We built a multi-channel campaign split into 3 phases — before, during and after the EU elections — laying a strong foundation for Bayer to influence 2025 policy priorities. Our newsroom-led events draw in the hard-to-get policymaker audience that Bayer wanted to attract. An event underpinned each phase, showcasing Bayer as a thought leader pushing conversations on innovation and sustainable competitiveness forward and offering speaking and networking opportunities for Bayer to interact directly with policymakers. With opening remarks from Bayer, the editorial events allowed them to put an individual’s face on their work. Between events, evergreen branded content amplified the human stories of Bayer’s initiatives, bringing a personal connection alongside the policy panel conversations.

We kicked off 2024 with a bang: a photo exhibit inside the European Parliament, the decision-making center of the EU. The exhibit leveraged an online photo essay (https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/can-innovation-help-farmers-adapt-to-climate-change/) we had produced the previous year. A photojournalist and producer team spent time with farmers in Poland, Germany and Spain to discover the impact of climate change on their work, the future they see for their families and their industry, and the innovations they’ve adopted to counter high temperatures, unpredictable weather and drought. Under the title “Innovations for sustainable agriculture in Europe,” the opening event included keynotes from MEPs of two parties as well as a Bayer representative.

At the end of the year, we again maximized Bayer’s investment by wrapping up the event series with online content highlighting the top takeaways. Integrating clips of speakers from the events, the content allowed Bayer to highlight the most important messages to them while also reaching a far wider audience than those turned in on the day.

Leveraging promotion on POLITICO.eu and .com alongside social media (paid and organic) via POLITICO Studio and POLITICO Live, our amplification approach was tailored to each phase of the campaign:

1. Phase I: Advocacy and Awareness
   We continued promotion of the existing Drive Sustainable Progress hub/content and set the ground with a pre-election debate on the innovative solutions and challenges needed for a competitive and sustainable Europe.

• Photo exhibit in the European Parliament (January)
• Panel event in Brussels (March) – https://www.politico.eu/event/europes-road-to-sustainable-competitiveness/
• Media amplification

2. Phase II: Brand Visibility around EU elections
   During this phase we maintained Bayer’s brand visibility along the exciting transition to a new government. POLITICO had an unmissable elections presence; alignment with it boosted Bayer’s visibility to the new EU political leadership. During this busy period we emphasized brand visibility over thematic awareness.

• EU elections hangover breakfast (June) – https://www.politico.eu/event/2024-eu-election-hangover-brunch/
• Media amplification

3. Phase III: Thought Leadership
   During the final phase we positioned Bayer as a leader starting the conversation on sustainable competitiveness in the US, directly following the US elections and continuing the thematic thread from the European events.

• Transatlantic event (November), which took place in Brussels with speakers from the US and amplified to the US and EU audiences – https://www.politico.eu/event/post-elections-the-transatlantic-quest-for-competitiveness-and-sustainability/ & https://www.politico.com/live-events/2024/11/26/post-elections-the-transatlantic-quest-for-competitiveness-and-sustainability-00001583
• Post-event content wrapping up the year of events – https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/creating-competitive-advantage-in-a-greener-world/
• Media amplification

We ran a brand lift study at the beginning and end of 2024 on POLITICO.eu to quantify the impact of the Drive Sustainable Progress campaign. The results showed that Bayer effectively influenced perceptions around its areas of expertise and messaging around innovation.

The campaign effectively resonated with audiences on key sustainability topics, with nearly three-quarters (52% à 72%) of the exposed group agreeing that leveraging innovative technologies is essential for achieving EU Green Deal goals. That’s a 20% uplift on the main goal of the campaign.

Meanwhile Bayer saw notable gains in brand association following media exposure, particularly in human medicines (56% à 80%) and crop protection products (39% à 47%). These results indicate that the campaign helped reinforce Bayer’s expertise in these fields and highlight Bayer’s priorities to policymakers as they set 2025 agendas.

The event series was a huge success. On June 10, a few hours after the polling stations closed in EU member states, POLITICO gathered the secretary generals of four major European political parties to share their unfiltered reactions in front of a full room. POLITICO’s Chief EU Correspondent and Brussels Playbook Writer moderated the discussion, which kicked off with opening remarks from Bayer. The conversation generated outstanding news coverage by POLITICO, as well as European and national media outlets (Italy, Sweden, Germany, etc). Half of the audience online and in person came from the government sector.

