Patients Need More Than Words

Patients across the U.S. are struggling to make ends meet. Too often, they are forced to choose between buying medication or paying for other necessities, or to ration their medication rather than taking the full dose their doctor recommends. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have made prescription drug costs a key campaign issue for years — but patients need more than words. That’s why Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADN) partnered with Trilogy to run grassroots advocacy and influencer-targeted campaigns in support of various federal and state drug pricing policies. 

Moving the Needle with Targeted Messaging

Trilogy created digital ads that drove people to send more than 300,000 letters in support of drug pricing policies to legislators. But we knew that volume alone wouldn’t get bills passed. Letters from constituents carry far more weight than those from out-of-state activists, so our programs targeted the constituents of key decision makers. At the state level, we targeted ads down to the ZIP code so that legislators heard directly from their voters, garnering more than 40,000 letters to state legislators across eight states. We also used customized messages to make the most persuasive case for a bill. For example, undecided senators who were up for reelection received a letter explicitly referencing the fact that in-state voters care about their actions on drug pricing. 

At key moments, we also tapped into the power of influencers. When the Trump administration proposed a new rule that would help patients, we developed digital-first video ads to target influencers on Twitter and cut a TV version that ran in the D.C. media market. Key Trump administration officials noticed and praised it, and Big Pharma spent millions mounting a response. 

Learnings Refined Over the Years

After years of high-volume, high-impact legislative advocacy with P4ADN, we have a deep understanding of how to mobilize patients online. For instance, we’ve learned that ads featuring images of legislative targets perform better than other variants. Longer campaigns let us refine our learnings so that when a bill is moving fast, we can jump into action with proven creative concepts and copy. By combining compelling creative, effective coordination with on-the-ground partners and activists, and precise targeting, we help P4ADN drive the narrative and make progress for patients.