The Official Sponsor Of Birthdays
Background
•While the American Cancer Society enjoys tremendous name
recognition and trust, numbers of people reporting they know a lot
about us are declining.
•The more donors and constituents know us, the more willing they
are to recommend us, donate, or engage with us in some way.
•To protect and grow our brand and to better deliver on mission, we
must increase knowledge and become more personally relevant.
.
New brand platform messaging
• On April 21st we launched an unprecedented campaign to
strategically reposition and revitalize our legendary brand.
• Objective is to deepen understanding of what the American Cancer
Society does and increase personal relevance among our target
audience, women aged 35 to 64 (60.7 million people).
The Official Sponsor of Birthdays campaign asks its audience to imagine a
world with more birthdays and highlights all the ways the Society save lives by
helping people stay well and get well, by finding cures and by fighting back.
Birthday Success
• Overall campaign delivers a positive and consistent emotional response.
• Message viewers get from ads: the American Cancer Society is ”helping people live a longer
life.”
• Earned media efforts have reached more than 6 million people.
• 42,500 people have declared us
the official sponsor of their
birthday.
• People are engaging with us in
new and different ways.
Nationwide Paid Advertising
• TV ads appeared in primetime on Dancing With The Stars , Grey's
Anatomy, and CSI.
• Morning and daytime shows include the Today Show and Good
Morning America, The Price is Right, and The View.
• Print ads to appear in Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking Light, and
Essence.
• Online ads on WebMD and Evite to name a few.
Constituent Feedback
Caller was diagnosed with brain cancer and was not given a good prognosis. She is now
a 16 year cancer survivor. Today she saw a commercial for the birthday campaign and
thought it was "fabulous" and said "It's a wonderful thing you are doing and I wanted to
say thank you. The commercial was not in your face and did not make cancer look
tragic. I appreciate that because people do survive." She thought the commercial was
very sweet and she was really touched by it.
“I love the birthday campaign...for my 21st birthday, my mom asked me what I wanted
and I asked her to quit smoking (she was surprised, she thought I would ask for a big
party or some other expensive gift) but I asked for the most valuable thing I needed
and wanted - more birthdays with her. That was 17 years ago and she is still smoke
free.”
We’ve Reinvented the Birthday Cake!
Cake Competition at a Glance
• Worked with the Culinary Institute of
America to reinvent the birthday cake
•CIA students tasked with creating a
“better-for-you” birthday cake
•Cake needed to be easy to replicate
• Food Network star Duff Goldman judged
five finalists
The Winning Entry
•Official birthday cake: a healthier red velvet
•Cake uses less fat and sugar than typical
•Inventive additions like roasted beets, dried
cherries, applesauce, and whole grain flour boost
nutrients
Winner Alexandra Mudry
Morebirthdays.com (as of 8/17/09)
• 43,000+ people have declared ACS the official sponsor
of their birthday
• Largest demo = Aged 30-39
• 299,000+ unique visitors to the site
• New email addresses collected
• Number of times the site was accessed through mobile
apps = 164,000+
• 18,500 + birthday kits downloaded
• 682+ Birthday Pages
Birthday Pages
Engagement Strategy
Buzz in the blogosphere
Buzz in the blogosphere
Buzz in the blogosphere
Buzz in the blogosphere - Twitter
Going Forward
• This is a long-term, multi-year effort
• Campaign metrics are being tracked via an ongoing nationwide research
study that looks at awareness, attitudes, and knowledge about the
American Cancer Society.
• “Birthdays” is now the face of the organization so integration is key to
ensuring increased knowledge and personal relevance.
Relay For Life
Each lap gets us closer to a world with more birthdays.
Relay & Birthdays
• There is a natural tie-in between birthdays messaging and Relay For Life
• By joining Relay, you’re helping create a world with more birthdays by
helping people stay well, get well, find cures and fight back.
• Provides an opportunity to revitalize events through birthday-themed
promotions and messaging
• Sing Happy Birthday to your survivors at the event
• Have a “declaration station” to ask people to join the movement for more
birthdays.
• Turn your team captains meeting into a birthday party.
Relay & Birthdays
•Gives you an opportunity to engage with team members and your
community in a new way.
• Leverage the momentum from the campaign as a new way to attract
participants.
• Gives you a more personal and more effective way to talk about ACS
and Relay and how we’re saving lives.
• Research shows that the message of more birthdays resonates with people
a deeply powerful and personal way.
Reminder…
If you haven’t already done so, please visit morebirthdays.com to join the
movement for more birthdays by declaring ACS the official sponsor of
your birthday.
Together, we are saving lives!