World Psoriasis Day 2021 - Finland

Thinking about psoriasis? Help is available.

Our World Psoriasis Day campaign in 2021 centred on psoriasis and mental health, a theme that we also had for WPD in 2019 and 2020. In this third year of campaigning for mental health issues, we took a slightly different approach and put our emphasis on finding solutions for the problems we had discovered during previous years. Psoriasis affects mental health in many ways and it is commonplace for psoriasis patients to struggle at least occasionally with mental well-being. However, there is a lot of help and support available – if someone only takes up the issue first. We also encouraged people to think about what makes them happy despite their chronic illness. The campaign was targeted to both psoriasis patients and healthcare professionals. This year we had seven sponsors: Abbvie, Amgen, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Lilly, Novartis and UCB Pharma.

Our main activities were a social media campaign including a 1 min 30 sec animated video with tips on how to speak up about psoriasis and mental health, and a Facebook live concert. Our local psoriasis associations also organised events and lectures on and around World Psoriasis Day. Our goal was to unite the whole psoriasis community to talk about mental well-being.

Activities and events:

Animated video: 1 min 30 sec animated video with information on the connection between psoriasis and mental health, and tips on how to take up the issue during appointments. Directed at both psoriasis patients and healthcare professionals, the video was shared on our web site and social media channels. Our sponsors also had the opportunity to share it in their own channels for healthcare professionals. Link to the video: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=DFs7N-WBdNM

At the time the report was written the video had about 3 500 views on Youtube and social media.

Social media campaign: Main campaigning period was World Psoriasis Day week from October 25th to October 31st. Our images had the same visual style as the animated video and emphasized the connection between psoriasis and mental health, and reminded that help and support available. Our social media volunteers and other psoriasis patients all over the country also participated with sharing their stories and experiences. Some of our social media posts were also advertised.

Between October 18th and November 14th, we had a reach of 34 607 accounts on Facebook. On Instagram we had a reach of 4 532 accounts in October 2021. There was a significant peak in all social media numbers during our WPD campaign. Our web site had 38 000 views in October 2021, with peaks on WPD and October 26th, when the campaign video was released.

Local events: There were 14 local WPD events in Helsinki, Hyvinkää, Iisalmi, Joensuu, Järvenpää, Lahti, Oulu, Porvoo, Rovaniemi, Salo, Seinäjoki, Sodankylä, Tampere and Vaasa.

Decision-makers and media: A World Psoriasis Day message was sent to all MPs on October 29th by us and the Finnish parliamentary interest group on psoriasis. We also sent a WPD press release and got four media hits during the campaign.

Facebook live concert: The concert was held on October 29th and lasted for 30 minutes. Artists Mikael Konttinen and Annika Eklund performed songs that had been requested by psoriasis patients themselves: We asked people to nominate their feel-good songs or power songs which help them in coping with a chronic illness. The concert was watched live by 66 people and the recording had more than 1 000 views during the two weeks it was available. The concert was very much liked and talked about, and some of our local associations also gathered to watch the live show together.

All in all we feel that the campaign theme was successful. Having a similar theme for three consecutive years helped in getting the message through, but a different visual style made the campaign more positive compared with two previous years. Covid was a challenge again, but during October the situation in most parts of the country was good enough for live events. Scheduling the campaign materials was also somewhat challenging, as some of the materials were approved quite late, and having seven sponsors means that the approval process takes time.