The American Diabetes Association estimates that 50 million Americans will have diabetes by 2025, yet there are many misperceptions about the disease and its treatment, and there must be greater urgency to take action. Seeing that social marketing was a perfect method for creating that urgency and dispelling myths, we created a novel leadership platform for sanofi-aventis U.S.’ metabolism franchise through a partnership with Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) and the Start Taking Action Now for Diabetes (S.T.A.N.D.) social marketing program. We organized a two-day summit that brought together medical leaders, health and fitness advocates, marketing leaders and entertainment execs and charged all with thinking of new ways to communicate about diabetes, via traditional and non-traditional channels. Our ongoing program, which includes a national Public Service Announcement and a report that highlights the challenges and opportunities in advancing diabetes awareness discussed during the S.T.A.N.D. Summit, is the foundation for a new model to raise awareness about diabetes and the importance of blood sugar control.
With zero budget, we designed a campaign based on social media and remote cooperation (remember? The future is now). A digital petition on the campaign site let people around the planet record themselves saying 'tck' in support of global climate legislation. The campaign launched at Cannes Lions in June, and with a month remaining, 2.9 million people had 'tcked' their support online, 700,000+ had downloaded the song and 30+ global brands (including Oxfam and Greenpeace) were partners.
December 4, 2009
