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The Freedom to See. The Power to Do.®
A large drug company sought to introduce into a relatively crowded marketplace a new drug that would treat one particular aspect of a chronic illness associated with cardiovascular health. The company faced several challenges to a strong launch and sustained success for the drug. Chief among them was a failure on the part of stakeholders to recognize the seriousness of the condition for which the drug was suited and the lack of understanding about the costs associated with treating the condition.
Key stakeholders included patient advocacy organizations, medical specialty societies (including physicians, nurses and others), trade associations (hospitals, nursing homes), insurers (private and public payers), policy makers and others, all of whom had — or should have had — an interest in successful treatment and management of this condition.
CCA recommended an approach that would bring together representatives of the key stakeholder organizations in an effort to raise awareness of the condition, improve understanding about the costs associated with treatment of patients who had this chronic illness, and make public policy recommendations to improve treatment and reduce costs. Through our outreach, in close cooperation with the client, we created a 31-member "working group" that included all of the most important voices on cardiovascular health and this condition.
The working group developed a "call to action" designed to achieve key objectives of the program, and strategies and tactics focused on improving treatment and increasing awareness of the seriousness and costs associated with the condition. Through active engagement with stakeholder organizations and individuals, the working group continues to promote initiatives that will improve quality of care for patients facing this debilitating condition, increase awareness about the need for additional resources to help patients and develop models that will save money while enhancing patient outcomes.
An industrial biotechnology company was entering a groundbreaking partnership with a global energy corporation and announcing the largest investment ever made in the development and commercialization of advanced biofuel. The announcement provided the company with an opportunity to reach mainstream media and trade press, and extend its reputation and position in the marketplace beyond the alternative energy community where it was already known. The company was able to leverage its new relationship with the energy giant to expand its corporate visibility, position itself for future investment and raise its stock price.
CCA handled all aspects of the $90 million partnership announcement and its impact on the development of a new alternative energy future for America, including creating messages to differentiate this historic alliance from other recently announced partnerships and engaging third-party influencers to help reinforce the critical inflection of this milestone.
Media counsel and outreach by the team generated more than 60 stories in target media, including top-tier coverage in The Wall Street Journal (exclusive), The New York Times blog, The International Herald Tribune and every wire (AP, AFX Asia, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Reuters, UPI), as well as national broadcast coverage in Fox Business News' Cavuto, Bloomberg TV's In Focus, and Fox Business News' Opening Bell. More than 13 interviews were secured for the organization's CEO and other company spokespeople.
The media outreach efforts firmly positioned the company as an industry leader and demonstrated the company's solid progress toward commercialization, further reassuring the investment community of the company's value proposition. As a result, the company's stock price closed 64% higher on the evening of the announcement, the largest gainer on NASDAQ that day. Additionally, two analysts upgraded their ratings to a "buy" and increased their price targets.
Recently, CCA supported a major data announcement at an international conference regarding groundbreaking oncology data representing new hope for men with an advanced form of cancer. The challenge was to manage the message by highlighting the data at the congress of a professional medical organization, organize multiple investigator-institution media activities and press releases, and arrange for announcements from unrelated third parties.
From the beginning of this process, the CCA team focused on articulating a clear message that would state the extremely positive news while also managing the excitement and anticipation of men with the disease, as well as coordinating scheduling and monitoring the media landscape to ensure timely release of our client's news within congress guidelines.
Ultimately, an analyst and a wire broke the embargo with inaccurate coverage, but our monitoring and rapid response efforts quickly alerted the congress organizers to the embargo violation and secured cooperation in releasing the accurate news. Coverage was widespread throughout the globe, and was uniformly positive and balanced.
We have a full-service design agency providing creative visual solutions for clients. Our culture encourages continual and open collaboration, so clients get the best thinking from a broad range of experiences and perspectives. The team is comprised of designers, writers, developers and brand ambassadors who combine classic design principles, cutting-edge technology and boundless imagination to produce stunning results.
Core Capabilities: Advertising, brand identity, creative project management, creative strategy, database development, event design and production, intranet design and development, print design, PSA development, video editing, website design and development
In 2010, the global CCA team was charged by a large pharmaceutical client with developing additional clinical trial initiatives to complement the recruitment support program they had already developed and implemented for the study sponsor over the previous two years. The main purpose of the additional activity was to ensure that the study met its accrual target by mid-2011.
Based on previous experience and the ever-increasing popularity of the internet as a healthcare information resource, the account team proposed a comprehensive online program to:
Although the study was recruiting patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it was agreed that the primary target audience should be family, friends and caregivers, with patients and healthcare professionals as a secondary audience.
