Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour 2008

Media Relations & Event Publicity

The only national non-profit of its kind, the Hepatitis B Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure and improving the quality of life for those affected by Hepatitis B. The Foundation is based in Doylestown, Pa., with outreach efforts extending around the globe. The Foundation’s comprehensive commitment includes funding-focused research; promoting disease awareness; supporting immunization and treatment initiatives; and serving as the primary source of information for patients and their families, the medical and scientific communities, and the general public.

In early 2008, the Foundation reached out to Furia Rubel to create awareness of and generate publicity surrounding its 2008 Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour. The tour was initiated by 17-year-old John Ellis, who lives with chronic hepatitis B. Ellis, with best friend Jamaal Warren, cycled 1,287 miles from his hometown of Pensacola, Fla., to Philadelphia to raise awareness about hepatitis B. The physician who discovered hepatitis B and won the 1976 Nobel Prize for doing so, Dr. Baruch Blumberg, joined the young men for the last leg of their journey. More than a dozen cyclists were greeted by a Mummers band as they rolled across the finish line to a press conference on June 23, 2008.

Beginning with the tour kickoff event on June 2 in Pensacola, Fla., the Furia Rubel team tapped its wide-reaching media relationships to publicize the journey. Furia Rubel provided media training to Foundation representatives, created a blog chronicling the tour, generated a media kit, and conducted media outreach. Furia Rubel’s pitching efforts secured governmental support in Florida, Philadelphia and Bucks County, and garnered extensive media coverage for the tour.

NBC 15 news reporter Tessa Savoy served as the kickoff event emcee, with coverage by the Pensacola News Journal, WEAR-TV ABC 3, and WUWF 88.1FM. During the three-week tour, Furia Rubel pitched more than 100 local and regional media outlets from Pensacola to Philadelphia. ABC 6 health reporter Ali Gorman emceed the finale event. Fox 29 featured the finale with a five-minute segment by Gerald Kolpan. The Intelligencer and the Bucks County Herald were also on hand when Bucks County Commissioner Marseglia presented Ellis with a proclamation naming June 23 “John Ellis Day” in Bucks County.

Ultimately, more than a dozen radio and television stations spanning the East Coast provided tour coverage, including more than 38 broadcast interviews. Print media from the Tallahassee Democrat to the Charleston Post and Courier to the Philadelphia Business Journal and Bicycling Magazine featured the tour. Combined with widespread online coverage, total media attention was valued at more than $50,000, with more than 9 million impressions. The Foundation’s Believe in the Cure message reached radio listeners, television viewers, and news readers up and down the East Coast and beyond, delivering valuable information about hepatitis B, helping to raise needed funds and celebrating the power of one to make a difference.