Creator / originator

Maren Gaughan, executive director of development and Laura Hughes, event coordinator.

Summary / objectives

What's in Your Genes is an event designed to raise funds and awareness for Coriell's personalised medicine programmes.

Until there is evidence to show that personalised medicine will have demonstrable results in healthcare delivery, healthcare providers will not reimburse for genomic testing. Coriell has become a leader in the area of personalised medicine, but we need help to accelerate Coriell's advances in the translation of personalised medicine discoveries into people's everyday healthcare needs.

Background

Coriell needed a way to draw new people in to learn about personalised/ genome informed medicine and become ambassadors of our project.

Special characteristics

The play on words has made this complicated subject a bit lighter. The Coriell Institute is offering participants an opportunity to get involved in the study if they wish and giving them the chance to speak to scientists about personalised medicine.

One tactic to get the attention of potential sponsors was to send small packages with a sponsor proposal tucked into the back pocket of a pair of jeans (all jeans were donated for this purpose). A letter is frequently overlooked, but a package is not. This made it much easier to connect with sponsors when following up. After all, how often do you get a pair of jeans in the mail (that you didn't order)?

Coriell's full range of sponsorship opportunities (picture 3, opposite) is also worth studying for its structure and pricing levels.

Influence / impact

Very positive uptake from the sponsors and the event is doing well. One sponsor passed on the Coriell package to his marketing staff citing it as an example of effective promotion.

Merits

This is a creative idea that is fun and light but begins to explain genetics and genetic research.

Other relevant information

See the Coriell event site: http://www.coriell.org/whatsinyourgenes