Research revealed there were 49,500 Google searches for "lung cancer treatments" globally, indicating an online program could offer an effective way of raising awareness and driving enrollment. For this Phase III NSCLC study, the agreed program consisted of a number of activities, specifically website enhancement and search engine optimization (SEO), questionnaire and screener revisions, Google and Facebook advertising campaigns, and a YouTube video.
Although not freely available on the world wide web (only accessed via a password-protected platform), a series of five short videos was also developed to remind study sites of key data management issues. The videos were filmed in TV-interview style against a green-screen with a virtual set added in post-production. The series was hosted by the head of CCA's global clinical trial communication team and guest-starred the CRO's lead data manager. The key purpose of the videos was to ensure the study's 75% interim analysis went as smoothly as possible — it needed to be submission-ready.
When the online program went live in early 2011, the Americas operational study manager wrote: "Have I told you lately how lucky we are to be working with you and your team?" Additional results included:
The study reached its accrual target in June 2011 — meeting the sponsor's desired deadline.
Chandler Chicco Agency was appointed to execute a cost effective, pan-EU and in-market head and neck cancer (HNC) disease awareness campaign to help change the way the disease is perceived, managed and treated.
The campaign had to:
The overall objective of the campaign was to raise awareness of HNC among the general public and promote a 'call to action' to patient and healthcare professionals for increased education that would aid earlier recognition and diagnosis for HNC.
CCA's approach focused on investigating awareness of HNC among the general public, providing a basis for the need for increased education on HNC in order to aid earlier diagnosis and improved treatment. CCA also established a positive alliance with the leading authority in HNC, European Head and Neck Cancer Society (EHNS), and developed a credible campaign with educational messages and materials that resonated specifically with medical and consumer audiences.
A large survey was conducted among more than 7,000 people across seven European countries, and results were communicated through various campaign phases to ensure maximum impact and penetration of all key audiences:
European Launch
The campaign was launched to physicians attending the International Conference on Innovative Approaches in Head and Neck Cancer Oncology (ICHNO). The campaign was supported by a media launch to key pan-EU specialist and consumer media involving EHNS spokespeople. European affiliates undertook simultaneous launches supported by a campaign toolkit containing template press materials, local survey results, how-to guides including 'working with advocacy,' 'use of case studies,' 'creative campaigning' and a campaign booklet.
Scientific Symposia
The results of the survey were accepted as a scientific poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting. ASCO is the most prestigious scientific meeting in oncology and is known for acceptance of only 'high science' data.
Professor Jean Louis Lefebvre, Chairman of the EHNS and presenter of the poster at the ASCO congress, said of the initiative: "To achieve this level of scientific endorsement in oncology is unprecedented and I know it has made a difference to awareness of HNC because this is the feedback I get from my peers and advocacy groups on the ground."
Maintaining the Momentum
The original data were re-evaluated to highlight the inter-country variances in awareness and accepted as part of the scientific program at the European Cancer Organisation 15 and Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ECCO/ESMO).
Results
Despite pharma's overall reluctance to wholeheartedly embrace digital and social media, one of CCA's clients has been at the forefront, currently leading more than 60 digital pilot programs globally. The large pharma client appointed CCA to enhance a 2010 global meeting of cross-divisional employees interested in digital media and technology.
The objectives were to:
With only eight weeks to build an online resource, develop design and offer onsite support for the social and digital meeting, we worked closely with the client's global social and digital team.
For the meeting, CCA developed the social and digital specific site — the first-of-its-kind meeting site via Sharepoint — which acted as an innovative tool to help the group "connect & engage." The site was valuable, on both an educational and organizational level, for logistical information and attendee updates.
Another purpose of the site was to educate the group about two technologies — a blog and a Wiki — giving them a safe place to test them out and begin to get familiar with the benefits. The Wiki supported an activity — similar to a TED conference — at the actual meeting, which focused on "Answering convention through unconvention." The group was meant to think about topics to discuss during the live "unconference" part of the social and digital meeting. To help those who hadn't ever used a Wiki before, we included a "How to Use this Wiki" section.
The blog allowed attendees to post questions for the event's planned panel discussions, and connect and engage with other members. The blog also included a "Do's and Don'ts" section to help attendees get started.
Finally, we encouraged the social and digital community to submit best practices for "connecting & engaging" to allow future programs to be even more effective and productive. We had several categories, and winners would be invited to join a panel on the second day of the meeting to present their best practices. Community-wide voting for the top best practices took place, followed by a judging panel for the final decision.
The response far exceeded expectations: there were 162 registrations (the target was 100 registrations), representing at least one person from each division and more than 50% from outside the client's headquarters. In terms of educating about and encouraging new technology for productivity, nearly 40 blog submissions were received in 48 hours, as well as more than 15 Wiki submissions. More than 20 submissions were received for best practice examples, double the expected amount. Perhaps most telling: this innovative approach is itself currently cited as a best practice and is being used by the client for other internal meetings.