The transatlantic capstone event, held just weeks after the US elections and moderated by POLITICO’s chief policy correspondent and host of EU Confidential, brought together high-level policymakers for the panel, including Jan Dusík, deputy director general for Climate Action in the European Commission. Guests watching online (24.5k) came from across the EU, UK and US, effectively reaching Bayer’s primary and secondary target audiences.

Gilead, a biopharmaceutical company, is leading innovation to stop the transmission of HIV and AIDS globally. For its 2024 campaign – a critical year with elections across the EU – Gilead had three main goals:

• Continue raising visibility and advocating around the importance of testing, treating and innovative prevention in ending HIV transmission to policymakers at both the EU and national levels in Europe
• Ensure investment in testing, prevention, treatment and innovation remain top of mind within key healthcare policymakers and stakeholders during the 2024-29 mandate
• Establish powerful message retention via a steady drumbeat of messaging around the challenges that still remain

Our research (https://www.politico.eu/media-solutions-democracy-spotlight/) shows that policymakers seek corporate engagement on key issues, particularly during a voting year. “What [businesses] provide is important anecdotal examples to help you see a particular point,” says Barry Andrews, MEP for Dublin. Or as Thomas Gensemer, chief strategy officer at Public Policy Holding Company, put it: “This [policymaker] audience is looking for anecdotes about the factory down the street or the employee in their district to help make the macro policy debates tangible.” The 2024 election super year, when democracy is squarely in the spotlight, was the perfect time for Gilead to get policymakers to champion life-saving innovations in HIV by hearing from the people who would be most impacted.

To make these individual voices and experiences the most powerful — and move policymakers to act — we decided to take a highly visual and emotional approach.

We kicked off the campaign pre-elections with a video (https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/from-stigma-to-support/) featuring Mario Cascio, who, at 71, has lived with HIV for more than 40 years. He spoke about medical treatments that saved his life, the emerging challenges older HIV patients face, and his journey to become an advocate. Rather than summarizing his story, which would reduce the emotional impact, we zoomed in on a few key stories, triggered by objects he brought from home: a snapshot of his wife, an espresso cup that made him aware of self-stigmatization… The set up was simply — in a bare studio with a camera focused on his face — while images linked to his memories were projected across him and the backdrop. An article accompanying the video elaborates on Mario’s appeal for political commitment, investment and innovation to improve the wellbeing of people living with HIV and end new infections by 2030

Following the elections, we launched a photo essay (https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/every-life-matters/) which similarly featured profiles that are often overlooked in conversations about HIV. After significant research, our producer and photographer team identified and gained the trust of two people living with HIV for our piece: Andréa Mestre, a straight woman and mother of three living in France, and Oğuzhan Nuh, a Turkish immigrant who journeyed through Europe to find a safe space. Built around their personal stories and intimate images from their daily life, the piece also carried a strong call to action for the newly elected governments: While Europe could be the first region to end HIV by 2030, policies that overlook the needs of vulnerable communities are blocking progress, and policymakers must continue to prioritize the eradication of HIV.

We wrapped up the year with a premium feature article (https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/staying-strong-in-the-home-stretch-how-to-win-the-fight-against-hiv/) published for World AIDS Day, 1 December. The article highlighted findings from BCG research commissioned by Gilead that uncovered insights and best practices from high-income countries that have achieved significant progress in eradicating HIV. We leveraged stories from the video and photo essay to make the report findings more engaging and tangible.

We promoted the content online and in-person for maximum impact.

Online, the campaign ran across platforms, targeting EU policymakers and health influencers: on domain on POLITICO.eu; on POLITICO Studio social (X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), both paid and organic; and programmatic (Google Display Network, including YouTube). In the second half of the year, we struggled with promotion of the photo essay on programmatic due to new rules around the subject matter (“personal health”) and had to double down on other social platforms, in particular Instagram, to make up for the lost impressions. Instagram was the perfect platform for such a visual, personal campaign.

Gilead also sponsored POLITICO’s Health Care Summit, which gathered policymakers and other stakeholders gathered in Brussels in November. Here we leveraged the stories and images from our photo essay to create a six-panel photo exhibit (each panel 90cm x 2m), highly visible near the entrance to the event. This gave Gilead the most impact for their investment while allowing them to stand out on the day and steer their conversations with policymakers and healthcare influencers. Our research (to be published later this month) shows that direct engagement with policy makers is the most effective tactic for communication, so this element of the campaing was pivotal.

