KEEPING OUR CLIENT IN THE STORY DESPITE COMPETING INTERESTS

Client:

Assignment:

Generate publicity for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta upon the release of a study about the resurgence of Rickets, a bone-deforming disease resulting from Vitamin D deficiencies. Other parties associated with the research, such the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The Milk Campaign and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), were jockeying for their position in the story, too. Our goal was to partner with these parties, but to maintain media focus on Children's doctor who authored the study.

Strategy/Implementation:

After researching other media generating studies, we focused our media efforts on alerting pediatricians about the possible resurgence of Rickets and the behaviors contributing to its increase. We wrote a press release partnering with the CDC and produced a video news release (VNR) with Milk's PR agency. In addition, we media trained an inexperienced and nervous doctor. The first interview was granted to an Associated Press health writer, thus pre-empting the efforts of the CDC and Milk Campaign and their ancillary interests in this study.

Results:

The Associated Press article ran in newspapers and on television across the country and internationally. The VNR ran on 142 affiliates across the country. Overall, there were more than 20 million impressions. Coverage included The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, USA TODAY.com, NYTimes.com, American Baby, United Press International, BBC Radio, The Boston Globe, CNN.com, CNBC, and Newsweek.