Building trust in clinical trials through story-driven inclusion.
Overview.
For a global pharmaceutical company, we partnered with Inizio Engage XD’s film team to embed a robust DEI strategy into a documentary-style film aimed at building trust in clinical research.
Find out how our expertise in DEI and inclusion helped change perceptions, build trust, and inspire greater participation in clinical research.
The challenge.
Mistrust toward clinical trials runs deep in the Black community, rooted in historical injustices such as the Tuskegee Study. This legacy has led to significantly lower participation rates in research, impacting both inclusivity and the quality of healthcare outcomes.
The challenge was to acknowledge this mistrust openly and create a piece of storytelling that could help rebuild confidence. Rather than persuade or promote, the aim was to spark conversation, show empathy, and humanize the research process.
The work needed to resonate deeply with individuals who have valid reasons to feel excluded, while also educating healthcare professionals and trial sponsors about the importance of inclusion.
Our approach.
As the client’s communications partner, Forty1’s role was to bring our expertise in DEI and inclusion to shape the strategy behind the film’s messaging and script – working hand-in-hand with Inizio Engage XD’s film production team to ensure the narrative genuinely reflected under-represented voices and guiding the communication strategy so the film felt credible, empathetic and unifying.
The solution.
We created Building Trust: Diversity in Clinical Trials, a documentary-style film designed to balance honesty with hope. The narrative was anchored by three authentic voices:
- A patient, sharing lived experience of participation.
- A clinical investigator, reflecting on responsibility and transparency.
- A pharmaceutical representative, acknowledging institutional challenges and progress.
Key elements included.
Working in close collaboration with the Film team and our client, Forty1 provided a DEI strategic lens to ensure we told the most authentic and inclusive story possible around clinical trials.
To achieve this, we –
- Hosted psychologically safe listening sessions with a patient advisory group, capturing lived experiences that directly shaped how the story was told.
- Supported storyboarding and the briefing of the featured subject matter experts — helping to ground the narrative in empathy, cultural awareness and real-world insight.
Our goal was to ensure every moment of the film reflected inclusion — not just in who was featured, but in how their stories were told.
The value created.
The result was a story that felt human, relatable and representative. Its success led to a second film exploring the Hispanic and Latino lived experience of clinical trials — continuing the conversation around inclusion and representation in medical research.
Building Trust became a cornerstone of a global awareness campaign, reaching broad audiences through both full-length and social cut-down versions. It delivered measurable results:
- Over 1.2 million impressions
- 15,000+ engagements
- 8,000+ clicks to a dedicated landing page
- A click-through rate 18% higher than Meta’s benchmarks, proving its ability to capture attention and drive interest.
Key takeaway.
Beyond public audiences, the film also became an advocacy tool for healthcare professionals and trial sponsors — showing how inclusive, respectful participation can look and feel different.
By blending authenticity with cinematic quality, Building Trust offered a human-centred perspective on clinical research — proving that rebuilding trust is possible when organisations listen, acknowledge history and make space for real stories.
Our expertise on this project.
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Belonging