First PGD twins born in NZ

The Brief
As the ethical debate about pre-genetic diagnosis (PGD) of human embryos raged in the media, IVF Christchurch was quietly celebrating the safe delivery of New Zealand’s first babies to be born through PGD for the haemophilia gene.

To wean out the gene, several cycles of IVF were required. Our client, the Christchurch specialist who carried out the cycles, collaborated with the Molecular Laboratory at Christchurch Public Hospital in the PGD process. Both parties were integral to the successful outcome, but the media could easily have simply focused on the Laboratory’s science, without acknowledging the crucial role IVF Christchurch played.

Network PR’s challenge was to develop a media strategy that struck a chord with the Laboratory, the client and also the babies’ parents, who generously agreed to take part in publicity, and to ensure IVF Christchurch’s expertise was profiled. Additional complications arose from a third party leaking the story of the twins’ birth to a newspaper as part of the PGD debate, breaking any exclusivity.

strong>Our Solution
Network PR pursued with targeting television news, to have pictures capture the human emotion at the centre of this story. IVF Christchurch was positioned as the relationship pivot between the patient and the lab process. Timing was key. The babies were 8 weeks old and a portion of the story was already out there. Protecting the parents from other media, and ensuring the specialists were interviewed was increasingly challenging.

Actions included:
- Developing a collaborative media briefing sheet between the laboratory, IVF Christchurch and the parents to enable TV3’s Medical Correspondent to come up to speed as swiftly as possible
- Coordinating the hectic schedules of haematologist (and his publicity team), an obstetrician, and parents with newborn twins to ensure messaging was consistent across all parties
- Convincing TV3 to tackle the geographical challenge of a reporter in Auckland, Christchurch-based camera crew for the specialists’ interviews and Dunedin camera crew for the parents and their babies
- Sourcing research on haemophilia and PGD to assist the reporter with the international context of this breakthrough

Results
Interviews were conducted with IVF Christchurch, positioning the obstetrician equally alongside the lab and the newborns. An excellent story ran on TV3 News and online, eliciting a strong public response and inquiries into the Christchurch clinic on PGD testing for further cases.