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Helius. Marketing the un-marketable

Challenge

As jobs go, this one is as about as challenging as they get! Many in the healthcare industry have not come to terms with cannabis as a medicine. More conservative GPs may still carry the attitude that medicinal cannabis is nothing more than ‘legalised dope’, others will point to a lack of clinical data as a reason to keep it at a ‘professional arm’s length’. There are others who simply feel that they do not know enough about it to confidently prescribe. So, just tell them, right?

The second part of the challenge
Under ‘section 29’ of the Medicines Act, cannabis treatments may be prescribed by any GP, for any condition they see fit – and any pharmacy can dispense it. However, section 29 also stipulates that we cannot say what products we have, or what conditions they are designed to treat. We could not even talk about CBD treatments that contain no THC.
The good thing is that INSIGHT has never been afraid of a challenge.

Outcome

The only way we are able to inform HCPs about medicinal cannabis products is if they request information, so pointing them towards us was always the call to action. However, our main communication themes centred around the fact that medicinal cannabis is now a medicine and as a doctor, they should at least have enough knowledge to answer a patient’s questions. 

We also pointed out that asking about medicinal cannabis can take a lot of courage for their patients, and they deserve the respect of being taken seriously.

For direct to consumer advertising we targeted people who may have tried several things for a particular problem without success. Our advertising acknowledges upfront that medicinal cannabis is unlikely to be their first choice, but that it is an option worth exploring.

Other communications worked to normalise cannabis as a science-based medicine which is produced to the same standards as any other pharmaceutical treatment.

CLIENT: Helius

CONSUMER CHANNELS: 
Social Media, Print.

MEDICAL CHANNELS: 
NZ Doctor Print & Digital Advertising.

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