Challenge

•  The COVID-19 pandemic creates unprecedented challenges and stakes for marketers everywhere. Now, more than ever, it is essential for brands to get across the right message, to the right audience, in the right context.
• Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest and most broadly based healthcare company, is uniquely positioned to address the crisis. They’ve committed to producing and delivering globally 1 billion doses of a vaccine, and want to keep audiences informed about their journey in an engaging and compelling way.

Solution

• To help tackle the world’s health challenges during the COVID pandemic, Johnson & Johnson created the “Road to a Vaccine” series, a weekly educational news broadcast that showcased vaccine development and the progress made by Johnson & Johnson and the global scientific community. This news series featured interviews with the organization’s Chief Scientific Officer along with the top scientific minds who are working day and night to combat the novel coronavirus.
• In addition to the functionality of LinkedIn Live, the platform’s trusting environment and professional targeting capabilities appealed to Johnson & Johnson. “It’s important for us to be able to hone in and target global advocacy, and target politicians and doctors and nurses,” says Lauren Ruotolo, Director of Creative Partnerships at Johnson & Johnson.
• Leveraging the power of LinkedIn Live with a unique combination of Sponsored Content and Message Ads to drive on-demand engagement directed at the global healthcare industry, Johnson & Johnson generated more than 1 million views and consistently surpassed best-in-class benchmarks.
  

Results

• When the first episode launched on April 14th, “The Road to a Vaccine” had 1,000 viewers within one minute of the live-stream. Within the first five minutes, that total doubled to more than 2,000 viewers. A vast majority of the audience stayed tuned in for the entire 30-minute show, with viewers staying engaged throughout. Johnson & Johnson drew similar numbers for subsequent episodes.
• 1,000,000+ total views for the series on LinkedIn
• 983K average total minutes watched across each weekly episode

Strong promotion strategy drives strong results

A unique combination of Sponsored Content and Message Ads directed at the global healthcare industry created awareness and drove viewership throughout the series. Both of Johnson & Johnson’s ad campaigns consistently surpassed benchmarks and helped drive the show’s success.

A trusted platform

• While the topic of their “The Road to a Vaccine” show is relevant to almost everyone on the planet, Johnson & Johnson was particularly interested in reaching a professional community in the proper context, which made LinkedIn an excellent fit. The audience responded, as a sentiment study around comments during the live-stream found that 97% were either neutral or positive.
• “First and foremost, LinkedIn is a trusted source for us,” says Ruotolo. “And we reach the exact community that we need to based on our commitments for the world.”

Staying globally connected

• Not only does LinkedIn Live present a fitting venue for holding virtual events like this during the current times, but also opens doors for similar distant collaborations in the future, by making it easy to connect experts and specialists from around the world.
  
• “We’re able to bring together global voices on one platform and do it in our living rooms,” says Ruotolo. “People like Peggy Hamburg, who’s the ex-FDA commissioner. And our Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels who’s in Belgium. People that are in the lab, in the Netherlands. And to then speak to people in New York, and really bring all of these very important topics together under one umbrella. And that’s what I think LinkedIn Live has given us.”

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is the largest and most broadly based healthcare company in the world. They're producing life-changing breakthroughs every day, and have been for the last 130 years. Teams from J&J’s consumer business are creating digital tools to help people track the health of their skin. Those working in medical devices are 3-D printing artificial joints personalized for each patient, while researchers in pharmaceuticals use AI to discover lifesaving drugs. Imagine what the rest of their team of 134,000 people at 260 companies in more than 60 countries across the world is accomplishing.