Race4Life Trust, the only not-for-profit dedicated to fulfilling the wishes of terminally ill adults in New Zealand, wanted to put the call out for urgent public donations to continue operating beyond October 2021, in the face of COVID strains on the organisation’s funding.

Anthem approached a wide range of journalists from national/regional publications with personalised pitch angles. We also issued a media release to all relevant news desks in New Zealand and connected with regional radio stations based in various regions, in particular, Bay of Plenty and Queenstown.

Race4Life received a range of positive media coverage in the New Zealand media across television, radio and print (newspaper) with 14 items of coverage secured. These included one live breakfast TV broadcast and one pre-recorded evening news segment. This coverage included interviews with Race4Life wish recipients and their families, as well as Viv and Race4Life supporters.

Tier one media highlights included coverage secured on The Project, where they interviewed Rakau, a Race4Life wish recipient, his family, and Race4Life ambassador Josh Kronfeld. One live broadcast on The AM Show was also secured with Mikeila Coopman interviewed about her father’s Race4Life wish. Online articles with Stuff and Newsroom piece were also secured.

As a result of this widespread national media coverage, Anthem helped to rally public support for Race4Life through donations. This is demonstrated in the charity’s Givealittle page, which raised a total of $25,525 in donations after the media relations campaign started on 5 October. The media coverage also provided Race4Life with opportunities to reach out to key stakeholders and produce materials for their own communications channels, including social media posts and targeted newsletters.