Overall campaign performance highlights:

• 1,9M+ impressions delivered across POLITICO.eu
• 27,1K+ clicks delivered throughout the entire campaign
• 147,5K+ video views on POLITICO.eu and social media
• 21,7K+ reads generated for the 3 campaign elements
• 81.56% average viewability across all the placements (industry benchmark 69%)

The video performed exceptionally well, accumulating 94k views total views on POLITICO.eu, with click through 4x benchmark. The full video was watched until the end 56k+ times, corresponding to a 59% completion rate of the video. This indicates strong audience engagement and retention, reinforcing the effectiveness of video storytelling in the campaign.

The photo essay also served as a powerful tool, with nearly 4m average time spent on page. Gilead was also thrilled with the exhibit at the Health Care Summit, which hosted 350 attendees, nearly a quarter from government and 67% senior level, and helped reinforce Gilead’s thought leadership and engagement with key stakeholders.

The response to our wrap-up article around World AIDS Day was also fantastic, with 7900+ reads, or 40% over benchmark.

Internally, this was the campaign our team was most proud of at the end of the year, and they shared it widely on their own social accounts.

From stigma to support: Ending HIV in Europe by 2030

Every Life Matters

In a nutshell: Through candid conversations that unveil the people behind Bayer’s innovations and explore the personal motivations behind their work.

2023 was the third year that Bayer collaborated with POLITICO on Drive Sustainable Progress, a custom content series created in partnership with POLITICO Studio, that explores the latest innovations driving positive change. While the first years focused on technical content, this year we wanted to showcase the people behind Bayer’s innovations in crop science and health care to create emotional resonance with our audience of policymakers.

POLTICO Studio created two video portraits that offered our readers the chance to go behind the scenes of Bayer’s labs and hear directly from their innovators. We asked them big-picture questions such as: What motivates them? What are they hoping to achieve? And how do they see their work benefiting society? These frank conversations naturally generated empathy with our audience, building positive brand association.

In the first video, Franziska Siegel, a research scientist at Bayer, based in Berlin, talked about her family’s history with cancer driving her work to develop innovative cancer treatments and how bold EU regulations can give patients new hope. In the second video, Timothy Broke-Smith of digital healthcare company Huma, based in London, described how remote patient-monitoring solutions could have given him more time with his father and why access to health data is essential to unlock the potential of digital health.

Then, for POLTICO’s first-ever photo essay, a photojournalist and producer team spent time with farmers in three countries — Poland, Germany and Spain — to discover the impact of climate change on their work, the future they see for their families and their industry, and the tools they’ve adopted to counter high temperatures, unpredictable weather and drought.

Innovative technology such as GPS software that ensures tractors spray precise amounts of products, and apps that control exactly how much water is used to irrigate, support farmers to prepare for the future and keep feeding their families — and the rest of us. The article ended with a call for a regulatory framework that fosters access to innovation to ensure that farmers can withstand the challenges of the coming years. Interactive sliders, GIFs and slideshows made the page extra dynamic and engaging.

Video 1: https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/why-europe-needs-a-bold-vision-in-the-fight-against-cancer/

Video 2: https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/transforming-everyday-health-one-app-at-a-time/

Photo essay: https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/can-innovation-help-farmers-adapt-to-climate-change/

Hub: https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/drive-sustainable-progress-hub/

To keep Bayer in the minds of policymakers throughout the year, we created a truly integrated campaign, with always-on media activations (on POLITICO.eu, X, Facebook, YouTube and Google), event add-ons and sponsorships to support each piece of content. We refreshed our Drive Sustainable Progress hub throughout the year as new content was released.

The first half of the campaign focused on the pharmaceuticals side of Bayer’s business, launching in the spring, just as the Commission was about to release the pharma legislation. The video portrait of research scientist Franziska kicked off the campaign. A few weeks later (24 hours before the EU published its pharma strategy), a live, in-person event convened EU policymakers and healthcare experts for an interactive discussion about improving access to innovation in Europe’s health care sector. Bayer showed the video before its opening remarks [https://www.politico.eu/event/breaking-barriers-in-innovation-and-access-can-the-pharma-legislation-do-it-all/], capturing the audience’s attention. We published the second video portrait in July, giving our audience fresh content. Bayer also sponsored our Morning Health Care newsletter twice during this period, with sponsor messages driving home our core campaign themes.

