Winner: GLOBALHealthPR & Spectrum The Progeria Research Foundation – A Needle in the Haystack: ‘Find the other 150’
Progeria, one of the world’s most rare diseases, causes children to age prematurely and affects 54 children in 30 countries, but experts estimate that another 140 children worldwide have yet to be diagnosed or identified. The disease has a devastating effect: All children with Progeria will die of a heart disease that affects millions of normal aging adults, but at an average age of 13 years. Spectrum and GLOBALHealthPR, conceived a campaign to “Find the other 150.” An informational Web site, Findtheother150.org, and intense media outreach resulted in hundreds of stories placed globally, 10 international interviews, 15,000 visitors to the site and, most importantly, 24 more children identified with Progeria. —BM
Fast Fact: Localized media pitches and in-language press releases were critical to the success of the “Find the other 150” campaign.
Honorable Mentions:
Adfero Group – Action to Cure Kidney Cancer (ACKC): Adfero’s redesign of the ACKC Web site, plus a Facebook presence that has grown to more than 10,000 Facebook fans, has supercharged the movement.
Bausch + Lomb with Lions Club International – Fighting Childhood Blindness: The Pediatric Cataract Initiative: To gain understanding and awareness of pediatric cataract disease, the public affairs team at B+L created a global philanthropic program that introduced the Pediatric Cataract Initiative (PCI).
Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations – Kids Kicking Cancer Breath Brake Public Service Campaign and Smartphone App Launch: To raise awareness and visibility Kids Kicking Cancer, Chamberlain designed the free Breath Brake smartphone app that reminds people to relax their muscles with their breath.