In 2010, as the national health care debate was winding down and the economy was taking center stage, the Council for American Medical Innovation (CAMI) recognized a significant opportunity to link investment in medical innovation with economic recovery and U.S. competitiveness. Recent studies have shown that medical innovation will have a far-reaching impact in curing diseases, which will not only lower health care costs, but keep people in the workforce longer. In addition, medical research and innovation creates jobs that help stimulate local economies – as well as benefits other industries such as building and construction trades. On the heels of a successful launch of the coalition, CAMI turned to The Herald Group to capitalize on this opportunity to position CAMI as the medical innovation thought leader and impact the dialogue around medical innovation. This was accomplished through an integrated campaign including research initiatives, earned, paid and social media, grasstops and grassroots.

The Solution: We quickly became a strategic partner and coalition manager for CAMI, providing much more than purely communications counsel. At the outset, the team revamped the organization’s key messaging platform to center around the role medical innovation plays in both the health of Americans and the health of the nation overall. Throughout the course of this engagement, we built and implemented an overarching communications program for CAMI as well as specialized communications strategies for every CAMI event, speech or project to ensure the broadest possible coverage for the organization. Recognizing the need to make the issue of medical innovation more salient for the public and policy makers, we developed an online video testimonial and advertising campaign to put a human face on the topic, showing how investment in medical innovation is truly life saving. All communications efforts were designed to reach not only the media, but policymakers, regulators and credible third party organizations in order to further cement CAMI’s credibility and effectiveness as well as its ability to strategically recruit additional member organizations.

Results: Our team significantly increased earned media coverage of CAMI nationally and locally, including more than 50 op-ed placements in national and regional publications. The team managed the release of two CAMI-commissioned reports, one conducted by the Milken Institute and one by TEConomy Partners, as well as a national medical innovation symposium, all of which were widely attended by policymakers, the medical industry and media. Together, these activities positioned CAMI as the “go-to” resource for policymakers and the media. In fact, in mid-2011, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg turned to CAMI to develop recommendations and host listening forums for her and her staff on non-legislative reform options that could help alleviate some of the key regulatory obstacles facing medical innovation.