Millions of people in the UK have COPD without knowing it, and a new case is diagnosed every five minutes, 115,000 a year. For World COPD Day, we helped the British Lung Foundation urge anyone getting out of breath on everyday tasks to take their lung health seriously and use its online breath test. We put the charity's honorary medical adviser and its chief operating officer on air across a day of radio and TV interviews, explaining that COPD is the second biggest cause of death from lung disease. The broadcast PR campaign secured 15 items of radio and TV coverage reaching 3.1 million people, including London Live, Sky News Radio and BBC Radio Sheffield.
British Lung Foundation wanted to encourage people to take lung health seriously and use its online breath test.
The message
Millions of people have COPD without a diagnosis, and it is the second biggest cause of death from lung disease. Anyone getting out of breath doing everyday tasks should take their lung health seriously.
The angle
Millions of people in the UK have COPD without knowing it, with 115,000 diagnosed each year, a new case every five minutes. The charity used World COPD Day to urge anyone getting out of breath on everyday tasks to take lung health seriously.
On air
The charity's honorary medical adviser and its chief operating officer
The result
15 items of coverage reaching 3.1 million, including Sky News Radio, London Live, BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Essex.
About World COPD Day
World COPD Day is held on the third Wednesday in November. It was established in 2002 by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and improve care for people living with it. For brands and charities with something useful to say, it gives radio and TV producers a timely reason to book an interview.
Planning World COPD Day for 2027?
World COPD Day next falls on Wednesday 17 November 2027. Talk to the team about a broadcast PR campaign that gets your spokesperson on radio and TV.
