ORGANISING AN AWARENESS-RAISING EVENT WITH EXCEPTIONAL AVE AND PR VALUE

WORLD PREMATURITY DAY EVENT

Globally, premature birth is the leading cause of death worldwide in children under the age of five. There are 15 million babies born prematurely worldwide every year – that’s one in every 10 births. And eight out of 100 of these “prem” babies are born in South Africa.

To raise awareness of preterm birth and the concerns of preterm babies and their families, World Prematurity Day is observed on 17 November each year. To mark the occasion in 2016, dotGOOD, as South Africa’s leading social marketing agency, was asked to coordinate an event and the associated public relations campaign for the United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the South African Breastmilk Reserve (SABR), the National Department of Health and its partners.

The event was open to delegates, medical professionals, the media and the public. Our experience with marketing below-the-line community activations for government departments and NGOs has earned dotGOOD a reputation for being an exceptional implementation agency too.

We coordinated a seamless event from inception to takedown, including procuring all audiovisual equipment as well as decor and other event elements.

As the official communications agency responsible for media relations, we identified and invited media representatives, drafted the media release for distribution on the day, took photographs during the event to accompany the release, and monitored media coverage afterwards. A well-executed event was achieved, with coverage totalling R1 813 937,68.