The Campaign

Sanofi embarked on a PR campaign to raise awareness of knee osteoarthritis by encouraging the public to seek treatment if they suffered from chronic knee pain – through media stories that would reach the target audience. The main challenges were the lack of media interest on knee osteoarthritis and competition against diseases that affected more people and had more obvious and deadly symptoms. The lack of new and local data, and trends within the disease area, also added to the challenge of conceptualising compelling story angles for the media. To generate media interest, the team decided to create a panel of expert doctors who the media could target for expert insights. This panel of experts would also be able to provide different viewpoints of how knee osteoarthritis affects different demographic segments. The agency also recommended and undertook a survey to create new and local data on knee osteoarthritis, to ignite media interest on the disease. The survey questionnaire development was closely managed, ensuring that results of the survey would produce useful topics when it came to media outreach. An infographic was also developed to ensure that the survey data was visually explained and easy to understand. The activities received strong media interest, totalling 30 media stories, mostly within October 2012 – averaging one story every day of the month. The infographic was particularly well covered by newspapers; one even created a comic strip based on the survey findings.

The Brief

The PR campaign was conceptualised to help Sanofi Synvisc build disease awareness, and reach out to senior citizens aged 50 and above and physically active males aged 30 and above, encouraging them to seek help if they suffer from chronic knee pain instead of suffering in silence. Research into past media stories revealed articles in two main local newspapers discussing diagnosis and treatment, but there were no mentions of viscosupplementation as a treatment option. Success was measured by the number of media stories achieved, key messages within the media stories, and mentions of viscosupplementation as a treatment option.

Results

The entire campaign saw strong media interest on the topic of knee osteoarthritis; a significant achievement considering how only two local newspapers had written on the topic in the 12 months before the campaign started. There were a total of 30 media stories generated mostly within October 2012 – which averaged one media story every day of the month. Stories appeared across most local radio channels, local newspapers including vernacular newspapers, and consumer and medical trade magazines. The main local newspaper’s (The Straits Times) weekly health supplement also featured the disease as its cover story. The infographic proved particularly useful in garnering media interest, with many newspapers repurposing it for the story. The most significant achievement was the creation of a comic strip by The Straits Times on the causes of knee osteoarthritis, which was carried across most of the other local vernacular newspapers. Sanofi also received public queries directly, from members of the public who wanted to find out more about the survey data and how many people suffer from chronic knee pain.

Execution

The team decided that the best media outreach would be conducted in two phases between 28 August and 9 October 2012 – the first to raise media interest on knee osteoarthritis, the second to create new data that would compel journalists to feature the disease in their respective media outlets. A media lunch was hosted on 28 August 2012 to introduce the panel of expert doctors, with each doctor sharing the different ways that knee osteoarthritis affects different demographic segments. Throughout the rest of the campaign, the team actively and successfully pursued feature stories on knee osteoarthritis from various viewpoints that would be relevant to the different demographic segments. Results of the Sanofi Knee Pain Survey were announced on World Arthritis Day (9 October 2012). Although new and local data would capture media interest, an infographic to visually explain the data would result in significant media coverage.

The Situation

Do you have pain in your knee when you run, walk or stand for long? That is not normal, and definitely not something we need to accept as part of growing old. Unfortunately, that misconception is held by many – there were several letters published by local newspapers, where readers sought medical advice on the chronic pain in their knees, not realising that it was a disease called knee osteoarthritis. Knee osteoarthritis affects an estimated 40% of the adult population in Singapore, but only 10% of these adults sought medical advice. Adults aged 35 and above are the most affected.

The Strategy

Success of the campaign depended heavily on the ability to secure stories across a variety of media outlets. However, it proved challenging as there was no new information. Based on our understanding of how editorial works in Singapore media, the team decided to put together a panel of doctors of different specialisations who supports viscosupplementation, to speak to the media about knee osteoarthritis across a range of demographic groups. This panel would be presented as a resource to educate journalists and to share insights into the different areas of knee osteoarthritis, and also to interview as experts. To ensure further media interest, there was also a need for new and updated local data on knee osteoarthritis because most data was from a global standpoint. The team decided to carry out a local survey to better understand the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis among Singaporeans and their awareness of the disease.