This is Living with Cancer
A campaign that transformed how we think about life after diagnosis.
Client
Pfizer
Role
Creative Director / Brand Identity / Concept Development / Film & Print Oversight
The Brief
Cancer treatment has come a long way. Survival rates are improving. Yet the narrative around “living with cancer” remained stuck in fear, limitation and isolation. Pfizer Oncology asked us to flip the script. They wanted to give voice to the “new normal” of life with cancer, not defined by disease, but by identity, possibility and support. It was about making living with cancer not a lesser life, but a lived life.
The Goal
Position Pfizer Oncology as a compassionate, human‑centered partner in the lived reality of cancer, standing with people rather than speaking at them.
The Idea
*
The Idea *
We followed the real journeys of people living with cancer—across types, stages, ages—to show that it isn’t just survival, it’s life. Their stories became the voice, the design and the heart of the campaign. We submerged the medical into the human. We made cancer talk about “living” not just fighting.
The Strategy & Execution
The Strategy & Execution
We crafted a 360° experience that delivered emotionally, culturally and strategically.
We cast 7 people living with cancer to participate in our campaign. Through 36 videos, a long-form documentary, and 50+ print assets, including ads, banners, bus shelters, and posters, we showcased their experiences and stories. We created a full website to hold all the stories and a social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram. The launch included 4 TV spots and a billboard in Times Square, all focused on redefining life with cancer. With this campaign, we aimed to create a community where people affected by cancer could share their experiences and feel supported.
Documentary Film
A long‑form piece following seven people across four months, paving the way for authenticity and deeper connection.
“We didn’t just tell stories, we lived them. For six months, we walked alongside our patients through birthdays, bell ringings, new beginnings, and raw, beautiful everyday moments. That’s how we gave cancer a new narrative, one filled with laughter, resilience, and undeniable humanity.”
— Nora Rose Travis, Creative Director
Digital Hub & Mobile App
The ThisIsLivingWithCancer.com site and the LivingWith app gave users tools for organizing their care, logging moods, tracking treatment and finding community.
Print, OOH & TV Spots
We created 50+ print assets, banners, bus shelters, posters and launched four :30 TV spots.
All with a consistent voice: real people, real living.
How We Got it Done
This campaign wasn’t built in an edit suite. It was built on porches, in hospital rooms, at birthday parties, and in backyards.
Over six months, we traveled across the U.S. and beyond to meet people living with cancer on their terms, not just as “patients,” but as performers, parents, partners, and survivors. We celebrated milestones. We filmed comedy shows and community theater. We captured hospital visits, last chemo sessions, and the ringing of the bell. In Oklahoma. In California. In New York City. Even in Panama, where one participant swam again for the first time since surgery.
We were there for the hard stuff and the joyful stuff. We witnessed what life with cancer really looks like, messy, beautiful, and defiantly human. That intimacy allowed us to create a campaign that wasn’t just about empathy. It was built on lived experience, trust, and time.
And in doing so, we gave Pfizer Oncology a powerful new voice: not as a pharma company, but as a partner in the full spectrum of living.
Results That Matter
*
Results That Matter *
7M+
video views across platforms
12,000+
organic social mentions using the campaign hashtag in the first 2 weeks
42%
spike in website traffic in the campaign’s first month
Cannes Lions
Grand Prix for Good (2017) & Gold Lion Excellence in Integrated Multi-Platform Campaign (2017)
From Awareness to Empowerment
*
From Awareness to Empowerment *
Changing how the world sees cancer wasn’t about sympathy, it was about visibility, honesty, and hope. This Is Living With Cancer showed what survival really looks like: messy, beautiful, and full of life. When stories are told with heart, they don’t just resonate, they transform.
And that’s how you help people feel seen. Really seen. This is living.