On November 18, 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his health reform proposal, the bill that would serve as the basis for full Senate debate on health reform. It included a provision that would impose an excise tax on certain medical procedures in an effort to raise over $6 billion toward the cost of the bill. One of CCA's large healthcare clients strongly opposed the tax and, on November 24, enlisted CCA to help fight it.
The CCA team developed and executed a strategy designed to convince Senate Democrats that including the proposed tax in health reform was bad policy and bad politics. Working closely with the client's government relations team, and with allied organizations and companies, including a coalition of physician organizations, CCA worked to change perceptions of the tax. Specifically, the team looked at research conducted by medical specialty societies that focused on the characteristics of patients who have these procedures with an eye on demonstrating that most are not wealthy and, more often than not, are in the middle class.
The campaign employed many of the public affairs and public relations tools at CCA's disposal — including traditional and social media, online grassroots mobilization and KOL identification and engagement — and enjoyed the strong support of the client's corporate communications team and physician/provider groups. CCA then:
As a result of the team's efforts, online grassroots tactics and the campaign website generated over 20,000 letters to senators and 22,000 petition signatures opposing the tax — in about two weeks. The efforts gained the support of 24 physician and other medical professional societies, generated over 3,300 fans through Facebook and Twitter pages, and topped 35.5 million media impressions, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BusinessWeek, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, Reuters and Dow Jones.
The most important result: 25 days after beginning the campaign, Senator Reid announced he was dropping the proposed tax from the health reform bill.
To help a multi-specialty healthcare company convey positive key corporate messages in a media environment that has grown increasingly skeptical of the pharma/biotech space, CCA has been charged over the past eight years with training KOLs, C-suite executives, patients and celebrity spokespeople to communicate the company's vision as well as branded messages.
On the corporate front, CCA's strategy was to utilize relatable corporate spokespeople and strategically chosen KOLs to demonstrate the company's innovation and patient safety. On the product side, CCA employed unique patients with compelling stories about treatment to paint the true patient picture — as well as celebrities who served as brand ambassadors. These celebrities, including fan favorites such as Vanessa Williams and Henry Winkler, raised the profile of the conditions the product treats and fostered goodwill for the brands — all the while tying the message back to the specific campaigns.
Whether surrounding quarterly earnings, celebrity campaigns, patient summits or FDA approvals, media counsel and outreach by the CCA team has generated stories in nearly every top-tier broadcast, print and online media outlet, including (but not limited to) CNBC's Squawk Box and Mad Money, Today, The View, FOX & Friends, Good Housekeeping, People, AARP, Parade, Allure, O, The Oprah Magazine, Self, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Financial Times, Yahoo! Shine, AOL StyleList, etc.
A renewed focus for clients on grassroots engagement, and relationship- and coalition-building, has presented a new measurement challenge for communications professionals. CCA and Determinus sought to answer that challenge with our proprietary METRIC (Measuring Engagement and TRacking Influencer Communications) Model.
The model's approach to measurement and evaluation goes beyond documenting the results of media outreach to also measuring the outcomes of relationships developed. The foundation of the model is based on the gold standard for measuring relationships that was developed by Dr. James Grunig and embraced by the Institute for Public Relations. Like all measurement efforts, the model is tailored for the specific program being evaluated.
CCA and Determinus recently put the METRIC Model to work for a client who had created a large multidisciplinary coalition focused on the obesity epidemic. Metrics used in the model isolated the results of media outreach — message penetration and media type — and specific levels of internal and external engagement. The measures were designed to provide an indication of the success of efforts in building awareness, understanding and commitment among various groups of stakeholders. Media coverage, a convenient proxy for the stakeholders targeted, was analyzed for both coalition and policy message pick-up.
Relationships were weighted by using a point system to reflect the relative significance and impact of actions taken by either internal or external stakeholders, yielding insights on how the work drove the target audience to engage. Importantly, the metrics have become a planning tool, providing data to evaluate learnings while the parameters provide a baseline for the specific timeframe outlined and allow for comparison in future periods to illustrate how the program's efforts continue to move the needle over time.
As a global health crisis, HIV/AIDS has well-established stakeholder groups, initiatives, education and data. However, there is a glaring gap in the provision of specific support for women with HIV. This gap represents a major opportunity, especially given that women now account for almost 50% of cases and a growing proportion of new diagnoses.
One of our clients challenged us to create an enduring global program led by women with HIV and their healthcare providers. The goal was to empower these women to help themselves, live better lives with HIV and stand up for their rights in their communities — by combating issues of stigma, ensuring access to treatment and eliminating gender-based violence.
