Situation

• In 2008, sanofi pasteur makers of the vaccine DAPTACEL for pertussis partnered with Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases (PKIDs) to launch a program to help new and expectant parents learn about the dangers of whooping cough to infants.

Solution

• To get the word out about this new disease threat to infants, sanofi and PKIDs reached out to Rx Entertainment to find a celebrity mom they could partner with to get the word out about this growing problem
• Rx Entertainment identified new mom and actress Keri Russell to serve as the national spokesperson for their campaign called Silence the Sounds of Pertussis.
• As a brand new mom-to-be and someone the public respects and admires, Rx Entertainment and sanofi/PKIDs felt she would be perfect spokesperson.
• The campaign included working with celebrity-mom Keri Russell to produce a 30 second public service announcement for the Silence the Sounds of Pertussis.
  • A national media campaign was launched that included interview with national broadcast and print outlets, a satellite media tour and radio interviews.
  • Keri also served as a spokesperson at the The American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in San Francisco to discuss the campaign.
  • At the time of the campaign Keri was also starring in the movie August Rush. Rx Entertainment worked closely with the agency to ensure the key messages for the pertussis campaign were incorporated into all the national press being done for the film.

Media Links

• http://www.pkids.org/dis_pert_stsop.php
• http://www.pkids.org/dis_pert_keri-russell-bio.php
• http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/pertussis/29579/
• http://www.celebrityparents.com/movie/keri-russell-5871/
• http://www.iparenting.com/channels/news/index.php?newsid=4680

Multimedia