The Brief

Gilead is a pharmaceutical company that has achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, and cancer.  

Gilead celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2023 and sought to shape and frame conversations about its pioneering work beyond medicine in patient care, particularly addressing health inequality and discrimination in all its forms.  

Cow was tasked to deliver a creative corporate comms campaign that would highlight Gilead’s mission to address health inequality and support marginalised communities to access treatment.

The Big Idea

We created ‘From The Margins’, a unique book that told the stories of six marginalised people, in their own words. But this was no ordinary book. By design, we sought to make From The Margins the most difficult book to read ever published.

Not only because it told stories of hardship, stigmatisation, abuse and marginalisation, but because the words of the contributors were printed entirely in the margins of the book.

We enlisted the services of Professor David Olusoga OBE to write the foreword for the book and put the issue in historical context. When we launched, David, and the real stars of the show – the marginalised contributors – were all over the media.

The Results

The idea was in response to a corporate reputation and internal stakeholder brief. Yet, the creative approach and the brave, visceral testimonies of the marginalised saw the campaign crossover into the mainstream.

From the Margins made health inequality a national talking point: David Olusoga was interviewed in a seven-minute studio live segment on Sky News, advocate stories were featured in the likes Mail Online and HELLO!

Meanwhile, the content has achieved over 82,000 views and 231,000 social media impressions.

In addition to media, a hugely successful event was held at the Wellcome Collection to launch the book. Hosted by David Olusoga, the event had an informal ‘book club’ format’. Each advocate read a section from the book and answered questions about their own experience of health inequality. Friends and family of the advocates, alongside Gilead employees, and stakeholders from across the healthcare environment were also present.