what outcome do they want to achieve for their better health? Because if it's my wish and if it's my aim, my goal, then they don't own it. If it's their future, if it's their wish, Then they can start to own the obstacles that are in the way, and they can actually start to articulate and verbalise and understand and engage with what the solution is, and they can start to make their own plan.” 

2. Another healthcare professional mentions that patients sometimes come with family members, which can be helpful. They specifically reference a case where a family member came along with the patient, indicating that loved ones can play a supportive role in medical appointments and health engagement.

3. A doctor discussing patient goals highlighted the importance of tailoring support to what the patient wants to achieve, suggesting that loved ones can play a role in helping patients set and work towards health goals. 

4. A patient with visual impairment discussed the role of carers, emphasizing the importance of maintaining independence while providing necessary support, showing how loved ones can balance encouragement with respecting the patient's autonomy. 

5. A healthcare professional discussing heart failure mentioned the importance of hope for both patients and their families. They emphasize the key role of the nurse and doctor-patient relationship in setting achievable goals, which suggests that loved ones can be part of this process of goal-setting and providing emotional support.  

Based on these insights and the dataset, we can conclude that loved ones do play several crucial roles in influencing when patients first effectively engage with their health: 

1. Early detection: Loved ones often notice health changes or concerning symptoms before the patient seeks medical help, as seen in Chantee's case. “My mum’s health before she was diagnosed was troublesome. She was doing bad for a while, but because she's always so busy taking care of everybody to somebody else. She really just wasn't making time to go to the doctors and figure out what was wrong with her. She was just pushing it off to the side, like her neuropathy or her feet getting swollen. “I'll just deal with that later, or I'll call the doctors tomorrow.” She was pretty much just procrastinating about her own health until she couldn't take anymore, and she had to go to the doctors because the pain was very overwhelming and it was just becoming too much for her to continuously work multiple hours throughout the day and then come home and can't get any sleep because her body is aching. So it wasn't great. But I do feel like if she would have caught on and went to the doctors before it got so bad that we would have been able to catch it and reverse it faster.” 

2. Encouragement to seek help: Family members and friends can encourage patients to visit doctors and engage with their health, especially when patients are neglecting their own well-being. 

3. Support during diagnosis and treatment: Loved ones often accompany patients to appointments and help them navigate the healthcare system. “Um, sometimes when I see patients, they come along with a family member. Not very often, but sometimes. And that can be quite helpful. Often it's the spouse who comes in to help their spouse understand what's needed. For example, if you're trying to persuade someone they need to lose weight and they've got to eat differently. If the spouse is there and can hear that message, that can help in a number of different ways. Partly it may well be, uh, not wanting to be stereotypical here, but it may well be that the spouse is the cook, and they need to understand, uh, some of these things. Sometimes the patient is on the spot and doesn't always take everything in. Whereas if there's a family member there who can hear what the doctor is saying and then can kind of repeat that once they're back home, that can be a useful thing as well.” 

4. Motivation and goal-setting: Family and friends can help patients find their personal motivation for improving their health and assist in setting achievable goals. 

5. Emotional support: Loved ones provide hope, understanding, and emotional backing throughout the health journey, which can be crucial for sustained engagement. 

6. Practical assistance: Carers and family members often provide practical help while balancing the patient's need for independence. “Patients want to be independent and try and do things themselves. And often we'll figure ways out to do those things. So I think, yeah, care for people. Show you care, show you're there to help. But let them have a go themselves so they are able to figure out how to carry on and be independent. If things are being done for them all the time, they won't be able to gain that independence, which I think is so important for people.”

7. Shared learning and lifestyle changes: Health diagnoses can lead to important family conversations and shared lifestyle changes. “It's funny to some people to continue referring to a diabetes diagnosis as a gift, but it has been a gift. It's not only put me on the right path to health, it's allowed us to have conversations. Allowed all of us to have conversations about not only our health, our weight and our well-being, but about our emotional health and other things that flow from that, conversations that I don't know that we would have ever had or if we did, probably not for a long time. And so it's really been tremendous. Both of my children see the doctor as well as the health coach that I see, because I think that there's much to be learned. Weight loss isn't why I see him, and it's not why they see him. It's about getting healthy and educating ourselves, and not just by the eradicating, you know, high sugar, high carbohydrate diet, but about the stress, the effect of stress on the body and about sleep. These are all things that all go into it. They all make up what happens inside of our body and our health.” 

8. Intergenerational influence: Health experiences of older family members can influence younger generations to be more proactive about their health, as illustrated by Ben's reflection on his father's diagnosis. 

In conclusion, the footage demonstrated that loved ones play a multifaceted and significant role in influencing when and how patients engage with their health. They often serve as catalysts for initial health engagement, provide ongoing support, and contribute to creating a supportive environment for maintaining long-term health commitments. Healthcare professionals recognize the value of this support and often try to involve family members in the care process when appropriate.