The World Diabetes Day was celebrated for the first time in Greece on 14 November 2001. Undertook by the C&C International Group of Companies on behalf of the Greek National Centre of Diabetes, the Day's events included a series of activities aiming at providing information to the public, raising awareness and overturning established notions regarding diabetes.

 The goal of the events was twofold:

• To provide information to and raise awareness on diabetes among Greeks
• To overturn established notions that the disease prohibits patients from leading a normal life.

To this end C&C International, undertook the following activities:

• The concept development of key messages
• The design of key events aiming at diffusing key messages to a wide audience
• The organisation of a press conference
• The design and the organisation of a one-day conference for the public at a major hotel in Athens
• The design, organisation and execution of a special web site and a web event
• The design, creation and distribution of promotional and informative material
• The creation and the production of print, radio and TV adverts
• The setting up of informative kiosks

Key messages for the campaign and events were based on the international World Diabetes Day messages, set by the International Diabetes Organization, but since this was the first event of its kind in Greece, certain modifications, innovations and adaptations of the worldwide campaign features were deemed essential.

The central message of World Day of Diabetes, which was used in all kinds of applications (printed, electronic, radio, television), was:

"I am diabetic, I live a normal life"
With the footnote

"I monitor my blood sugar after eating"

The message was chosen as an effort to remove the stigma from the disease and to motivate patients to take simple actions to improve their quality of life.

Press Conference

Aiming at diffusing information about the disease, its prevention and ways of dealing with it, the press conference featured professor Raptis, the president of the Greek society for Pathology and the Greek centre for diabetes, presenting an interesting speech on diabetes and the latest developments regarding its treatment. The press conference was well received by the national print and electronic media, resulting in a wide coverage of the event in the news.

Open conference

A one day conference for the public was organised in a central hotel in Athens, attended by more than 1100 people. The conference featured university professors and hospital directors that talked to the public and explained the disease, its causes and consequences, as well as its treatment and handling. After the initial presentations an extensive q&a session followed with questions coming both from within the room as well as from the internet, through the web page that was created for the Diabetes Day
The conference ended with a concert featuring well known greek artists.
The day's events were streamed live through the www.diabetes-day.gr site that was set up for the event.

Web site and web event

Within the framework of the celebration of the World Diabetes Day, CnC International Group of Companies designed and set up a web site at www.diabetes-day.gr containing useful information about diabetes.

The web site included a chat room that allowed visitors to pose questions to doctors and specialists and get responsible answers

The presentations and Q&A session of the day conference were also streamed live through the website

The web site was featured in and publicised by popular greek news portals, resulting in achieving top rank among the most visited sites on the date of the World Diabetes Day, November the 14th.

Information kiosks and printed material

For the duration of the events a series of leaflets and flyers were produced and distributed to the public. They included:

• Flyers with the key message
• Flyers publicising the web site and web event
• Informative leaflet of the national diabetes centre
• Informative leaflet on the World Diabetes Day
• Informative leaflet with practical advice on healthy living

In addition, posters with healthy living and World Diabetes Day information were distributed, as well as t-shirts featuring the central messages of the Day

The printed material was distributed through information kiosks set up in central Athens, as well as through the diabetes centres all over the country