A global pharmaceutical company wanted to help employees, especially those in non-customer-facing roles, better understand the real patient and caregiver experience behind its oncology work. DH developed an immersive Patient Experience activation with real stories, recreated “comfort” rooms, physical artifacts, and QR-linked audio narratives that placed attendees closer to the emotional realities of life with cancer. Post-event, the experience was adapted into a 180° interactive digital module, reimagining a “high-touch” immersion as a scalable, on-demand training asset for broader employee access.
“The little details hit the hardest. These people have lives as rich and detailed as our own. It felt powerful to feel ‘in their world.’”
As the client prepared to mark a major milestone with its 10-year anniversary celebration, the planning team saw an opportunity to reconnect employees with the human impact behind its oncology work. Many attendees, including those in administrative, access, manufacturing, research, and other support roles, were not directly customer-facing and had limited visibility into the day-to-day realities patients and caregivers experience. The challenge was to create something more meaningful than a commemorative moment; the experience needed to help a broad, global employee audience feel closer to the people their work is meant to support.
DH’s strategy centered on translating the patient journey into an emotionally grounded learning experience, using real stories and sensory details to build empathy, deepen understanding, and reinforce the company’s shared purpose across roles, regions, and functions.
DH’s solution was to create a patient-based immersion that made the impact of oncology care feel more personal, immediate, and emotionally resonant. Rather than relying on a traditional presentation format, the activation invited employees to step closer to the daily realities of patients and caregivers navigating a hematological cancer or solid tumor. The experience focused on two oncology journeys: a mother and child facing AML (acute myeloid leukemia), and a wife and husband navigating brain cancer (astrocytoma), with additional perspective from an oncology nurse practitioner. Each story was structured around life before, during, and after treatment, giving participants a more nuanced understanding of the patient journey. Through this approach, DH designed the activation as both an immersive experience and a training moment, helping employees connect their work to the people, families, and care teams impacted by the company’s oncology products.
Curating the immersive environment began with the stories themselves, with DH working closely with the client to identify the right patient, caregiver, and clinical perspectives for the two featured cancer types. Development began with in-depth interviews, where patients and caregivers were asked to reflect on their diagnosis, treatment journey, daily routines, and the spaces in their homes where they felt most at peace. Those conversations became the foundation for each storyline.
From there, DH drew key moments from the interviews into the room itself with physical artifacts, environmental details, and narrative touchpoints. Each item was intentionally placed within a recreated “comfort” room, allowing participants to move through the story at their own pace, with space to absorb the human details behind each journey. Our creative and production teams collaborated with the set designer to interpret those stories scenically, building two room environments that reflected the emotional tone and lived reality of each journey. Once the sets were built, the collected artifacts were layered in, with QR codes linking participants to audio narratives told in the patients’ own voices.
The immersive experience resonated across the organization, with more than 300 attendees participating over two days, including the client company's CEO and President. From the main stage, speakers urged attendees to engage with the activation firsthand, reinforcing the patient-centered purpose behind the legacy meeting with the message, “this is why we are here—for them.” Participant feedback underscored the emotional weight of the experience, with attendees sharing sentiments of hope, describing the impact of hearing directly from patients and caregivers, and expressing renewed pride in the work they contribute each day.
The on-site immersion also helped create a foundation for continued learning. Following the live event, DH adapted the activation into a 180° interactive digital module for new hire sales training and broader internal learning. The virtual rooms recreated the live environments through rendered spaces and interactive audio hotspots, allowing users to move through each patient journey on a laptop or tablet. By reimagining a high-touch, sensory immersion as an on-demand training asset, the organization gave employees across roles and regions a lasting way to connect with the patients, caregivers, and real-life stories at the heart of its oncology work.