The team began by organizing a steering committee — consisting of faculty members spanning multiple countries, backgrounds and areas of expertise/personal experience — to drive the initiative aimed at educating, supporting, empowering and mobilizing women with HIV and their healthcare providers. The multi-dimensional program encompassed direction meetings with the international steering committee, HCP educational modules, consensus guidelines, a members' website, experience registry and best practice sharing.
By partnering with healthcare professionals, community group representatives and women living with HIV, we produced high-quality educational materials to raise awareness among the relevant stakeholders of the issues facing women living with HIV. The approach included developing a common language of engagement around the knowledge gap surrounding women with HIV and their under-representation in clinical trials. Key topics covered in the educational materials included "challenges associated with aging in women living with HIV" and "beliefs, spirituality and HIV."
The initiative has drawn over 30 expert faculty members from 15 countries, with established European, North American and Latin American chapters. A position paper was published in the journal AIDS highlighting the lack of clinical trial data in women with HIV, and supportive literature was prepared on key topics identified by faculty, including HIV and aging, beliefs and spirituality, and the emotional impact on women with HIV through different life stages. Slide modules on key topics relevant to women, healthcare professionals and the community have been made available for download on the initiative's website.
We recently were asked by one of our clients to offer interviews with the CEO to media in Shanghai, China, during a biotech meeting, and in New York City just after quarterly earnings were announced.
Outreach in China was somewhat challenging given the Chinese government's oversight of media and commerce, so we focused on English-speaking outlets with strong financially focused editorial content. We secured an interview with the Financial Times, which originally intended to write a brief about our CEO's company and its plans to expand its brands into the emerging Chinese market. The FT was a strategic choice — we felt that the reporter would stay focused on the positive aspects of the company's potential growth in this market. In fact, during the interview, the reporter became interested in another angle related to one of the specific brands and decided to write an additional story.
A few weeks later, we reached out to New York City-based media one week after a quarterly earnings call. Again, the challenge was to choose outlets strategically to bring the CEO to the table with reporters who would understand both the financials and the marketing strategies for potential growth of the company's brands. We chose CNBC's Squawk Box to start, because it prefers to have guests in-studio and its reporters must have the news first. In addition, the program does not like to have competing broadcast outlets cover the same ground. Because the company had been covered widely by the financial press a week earlier at its earnings announcement, we planned for a program within the NBC network to cover earnings, leaving the Squawk Box anchors to have their exclusive live interview with the CEO at the time of our media tour.
We secured interviews with Pharmaceutical Executive, which ran a Q&A online and is considering a potential cover story for a future print edition. In addition, we facilitated interviews with the wires — Bloomberg and Reuters — as well as reporters and editors with The Wall Street Journal and Barron's. The CEO finished the day at FORTUNE, meeting a new reporter who specializes in CEO interviews.
The client considered the day a success, as she and the CEO made new contacts at tried and true outlets. We secured both "day-of" and future coverage, and the reporting was on multiple platforms — print, online, broadcast and over the wire.
With so much at stake in the obesity arena, a large pharmaceutical client asked CCA to help deconstruct the problems surrounding obesity and weight-related health diseases, and find solutions. CCA envisioned and brought to life a multifaceted coalition, bringing all the important stakeholders to the table to think about ways to change America's approach to obesity, overweight and weight-related disease, including heart disease and diabetes.
Today, that coalition is housed at a leading academic public health center and counts nearly 50 prestigious, nonprofit and government organizations as members, including the American Heart Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, American Sleep Apnea Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Business Group on Health and the Service Employees International Union — which come together on a regular basis to create consensus-driven initiatives. Work of the alliance includes:
Critical to the success of the initiative has been cutting through the crowded obesity media sphere, allowing the coalition's messages to be heard above the hundreds of daily obesity stories. With CCA's unparalleled media connections, the team garnered stories in more than 200 outlets with a total reach of more than 436 million, led by high visibility placements, such as the front page Life div of the nation's top newspaper, USA Today. Additional top-tier placements have included the Christian Science Monitor, CQ's HealthBeat, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Today Show, The New York Times, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post, and WABC-TV, New York.
An analysis of the media placements shows that the alliance has successfully communicated its key messages in media that reach target audiences. In particular, recent outreach largely focused on influencing health reform resulted in 76 percent of our media effort, including the coalition's key health reform message: "We cannot reform our health care system without addressing obesity." Additionally, the initiative also has generated interest through web-based communication channels, including a website, blog, monthly e-newsletter (nearly 1,600 subscribers), Twitter page (more than 500 Twitter followers) and Facebook fan page (more than 480 Facebook fans).
In addition to the coalition's work with its membership, it also has created numerous working partnerships with key influencers and organizations, including Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, WLS Lifestyles magazine, Khaliah Ali, World Health Congress and European Obesity Day.