The Blue Bicycle cancer awareness campaign was created to enhance the corporate reputation of Roche Turkey. We chose to work on a CSR campaign since the regulations in Turkey are too strict to involve the “Roche” brand name in any other type of mass communication. Within the scope of “Blue Bicycle” organized by Roche in order to attract attention to the importance of early cancer diagnosis, 12 National Team Cyclists pedalled around the Black Sea region of Turkey. In the courses prepared in city centres, citizens were able to support the cyclists by joining them either with their own bicycles or with bicycles provided by Roche. Donating on behalf of each participator, Roche has also constituted a fund to establish mammography centres in participating cities. In “Blue Bicycle Lorry”, which has accompanied the cyclists, awareness meetings have been held with the participation of doctors who specialized in their specific fields. Since the campaign started in 2006, each year new elements have been added to the project. In 2008 an exhibition was held in the main subway station in Istanbul to exhibit the photographs shot during the campaign. All employees, including the general manager of Roche Turkey, have provided an active support to the Blue Bicycle campaign.

The Blue Bicycle campaign started with a ceremony organized in Rize where Roche executives explained the objectives of the campaign. To create awareness about the importance of early diagnosis, 11 cities have been visited, 10 ceremonies and 6 seminars have been organized, and 20,250 informative brochures were distributed in 10 days. Several celebrities, press members and several NGO’s (Cycling Associations) have supported the campaign by participating at the ceremonies. Informative folders were sent to the national press before the campaign and invitations were sent to every city’s local press. Press bulletins were sent to the press to announce the start, finish and the results of the campaign. Due to the expansive press coverage of the project, many boroughs kindly requested that the team stop over at their centers. Because of the tight schedule some requests were accepted and were added to the route against cancer.

Achievements for 2008:• Communication to 52 government officials• Approximately 200 national and 250 local media members were informed • 95 news articles in printed media• 236 news articles in web portals• 29 news clips on TV, with a total of 62 minutes broadcast time• 5,000 people participated in the project AC Nielsen corporate perception survey (2008) showed that;• Roche’s stakeholders seem to be satisfied with the sensitivity of Roche for its support to medical public campaigns.• “Blue Bicycle” is the highest recalled social responsibility campaign (n=2062).Stratejik Focus anthropology research (2008) showed that;• Blue Bicycle is recalled at higher rates by physicians compared to other campaigns.

Roche achieved wide media coverage with positive news about the Blue Bicycle campaign. Roche also had the opportunity to develop close relations with the government officials, the Ministry of Health and the local media. Today The Blue Bicycle is being taught as a successful CSR campaign case in the prestigious Sabancı University.