Although allergic disorders afflict 50 million Americans, allergies are often shrugged off as seasonal nuisances that aren't serious enough to warrant physician attention. Last
year, a first-ever national consensus report on proper allergy management spearheaded by the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), gave media and consumers
a long overdue reality check. The Allergy Report, announced at a Washington, D.C. press conference last February, positioned allergies as a serious medical issue that is often
under-diagnosed and costly. Annually allergic disorders account for 3.4 million lost work days and 2 million missed school days in the U.S.
In spite of being chock-full of important allergy statistics and useful medical guidelines for diagnosis and treatment, the 300-page report ran the risk of being too technical
to appeal to a consumer audience. To avoid this scenario, Communication Strategies Inc. (CSI), the agency AAAAI hired to develop a multi-faceted allergy awareness campaign,
promoted the report as a policy-making tool with broad economic implications and wide-ranging medical influence.
Media hooks focused on the report being the first to provide standardized allergy guidelines supported by a cross spectrum of 21 healthcare organizations from medical societies
to research groups. Journalists responded by coughing up extensive coverage on how pervasive allergic disorders are. The campaign generated more than 166 million radio and TV
impressions from national and regional media outlets.
Allergic to Rookies
This was not a campaign for PR rookies, says Patricia Garrison, CSI's SVP. The technical nature of the report required that the agency use three of its most seasoned PR
professionals to pitch and field media questions about the report's significance. "Our approach with the media was 'you don't have to read the report but you do have to understand
what it means to the medical community,'" says Garrison.
A wide range of story ideas drove this point home. Examples included:
- Self-medicating with over-the-counter drugs can be ineffective, and at times harmful, when treating allergic disorders.
- Recent medical data suggest a strong link between allergies and chronic, costly and debilitating diseases like asthma, sinusitis and middle ear infections.
- Hay fever, once dismissed as a seasonal annoyance, affects 35 million people and can cause symptoms severe enough to limit productivity and interfere with daily
activities.
These pitching efforts resulted in news coverage that took allergies seriously. National programs like ABC's "Good Morning America" and CNN's "Headline News" weighed in on the
severity of allergic disorders and the importance of seeking medical attention while regional news coverage in markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago focused on the
escalating costs of underdiagnosed allergies.
Online Report Makeover
Just as journalists weren't expected to read a 300-page report, neither were consumers. The report got a consumer makeover online. News reports directed consumers to AAAAI's
Web site (http://www.aaaai.org) where report highlights were provided in a downloadable consumer brochure. The "Could It Be Allergies" brochure
gave consumers an allergy action plan for talking about various allergic disorders with doctors, including what questions to ask and what information is most important for
physicians to be made aware of. Other online features that gave the report consumer appeal included:
- video clips of allergy news coverage;
- a patient newsletter; and
- frequently updated allergy e-headlines.
This online "Cliff Note" approach to the report resulted in AAAAI's Web site generating a 44% jump in consumer traffic, says Amy Stone, AAAAI's project director. Allergy
sufferers accounted for most of the consumer traffic at 48% followed by parents and friends of those with allergic disorders at 13%.
Although distilling the report's key messages into a brochure was an effective way of helping consumers digest its importance, there were a significant number of consumers
interested in downloading the whole report or paying $22 for a printed version. This speaks volumes about the consumer appetite for getting the latest treatment information for
major medical conditions, says Stone. "When it comes to highly technical medical information, consumers are willing to persevere and investigate complex issues more often than we
might think."
(CSI, Patricia Garrison, 973/635-6669; AAAI, Amy Stone, 414/272-6071)
Online Allergy Buzz
In March, shortly after the AAAAI's press conference announcing the Allergy Report, Web site traffic spiked 44%. Here's a breakdown of who logged on:
Physicians 25%
Allergy Sufferers 47%
Parent/Relatives 13%
Allied Health 4%
Other 13%
- Source: AAAAI
Communication Strategies Inc.
Headquarters: Chatham, NJ
Founded: 1992
Employees: 6
Focus: PR, marcom, public affairs, women's health marketing
Healthcare clients: Schering Plough, MGI Pharma