Seeking to increase participation in clinical trials, the National Institute on Aging, under NIH, contracted Ogilvy, DC and subcontracted Lovett/Doublewide to create a series of broadcast and social media “mini-docs” featuring clincal trial participants.

We interviewed over 40 participants enrolled in the NIH Brain Health Clinical Trials and selected 4 individuals in 3 cities: Raleigh, North Carolina, Madison, Wisconsin and Houston, Texas. Our crews flew to each city to film, capturing the daily lives of each subject, as well as interviews with family members, doctors and home health caregivers.

In collaboration with Ogilvy DC and our directing team, the resulting digital campaign became a highly emotional and deeply personal look into the reasons these subjects chose to take part in clinical trials, and what the studies meant to them. One of the key directives was to dispel mistrust the African American community has had in clinical trials stemming from the Tuskegee syphilis clinical trials that resulted in devastating health consequences among participants.