When the American Cancer Society released a study last year showing a strong link between obesity and the risk of getting cancer, it was bad news for fast food chains but good
news for groups hoping to raise public awareness about what causes cancer.
To capitalize on the study the society on March 3 hosted its second annual "Great American Weigh-In," a national campaign created by the American Cancer Society (Atlanta) and
sponsored by Woodbury, N.Y.-based Weight Watchers International, one of the first diet programs that sparked what is now an enormous industry. At various events throughout the
country Americans stepped on scales to test themselves against gravity's inexorable tug, with some 1,500 participants gathering in Atlanta's Olympic Centennial Park alone to see
if they packed on any pounds.
Despite the fact that it could have been just another weight loss story, the media gave the weigh-in good play. The PR hook was to position the cancer society's new findings
not as weight loss news, but rather as medical intelligence.
"Any time you do medical stories and you mention the word cancer, people take notice," says Brian Revfi, a producer with broadcast PR agency DWJ Television of Ridgewood, N.J.
"In this case there was special interest because nobody had really made that link before between obesity and cancer. That was something interesting." The lead PR firm for Weight
Watchers, New York-based Rubenstein Associates, pulled in DWJ to handle the broadcast elements of the campaign.
Multiple fronts
DWJ execs hit the broadcast media on several fronts in the run-up to the big day. First came a national video news release and B-roll/sound bites news feed. The package
included information on weight measurements along with visuals of people getting weighed. It also offered graphics on locations of local weigh-ins. In keeping with the medical
theme, sound bites came from both Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity at the American Cancer Society, and Karen-Miller-Kovach, Weight Watchers Chief
Scientific Officer. Both the VNR and B-roll were distributed to local and national news stations a week before the weigh-in.
These items were geared to a national audience. In order to promote the local weigh-ins, however, the PR team localized information at the Weight Watchers Web site. In
addition, both Weight Watchers and the cancer society organized weigh-ins through employers nationwide and distributed press releases urging people at those firms to talk to their
employers about getting more information about weight loss.
DWJ shot rooftop footage of the Atlanta gathering that was broadcast by satellite on the day of the weigh-in, along with footage from interviews with cancer experts.
What worked?
The PR team used a variety of communication tools to generate media coverage, including the especially authoritative voice of Colleen Doyle. "She was able to deliver a strong
sound bite," says DWJ Senior VP Cammy Bourcier. "Sometimes these medical people get bogged down in jargon, and she was able to get it into layman's terms so anybody could
understand it."
It wasn't just the medical nature of the news that turned heads. It was the practical aspect, too. Susan Raphael, director of media relations at the cancer society, says: "The
empowerment message was the one that really resonated with people. Anything that people can do to help reduce their risk is something that the media is very interested in writing
about. It's a service, to help people to take action and feel that they have a little bit of control over their destiny."
Good timing can't be underestimated, either. Obesity has become a perennial for newsrooms, as America battles an expanding waistline. A slew of reports say obesity is
particularly rampant among younger people, with new surveys showing 15% of American children are overweight, up from 5% in 1964. The PR team has made use of all the reports,
leveraging a hot topic in a bid to get attention for the campaign. "This all came right in the middle of the low-carb madness," Bourcier says. "That was a story that was getting a
lot of coverage, plus it was National Nutrition Month, so all of that definitely helped."
These efforts scored solid results. The VNR and B-roll/sound bites news feed achieved 325 combined airings including spots on CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, MSNBC
and Telenoticias, and local stations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington DC, Atlanta and Detroit. The VNR aired in 15 of the top 20 markets.
But old-fashioned communications was the key to a successful campaign. The DWJ team spoke daily with Rubenstein executives as the VNR came together, with both sides
contributing equally to the task. DWJ producers could talk about the images and stories that would play best on the air, while the folks at Rubenstein could match those tools with
their client's overall goals. "When you have somebody who can work with you, everything goes a lot more smoothly, and I think the final product reflects that," Revfi says.
Contacts: Cammy Bourcier, 201.445.1711, [email protected]; Gerry Casanova, 212.843.8067, [email protected]; Jim Moldow, 201.445.1711, [email protected]; Susan Raphael, 212.237.3884, [email protected]; Brian Revfi, 201.445.1711, [email protected]