One of the highlights of my job as a publicist is working on nonprofit PR, where I have the opportunity to work with clients who not only make my job interesting every day but also make me feel good about it at the end of the day. Nonprofits – such as our client Joslin Diabetes Center, which is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes – have a specific mission, and our job in the case of Joslin is to implement a PR plan that will help them raise awareness and the funds they need in order to improve people’s lives across the world.
A client event presents an ideal opportunity to maximize awareness of a nonprofit client’s mission. For example, tonight marks Joslin’s 10th anniversary of their swanky “A Spoonful of Ginger” event benefitting the center’s Asian American Diabetes Initiative (AADI). This culinary occasion features 24 of Boston’s most renowned chefs, as well as distinguished honorees and live performances. All of the money raised goes toward the AADI, which strives to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for the rising number of Asian Americans living with diabetes, as well as working with Joslin in their commitment to finding a cure.
Weeks to months in advance, we began pitching this event to the media to increase its presence in the online, print, radio and television community. We promoted the event co-chairs and honorees after interviewing them and securing our own, pre-written stories in their hometown newspapers about their connection with Joslin and specifically, this event. We organized a pre-event photo opportunity with a doctor from Joslin and some of the participating celebrity chefs in order to create some last-minute, pre-event buzz in some of Boston’s most notable publications. In addition, we arranged for a doctor from Joslin and one of the event co-chairs to be interviewed on a popular television news show, where we facilitated the process by filtering questions beforehand and staffing the interview. Regan Communications Group’s efforts on behalf of this event also included secured billboards on some of the busiest of highways, ongoing PSAs, and a radio interview.
Not only did this event allow us to reach out to our standard event media outlets, but we also took this opportunity to get Joslin on the radar of local Asian Americans who may also have a connection to the epidemic of diabetes. The event was covered in Boston’s top Asian news outlets, which worked to expand the community and audience of our client moving forward.
Through all of this, our goal is to create a spark that will lead our audiences to take the initiative and get involved. Considering all of the great work the Joslin Diabetes Center does as the world’s largest diabetes research and clinical care organization, it is fulfilling from a public relations standpoint to know that we are helping them to help those with diabetes and to further their mission to find a cure.
