More Than MG: Embracing Self-Care

More Than MG: Embracing Self-Care — IADA 2024 award

More Than MG: Embracing Self-Care received Platinum Winner recognition at the International Architecture & Design Awards 2024 in Custom Social Media Content. Project status, design team and credits are listed alongside the presentation.

About the project

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease in which communication between nerves and muscles is disrupted, causing muscles to not always work properly resulting in chronic, fluctuating muscle weakness.

The effects of MG can be life-altering, physically debilitating, and emotionally draining, even impacting what some may consider small everyday tasks. For a person living with MG trying to practice self-care and feel their best, just holding a hairbrush for an extended amount of time can be difficult.

Alexion brought together people living with MG and partnered them with a professional hairstylist and a makeup artist. Each advocate shared their personal experiences with the stylists, detailing how their symptoms affect their daily routines as a person living with MG. Together, the advocates and stylists shared techniques and tools to help others within the MG community feel empowered and proud to be themselves—little things that can make a big impact. By filming their discussions, we had the goal of capturing:

(1) Common and relatable ways that MG can make self-care activities challenging for those living with the disease
(2) How little changes in daily routines can make a big difference in improving self-confidence and the feeling of self-empowerment

To inspire, encourage, and support others affected by MG, Alexion launched the More Than MG Campaign YouTube channel to showcase this unique series, entitled “Embracing Self-Care.” Episodes were released via YouTube and were promoted on Instagram and Facebook to drive incremental awareness and engagement.

HashtagHealth

Because each person who is affected by MG experiences the disease differently, it was crucial to partner with a variety of advocates representing different backgrounds, genders, and experiences. It was also important to feature people who felt passionate about the More Than MG mission in their own unique way to ensure the video series was truly authentic.

To execute a successful video series, we took the following approach:
• Conducted a social media audit to identify people who were actively sharing their experiences living with MG across various social media channels
• Contracted 4 individuals living with MG from across the US to participate in the video shoot to share how MG has impacted their ability to practice self-care
• Brought these individuals together to a studio location where they could be paired with a professional hairstylist and makeup artist.
• Challenged those living with MG to share their self-care roadblocks with the professional stylists while on camera