Challenge

Today, lung cancer is the most common and deadly cancer in Europe. Unfairly stigmatized, and misunderstood by society, progress in tackling this killer has been too slow for too long. The shocking truth is that a lung cancer patient has the same chance of survival as 40 years ago.

Approach

A collaboration between Edelman and Lung Cancer Europe (LuCE) launched the first European patient advocacy group representing lung cancer patients on a European level. The roundtable event, held in Brussels, was the kickoff of the association designed to initiate conversation in the European Parliament and raise awareness for lung cancer patients and their loved ones.

Edelman was charged with amplifying the story through Europe. Targeting both traditional and social media, Edelman matched patients with leading scientists at the event, to engage relevant stakeholders across Europe around their stories. LuCE presented a white paper to call upon the EU to establish European guidelines on lung cancer screening and early diagnosis.

Edelman worked with LuCe to craft their key messages and white paper and developed their tagline and website including other promotional materials. To stand out among other patient organizations and give a recognizable face to their message. In addition, these materials could be used by their members' association.

Results

Through a proactive and strategic approach, Edelman helped introduce LuCE and its key messages in Europe. The whitepaper was received positively by EU decision-makers, causing a consensus on the need for EU lung cancer guidelines. Furthermore, the new LuCE visual identity generated positive feedback on social media: “positive”, “refreshing”, and “empowering”. Ongoing membership discussions were prompted by national and regional patient associations and several new national lung cancer associations joined LuCE.