SABRE Awards

It’s official! Thermal is PRovoke’s 2020 North America SABRE Awards winner for Crisis Management for our work in safeguarding the reputation of CRISPR gene editing technology.

Background

Since 2016, we have led the PR industry in our approach and management of all CRISPR gene editing related communications. 

Through a curated mix of creative high-reach strategies, we actively assist CRISPR co-inventor Dr. Jennifer Doudna’s global efforts to advance the public’s understanding of the relevance and potential of this profound technology – its applications, risks, opportunities, and it’s responsible application.

The use of CRISPR as a genome engineering tool was first proposed in 2012. The public really took notice of it in November 2018 when a rogue scientist rocked the world by announcing the birth of CRISPR gene edited twin baby girls. Genetically modified humans were now a reality and the public recoiled in horror sparking an international debate about whether CRISPR technology is too dangerous for us to control and apply responsibly intensified.

The shock and fallout from this #CRISPRbabies situation required minute-by-minute coordination with more than 20 leading researchers and organizations including the U.S. Senate, National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, The Vatican, etc. Led by Dr. Doudna, we supported multiple aspects of the effort to clarify the situation and deploy a long-term, 24/7 multi-channel communications response.

The goal was to ensure the public understood that the misguided act of one reckless scientist should not derail a promising technology that can, if used responsibly, improve our way of life. 

Impact

Our effort resulted in more than 400 pieces of featured editorial coverage in tier 1 media with an average domain authority of 85%, reaching an online readership of 15 billion and resulting in 33 million unique coverage views plus 8 million social media views. 

We pitched, coordinated, storyboarded, and wrote opinion editorials and narratives for the most impactful coverage of CRISPR technology, including CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, NBC News, AP, Reuters, Netflix, etc. and over 30 cover stories for WIRED, TIME, MIT Technology Review, National Geographic, TechCrunch, The New York Times Magazine, etc. and “Human Nature” — the award-winning, definitive documentary film on CRISPR.

“There’s a possible future where genetic disease is a thing of the past, where we routinely sequence DNA and treat harmful mutations as an outpatient procedure. But we must ensure that in this future, everyone will have access to these new technologies and there’s a consensus on rules to regulate whether and how this technology is applied to the human germline”

Dr. Jennifer Doudna – Co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas genome editing in TIME

Award winning

These integrated efforts continue to this day and extend to patent litigation PR support, materials development, government relations, disease awareness campaigns, diagnostic and drug development milestone support, and more. 

We are honored to work with Dr. Doudna and her team and proud that our work together in diffusing the global panic and bolstering the public’s understanding of CRISPR’s potential has been recognized by PRovoke as the 2020 North America SABRE Awards winner for Crisis Management and a 2020 finalist for The SABRE Award for Superior Achievement in Reputation Management.

#SABREAwards Winner: CRISIS MANAGEMENT – CRISPR Gene Editing — @UCBerkeley with Thermal pic.twitter.com/xTPYc1KEmi

— PRovoke Media (@Provoke_News) May 28, 2020