Raising awareness about a treatment for diabetic foot ulcers that helps prevent amputation
Diabetic Foot Ulcers are alarmingly prevalent, and with a high risk of infection, too often resulting in amputation. Project Works Marketing’s PR Efforts heightened the awareness of a diabetes treatment in many areas around the country that offered a viable solution to amputation.
Media placements of patient stories on broadcast and in print media, featuring how the client’s product staved off lower limb amputation, drove more patients to doctors for treatment and improved not only health, but overall quality of life for diabetes sufferers.
Working with more than 50 different doctors offices around the country, we developed press kits for each one, using a basic template and personalizing them with diabetes statistics specific to that region. Using patient stories, individual local markets were targeted with press releases and media calls, resulting in hundreds of placements in markets across the country in print, radio and television.
A media event honoring a select few wound care centers was created by recognizing them as a Center of Excellence. Of more than 100 wound care centers in the US utilizing new technologies to heal diabetic foot ulcers, only a very few Smith & Nephew customers in good standing were presented with this award each year. Those chosen were honored for outstanding physicians and clinical teams using Dermagraft who demonstrated best practices in wound care, documented patient success in healing diabetic ulcers including healing rate and time to heal, and demonstrated a commitment to ongoing patient education and community involvement through community screenings and health education.
Recognition Event:
An award reception event to present the award to the physician and his team was hosted by Smith & Nephew. Smith & Nephew executives, hospital and wound center colleagues and clients, and the press, were invited to the award event scheduled held at a location of the wound center’s choosing.
The event template was created and each event was coordinated with the hospital marketing director and/or wound center Program Director. Assistance in whatever way was needed was provided to make this a smooth-running event from room reservation, to finalizing catering menus, to writing presentation scripts. Services including creating an invitation, organizing the services of a professional photographer for photos to be used for local publicity, and contacting local media to gain news coverage. A News Release, approved by your marketing department, was created and distributed to local media pre and post the event.
An engraved plaque was presented to each honoree, designed for prominent display within the wound care center.
