AI vs MND: Launching the Longitude Prize on ALS 

The Longitude Prize on ALS is a £7.5 million global challenge prize to incentivise researchers and innovators to use AI to identify the highest potential drug targets for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND). 

Run by Challenge Works, part of Nesta, it is the third in the series of modern-day Longitude Prizes – international challenge prizes that incentivise and reward innovators to develop solutions to global challenges. The two previous Longitude Prizes – also supported by Seven – have focused on solutions to combat antimicrobial resistance; and assistive technologies to support those living with dementia.

Our role at launch was to amplify the prize by creating a high-profile media moment and encourage entrants during the innovator recruitment window.

Our Approach

We worked with BBC Breakfast to develop an exclusive film to mark the launch. BBC Breakfast has been a driving force in raising the profile of MND fundraising efforts over the years. We worked with the team behind ‘Rob Burrow: Living with MND’ (named Sports Documentary of the Year at the Broadcast Sport Awards) and ‘Kevin Sinfield: Going the Extra Mile’ (winner of the Best Sports Programme at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards). 

For BBC Breakfast, the Longitude Prize was a perfect vehicle for telling the story of the science of MND, through a human lens. Filming with Tris, his daughter and partner; as well as Lucy Hawking, daughter of the late Stephen Hawking, and Ammar Al-Chalabi, Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics at King’s College London, allowed us to communicate a complicated subject, and shine a spotlight on the prize. 

To accompany this film, Seven secured an extended BBC Breakfast sofa interview with Tris Dyson, Managing Director of Challenge Works, and Mike Rogers, Director of Research and Innovation at MND Association. Tris was also interviewed on Today on BBC Radio 4 on the morning of launch, which meant that the moment was covered by the biggest agenda setting programmes on radio and TV. 

The BBC exclusive was preceded by a trail story in the Sunday Times – another key media moment, with the piece appearing in print on page three of the newspaper, and online. Centring Tris Dyson’s personal experience of ALS diagnosis, the piece outlined the disease’s treatment landscape and why there is such need for a prize to accelerate research into effective treatments – to shift ALS from incurable to a solvable puzzle. 

To prolong the media impact of the the announcement, we secured an op-ed and accompanying news article in the Sunday Express, as well as ongoing trade media coverage and longer-form media opportunities in Longevity Technology, Innovation News Network and the AI Journal. An impressive launch underpinned by a steady drumbeat of activity was key to the campaign’s success. 

The launch also included tailored international releases to drive global interest in the prize. We worked alongside a US communications partner to amplify the news within this key market. 

Our media approach was supplemented by a highly-targeted, international digital campaign. The campaign included paid and organic social media content, display ads placed in key sector publications, and targeted emails distributed to a network of subscribers.  

Seven also played a critical role in stakeholder mapping, engagement and management, including engagement with funder comms teams and non-funding supporters. 

The Results

With a spread of UK coverage in the Sunday Times, BBC News, BBC Radio, the Express and trade media, the launch was seen and heard far and wide in multiple in-depth and authoritative reports. The international PR coverage has helped to drive interest from potential entrants around the world, from the US to Australia; Egypt to Japan. 

The launch moment secured nearly 1,700 pieces of coverage around the world, with a total online reach of 1.79B translating to estimated online coverage views of 14.9M. The broadcast audience at launch was 11.2M, with a print circulation of 878K. In addition, there have been an estimated 55K views of PR coverage on social media. 

A digital strategy built around targeted audience segments drove over a 900% increase in active website users from 52 countries in its first week, with nearly 130K impressions on LinkedIn alone. In the first month following the launch, the campaign saw over 2.2M impressions across all social media platforms, from 68 countries. Some segments are performing seven times the industry benchmark – and we expect these numbers will continue to climb as the campaign continues.