HEALTH

Americans' interest in health news is reflected in the rapid growth of media outlets dedicating pages, airtime and Web space to the topic. Another sign is the increasing number of organizations that address specific health concerns or population segments. But the surge in health media and organizations adds to the challenges of identifying the most appropriate ones to carry our client's message, and then shaping the message to make it compelling to editors, opinion-leaders and their audiences. Hager Sharp's strategies result in helping clients make a difference with the right message in the right place.
 

Current Health Clients Include:

National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP)

In 1997 only 8 percent of Americans considered diabetes a serious disease. This was despite the fact that 73 million Americans - one in three adults - have diabetes or pre-diabetes. One in three children born in the year 2000 were projected to develop diabetes in their lifetimes.

To help turn this epidemic around through prevention and to help people with diabetes live longer, healthier lives, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created the National Diabetes Education Program. They charged Hager Sharp with developing and managing the program, crafting targeted media awareness campaigns to reach at-risk individuals, creating educational materials for patients and health care professionals about diabetes prevention and control and forging partnerships to carry messages and materials to our audiences.

By 2003 diabetes was a TIME magazine cover story. By 2006 89 percent of Americans reported that diabetes was a serious disease.

We have made a difference.

How did we do it? Our two main awareness campaigns, Control Your Diabetes. For Life. and Small Steps. Big Rewards. Prevent Type 2 Diabetes. have created over 2 billion media impressions through award-winning radio and television public service announcements, print ads and feature articles.

To ensure our messages and materials reach those ethnic populations that are disproportionately affected by diabetes, we formed multi-cultural workgroups to help plan, pre-test and evaluate messages targeted to specific high-risk populations. We produce almost all of our materials in Spanish and adopt and translate campaigns and materials into 15 different Asian and Pacific Islander languages.

To help spread our messages and materials, we've developed over 200 partnerships with organizations and associations at the federal, state and local levels. Joining the partners, we line up celebrity spokespersons such as NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse, former Miss America Nicole Johnson and former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher to help deliver NDEP messages.
 

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

The 4th leading cause of death in the United States is virtually unknown among the general public-a lung disease recognized in medical circles as "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease," or "COPD." Approximately 12 million Americans have been diagnosed with COPD and it is estimated that another 12 million have the disease and don't even know it!

In October 2005, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health selected Hager Sharp to create and launch a national awareness campaign to raise awareness of this serious lung disease among those at-risk and to brand COPD within the general public in the same way that "AIDS" has become the recognizable name for "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome."

After months of strategic planning, and developing and testing messages and concepts, Hager Sharp created COPD Learn More Breathe Better. Since launching in January 2007, the campaign has garnered coverage on Good Morning America, The View, the Diane Rehm Show on NPR, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and in The New York Times, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal together with countless other print and broadcast stories across the country.

Hager Sharp created a number of collateral materials in support of the campaign including fact sheets, an educational video, a speaker's guide, a resource card for health care professionals and a resource kit to support community outreach by advocates and health professionals. Hager Sharp also developed a series of radio public service announcements (PSAs), that have aired on more than 200 radio stations in 45 states throughout the country, valued at an estimated $3.2 million.

By increasing awareness and understanding of COPD among target audiences, the campaign has encouraged early detection and treatment in slowing the disease and improving the quality of life of those afflicted.
 

Past Health Campaigns and Projects That Have Made a Difference:

Being on call for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, plotting strategy and managing news events on issues from emergency contraception to a Gallup survey on what women think about their ob-gyns.

Delivering mass media assignments in rapid succession for the National Cancer Institute – whether enticing consumers to "sample the spectrum" of fruit and vegetable colors and eat "5 A Day" or working directly with scientists on communicating complex new studies.

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Health Client List

 

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