Novartis and Sony Pictures Television International launch SER.

Novartis and Sony Pictures Television International’s (SPTI) Latin American advertising sales group launched “SER,” a breast cancer prevention and early detection campaign in support of Latin American women. The groundbreaking campaign combines Novartis’ resources and expertise in oncology and SPTI’s powerful media reach to assist Latin America women in their fight against breast cancer.

The campaign is called “SER,” which means “to be” in Spanish, to signify the strength required to “just be” by those going through breast cancer and the support they receive from loved ones, whether it’s to be strong, to be sad, to be hopeful, or to just be comfortable in their own skin as they go through treatment.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death for women worldwide and is the leading cause of death for women in South America. Recognizing that the challenge of breast cancer is beyond the capacity of any one partner or sector to address, “SER” is a groundbreaking campaign to build an online community where women can access a wide spectrum of expertise and resources they need to understand, detect, and treat breast cancer, and to promote it via the cable television channels for which SPTI handles the advertising sales in Latin America, including Sony Entertainment Television (SET), E!, A&E, AXN, Casa Club TV, MGM and The History Channel.

“Novartis is proud to join this partnership as the philosophy of the ‘SER’ campaign is consistent with our belief that the greatest improvements in health are achieved when companies operate in concert with other interested parties such as governments, charities, and the medical community,” said Dr. Luis Villalba, president of Novartis Latin America.

“By combining science, patient services, and the media in the ‘SER’ campaign Sony Pictures Television International and its other partners are creating a powerful new model for corporate social responsibility in the area of cancer care,” said Ms. Klaudia Bermudez-Key, senior vice president of advertising sales for SPTI’s Latin American region.

“The ‘SER’ campaign is an innovative approach to deliver the message of breast cancer early detection and treatment on a massive scale throughout Latin America where a culture of fear and silence surrounds the disease preventing many patients from achieving early detection and effective treatment,” said Dr. Elmer Huerta, president of the American Cancer Society.

Through the SER campaign, Novartis and SPTI have created a novel platform where Latin American women can easily access expertise, resources, and services from the very large community of survivors, physicians, non-governmental organizations, academia, as well as the public and private sectors. Novartis and SPTI are currently recruiting partners to provide a range of needed expertise to include scientific and medical knowledge, financial advice, patient education, treatment options, fashion tips, as well as health and diet plans.

he three principal components of the campaign are the Web portal http://www.iniciativaser.com, the media promotion of the SER initiative, utilizing SPTI media resources, and community-based programming. The Web portal is the core of the campaign which will be promoted by programming and public service announcements featuring celebrities such as Carolina Herrera and Fanny Lu in the portfolio of leading Latin American channels it represents for advertising sales.