Gilead We Believe

With Gilead bringing on a new CEO in the throes of very public scrutiny on pricing and patent control, we were tasked as a PR firm and creative agency to take on their 2018 annual report. Though the idea of helping them challenged me morally, ethically, I clung to what I knew was good: the science. 

If you haven’t heard of Gilead, it’s a biopharmaceutical company preventing HIV through innovative therapies and pharmaceuticals. Their medicines have curbed the transmission rates of HIV in the U.S. so drastically that by 2020 70% of the population living with HIV will be over the age of 50. Ten years ago, or even five, that would’ve been unimaginable. So their science is literally saving lives. Though, their legal team told me to be careful throwing that around. 

As a creative team, we knew from the very beginning, we had to make the science accessible, conversational, and relatable so people could connect with the work Gilead was doing. 

Leading with human-centered stories and a conversational tone, we developed a robust digital experience of multimedia feature stories (video, motion graphics, narrative, slideshows, etc.), a 120+ page report (that needed to be GRI certified) optimized for mobile and desktop, a calendar of social content ready for distribution, and much more. 

Making an annual report (let alone a biopharmaceutical annual report) sound like it’s coming from anyone human, is quite the challenge. Which is why it took two of us. Another challenge in co-writing, but nothing I’d stray away from.

Creative Director: Max Menath • Designer: Dave Clarty • Copywriter: Darrah Christel • Copywriter: Tamara Braunstein