Recruiting Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members living with traumatic brain injury

The Challenge

Recruiting Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members for the University of South Florida’s first clinical trial using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for traumatic brain injury (TBI) presented unique challenges. The target audience was historically underserved and spanned a broad age range. In addition, extensive research revealed that this unique target held strong hesitations about participating in clinical trials.

The Response

To effectively reach Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members living with TBI, a bespoke approach grounded in research-backed insights was essential. We leveraged robust qualitative and quantitative research, including detailed user personas and attitudinal segmentation.

We leveraged proprietary tools like Decipher Health by Burson, created in partnership with the AI company Limbik, and offered through PR Studio in WPP Open, WPP’s intelligent marketing operating system powered by AI, to identify key audience barriers to enrollment, such as skepticism about safety and trust in clinical trials. A deep understanding of these issues was crucial to create messages that would resonate and inspire confidence.

The Action

We crafted messaging that directly addressed core concerns, communicating with respectful, straightforward language. We rigorously tested messaging for optimal resonance across diverse veteran and military segments. Identifying a high target audience concentration in Central Florida, we executed a multi-phased paid media campaign to amplify trust-building messages across a multi-channel mix, including Google Ads, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and digital out-of-home billboards.

The Impact

The strategic and precise nature of our efforts yielded significant results, effectively driving qualified traffic directly to the trial website for sign-ups and further information. To date, our paid ads have generated 97% of traffic to the registration page, with social media contributing 88% and search ads driving nearly 500 completed pre-screeners directly attributable to this targeted campaign.