Situation

• Centocor Dermatology is dedicated to the development of therapies for severe and disfiguring diseases of the skin.
• Centecor teamed up with The National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) in the summer of 2008 to create a campaign to help improve the quality of life for millions of Americans with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis, and their families.
• The team at Centecor and NPF decided that they needed to put a well-known face to the disease to help promote their efforts.

Solution

• In August, 2008 NPF teamed up with Olympic medalist Dara Torres to launch a national public service announcement (PSA) to educate Americans about.
• Dara Torres, has lived with psoriasis for nearly 20 years. Torres was the first Olympic athlete to speak out about psoriasis, a disease that affects as many as 7.5 million Americans.



• The strategy was to leverage the appeal of Dara and to break into lifestyle and sports media.
  The PSA raised awareness that psoriasis is a serious disease of the immune system and not just a cosmetic condition. Torres and the Foundation encouraged those living with this chronic disease to seek support, information and proper treatment to effectively manage their psoriasis.
• http://www.psoriasis.org/events/pam/torres_video.php
• Dara Torres delivered inspirational speech about living with psoriasis at an internal Centocor sales meeting

Media Links:

• http://www.psoriasis.org/news/press/2008/080825_torres.php
• http://www.psoriasis.org/events/pam/torres.php
• http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2008/08/olympic_star_i_have_psoriasis.html

Multimedia