overview
Agile Research That Shaped Breast Cancer Ad Messaging
An ad agency supporting a pharmaceutical company needed to test advertising concepts for a new metastatic breast cancer (mBC) treatment. The challenge? Conduct qualitative research with a very specific patient population—within a matter of days. With our expertise and nimble recruitment approach, we were able to field, conduct, and synthesize insights for our client’s business pitch.
THE PROBLEM
Quick-turn research with a difficult-to-reach population
The client—a healthcare-focused ad agency—needed qualitative feedback on three campaign directions promoting a first-line treatment for metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer. Complicating matters:
- The audience was extremely niche: patients either newly diagnosed (“De Novo”) or relapsed into stage IV.
- The timeline was compressed, with only a few days to recruit and conduct interviews.
- The insights were needed to optimize messaging ahead of a high-stakes client presentation.
OUR APPROACH
Targeted recruitment and strategic moderation for deep, actionable insights
Our research included a comprehensive set of tools including online qualitative boWe conducted a number of online in-depth interviews (IDIs) over three days, leveraging:
- Precise recruitment criteria: including both De Novo and Relapsed mBC patients, with a focus on diversity.
- Customized discussion guide: designed to explore emotional resonance, clarity, differentiation, and behavioral motivation triggered by each creative platform.
- Visual markup and whiteboard techniques: helping participants indicate exactly what stood out—positively or negatively—in each concept.
- Our experienced moderators: sensitively navigating participants’ personal journeys while guiding the evaluation of early-stage creative.
The client team was able to hear unfiltered feedback from the respondents in real time—enabling immediate decision-making.
The result
Concept optimization and pitch readiness in record time
This research delivered immense value by:
- Providing direct guidance to refine messaging, tone, and imagery in advance of a critical pitch.
- Helping the agency confidently recommend a direction grounded in patient resonance.
- Demonstrating our proven ability to execute oncology-focused qualitative research quickly and thoughtfully—even under tight timelines.
By completing recruitment and research within days, our team showcased its agility, empathy, and deep understanding of healthcare audiences.
proven experience
related case studies