For the second half of the year, we focused on Bayer’s innovations in crop science. After a quiet August, Brussels springs back to life in September, and our campaign leveraged this by publishing the photo essay during the high-traffic “back to school” period.The three countries covered in the photo essay gave us ample content for promotion over the next few months. Bayer also sponsored our Morning Agriculture & Food newsletter twice during this period.

Bayer was a presenting partner of POLTICO’s flagship sustainability event, Sustainable Future Week, which took place in November and brings top-notch European and international policymakers, scientists, NGO and industry leaders to Brussels. Again integrating the in-person and online experiences, POLITICO Studio curated and produced an eight-meter exhibition of photos and excerpts from the photo essay, driving conversations over the three days of the event. The exhibit also included a video element with extra photographs and quotes. 850 people attended the 2023 event.

We wanted our campaign to feel native to POLITICO and grounded in credible insights, so we leveraged POLITICO’s newsroom to create the special podcast series. As sponsor, Gilead was positioned as an expert elevating the discussion on eradicating HIV transmission in Europe.

The series launched at the end of June 2023 with episodes dropping weekly. The first episode brought listeners behind the bars of French prison successfully tackling the spread of HIV, the second episode focused on HIV stigma and criminalization, while the third focused on the race for a cure.

After the newsroom’s episodes hooked our audience with independent insights and built familiarity with the latest challenges surrounding HIV, a final episode produced by POLITICO Studio brought in an expert from Gilead and zoomed in on innovations (Gilead’s core topic), while still maintaining an editorial tone. Hosted by a veteran journalist (and longtime volunteer with HIV organizations), we spoke with a professor of infectious diseases in Italy, a professor of psychology who has been living with HIV for decades, and a member of the European Parliament from Spain – just as Spain was starting its presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was a rare coup to get an active policymaker’s involvement in a branded piece.

At the end of the year, around World AIDS Day (1 December), POLITICO Studio launched written content – a Q&A (one of our most popular formats) with a Gilead stakeholder and an article exploring the transformative impact of PReP drugs. This variety in formats helped us reach a bigger audience and strengthen brand recognition.

Episode 1: https://www.politico.eu/podcast/from-cell-to-cell-eliminating-hiv-in-prisons/

Episode 2: https://www.politico.eu/podcast/the-last-bastion-of-stigma-criminalizing-hiv-transmission/

Episode 3: https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/eu-confidential/new-eu-confidential-in-focus-podcast-episode-a-cure-for-hiv-when-will-europe-get-there/

Episode 4: https://www.politico.eu/podcast/end-epidemic-innovation-eradicate-hiv-aids/

Q&A (‘Ending HIV in the EU’): https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/qa-ending-hiv-in-the-eu/

Article (‘Transforming HIV prevention in Europe’): https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/transforming-hiv-prevention-in-europe/

One of the toughest challenges in podcasts is building an audience. We circumvented this by embedding our episodes directly into the feed of POLITICO Europe’s main podcast show, EU Confidential. This meant that the episodes surfaced automatically to subscribers on their preferred podcast platform. Called “EU Confidential: In Focus,” the series was also promoted to subscribers of Telescope, POLTICO’s newsletter investigating the AIDS epidemic that Gilead had sponsored the previous two years. Further promoting brand awareness, Gilead also sponsored the regular EU Confidential podcast during the weeks that the In Focus series ran.

The last editorial podcast was recorded live in front of an audience in POLITICO’s offices. This custom event allowed Gilead to have a tangible, intimate connection with their target audience. Gilead had opening remarks, kicking off the discussion with their expert point of view.

POLITICO Studio’s content was amplified through multiple channels, including Twitter, Facebook and onsite (using contextual targeting to reach active readers of our health care section), to guarantee and maximize reach. Meanwhile 2x sponsorships of our Morning Health Care newsletter guaranteed that Gilead’s messaging landed directly in the inbox of influential individuals. The first sponsorship aligned with the release of our podcast series, while the second sponsorship was during Brussels’ busy ‘Back To School’ period in September. With a steady drip of content from June through the end of the year, our always-on campaign kept Gilead’s messaging constantly in the minds of our audience.