Born at only 23 weeks and 3 days gestation — and weighing a mere 245 grams — micro preemie Saybie* is the world's smallest surviving baby. She was delivered at San Diego's Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns, California's largest maternity hospital. The hospital is recognized as among the best in the world in caring for micro preemies, giving Saybie an exceptional chance to thrive.
Early in her stay, the Multimedia team at Sharp began to document her journey through the NICU. Given the immense patient privacy constraints regarding telling stories in the field of medicine, the teams at Sharp Healthcare's Marketing & PR departments were able to craft a compelling story and integrated campaign while maintaining anonymity for Baby Saybie's family (as requested by the family).
The health and well-being of Saybie came first, so teams had to remain nimble regarding access, release dates and the need to maintain privacy. Nevertheless, the Multimedia team was able to create a compelling video that drove millions of views on social media as part of an integrated campaign (sharp.com/worldssmallestbaby).
*Baby Saybie is a pseudonym to protect her anonymity
With parents’ permission, the Multimedia Team from Sharp’s Marketing Dept. began filming Saybie in early April. Six filming sessions occurred, capturing Saybie’s continued growth until she was discharged in mid-May. Sharp’s PR team teased local media a day ahead of the press conference. More than a dozen reporters showed up for the 5/29 morning press conference: 10News, NBC, CBS8, Fox5, KPBS, KUSI, Union-Tribune (English and Spanish), El Latino, NBC Telemundo, Canal 12 Televisa and Univision San Diego. Marketing enacted its plan to broadcast live via Facebook, activate the sharp.com page, post to social media and distribute the press release.
Key elements of the plan included:
Following press conference, press release would be distributed locally and internationally via Meltwater and PR Newswire
Social media postings (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), using video/photo customized for each platform
Created sharp.com/worldssmallestbaby to host assets and tell her story
The story was syndicated globally using photos and video from the team. According to Meltwater the story held a potential reach of over 2.9 billion potential viewers generating over $26 million dollars in advertising value equivalency. It generated more than 4,500 stories, garnering global coverage from every major news outlet including The New York Times, CNN, People Magazine, The Guardian and countless others.
*Data as of June 14th 2019 (15 days post release)
•Social Media
•Sharp.com
