“Jill Kent’s impressive journalistic network and high-calibre coverage strategy have delivered outstanding results for FitnessGenes, including a double page feature in The Times which on its own generated well over £250,000 in sales. We’re thrilled with the impact her efforts have had on our business, and I highly recommend her services to others seeking similar success. Thank you Jill!”
Dr Samantha Decombel, Co-Founder & CEO, FitnessGenes
With the UK dubbed the ‘Sick Man of Europe’, a British biotech firm is aiming to turn the tide with revolutionary at-home DNA tests that make personalised food, sleep and exercise recommendations based on an individual’s unique genetic make-up with the goal of helping people to live healthier, longer lives. FitnessGenes can even help prevent possible illness, say its co-founders, a geneticist couple from the West Midlands, who claim that by pinpointing where your greatest genetic risks lie, you can take immediate action to reduce the likelihood of succumbing to those diseases you’re most at risk from. Around 50,000 people have so far signed up to FitnessGenes, based in Oxford and London, which is on its way to becoming the world’s leading health and fitness genetic testing and interpretation company.
With the consumer DNA test kits market proving uber-competitive, PR Superstar was brought in to raise the profile of FitnessGenes among target audiences in the UK and support the company’s ambitious sales growth.
PR Superstar told the story of how Dr Samantha Decombel, co-founder and CEO of FitnessGenes, who has a PhD in genetics and a passion for preventative healthcare and fitness, was driven to launch the company by the early death of her father from a lifestyle-related disease, esophageal cancer, at the age of 57. In our press release, I highlighted how she had bravely quit her secure job, cashed in her savings for a house deposit, and persuaded her childhood sweetheart and fellow geneticist to join her and start FitnessGenes, where he is joint co-founder.
I explained how FitnessGenes has helped people to recover from injury and surgery, manage chronic diseases, reduce risks to predisposed conditions such as diabetes, and improve their overall health, lose weight and feel fitter, and encouraged journalists working across health, fitness, lifestyle, wellbeing and sports to take the DNA test themselves, followed by a 121 Zoom with Dr Decombel to analyse their results and provide useful feedback and advice, so they could personalise their stories.
Despite FitnessGenes having launched a decade ago back in 2013 and with the consumer DNA testing market on its way to maturing, I pushed hard and our PR resulted in many full-page and double page features, with one national magazine running a six-page feature on at-home health and fitness tests, starring my client, after I had pitched the idea.
Journalists were also offered FitnessGenes customer case studies across a range of conditions and issues, expert insight into the world of genetics by the company’s co-founder Dr Stuart Grice, and thought leadership articles by him.
