Cause Marketing Breast Cancer Wear

Anytime a movie plays a hospital scene for laughs, one of the most reliable sight gags is those damnable hospital gowns they give you to wear. They’re too small, too short, ridiculously-cut, and for years they had that slit up the back that seemed calculated to mock a patient’s dignity.

But what if you have breast cancer and require periodic trips to the treatment center for chemo or radiation, breast exams, ultrasounds, MRIs, and the like. You can wear your street clothes in, but they aren’t at all functional for MRIs or radiation. And the functional hospital gowns, called ‘Johnnie robes,’ provided by hospitals and treatment facilities are almost dehumanizing.

Enter Jillies.com, which offers a kind of tunic to wear both into and during breast cancer treatments called the 'Playful Garment.' All cotton, permanent press, washable, Jillies come with a drawstring carryall that you can use to carry personal belongings around during treatments.

When your purchase Jillies, a portion of the proceeds goes to the Jillies Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity whose mission is to, “support programs that specifically promote patient wellbeing.”

Jillies.com aims to be, but is not yet a place for 220,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year “to find answers to all of the (non-medical) questions you may not feel comfortable asking your doctor.”

Nice.

I want to encourage enterprises like Jillies, so on the chance that they read this I have two suggestions:

Sponsors always have their own reasons for being fuzzy about the donation amount, but it almost never serves a good purpose.

Likewise the mission of the Jillies Foundation could certainly be more specific. Supporters rally better to a cause that they understand and whose mission can be plainly stated rather than to one that is vague and indistinct.

Comments

Jillies said…

Thank you so much for your kind words and support of Jillies. We are trying to promote the movement and help is needed.

Please follow us on Twitter @jilliesgirl

Thank you again and keep up the great work :)

~ Founders of Jillies

10/12/2010 12:28 PM

Lauren said…

Also, I wanted to thank you for the suggestions. I completely agree 100% with you and we will be making those changes to the site - more specific and determined donation amount.

We would love to have more of your input so please feel free to post or email us at lauren@jillies.com with additional suggestions.

Thank you again I truly appreciate this :)

Lauren @ jillies

10/12/2010 12:32 PM

Batting Your Eyelashes at Prescription Drug Cause Marketing

I’m a little chary about making sweeping pronouncements, but I believe I've just seen the first cause marketing promotion in the U.S. involving a prescription drug. The drug is from Allergan and it’s called Latisse , “the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for inadequate or not enough eyelashes.” The medical name for this condition is hypotrichosis. Latisse is lifestyle drug the way Viagra or Propecia are. That is, no one’s going to die (except, perhaps, of embarrassment) if their erectile dysfunction or male pattern baldness or thin eyelashes go untreated. Which means the positioning for a product like Latisse is a little tricky. Allergan could have gone with the sexy route as with Viagra or Cialis and showed lovely women batting their new longer, thicker, darker eyelashes. But I’ll bet that approach didn’t test well with women. (I’m reminded of a joke about the Cialis ads from a comedian whose name I can’t recall. He said, “Hey if my erection lasts longer than ...

Cause Marketing: The All Packaging Edition

One way to activate a cause marketing campaign when the sponsor sells a physical product is on the packaging. I started my career in cause marketing on the charity side and I can tell you that back in the day we were thrilled to get a logo on pack of a consumer packaged good (CPG) or even just a mention. Since then, there’s been a welcome evolution of what sponsors are willing and able to do with their packaging in order to activate their cause sponsorships. That said, even today some sponsors don’t seem to have gotten the memo that when it comes to explaining your cause campaign, more really is more, even on something as small as a can or bottle. The savviest sponsors realize that their only guaranteed means of reaching actual customers with a cause marketing message is by putting it on packaging. And the reach and frequency of the media on packaging for certain high-volume CPG items is almost certainly greater than radio, print or outdoor advertising, and, in many cases, TV. More to ...

Chili’s and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

I was in Chili’s today and I ordered their “Triple-Dipper,” a three appetizer combo. While I waited for the food, I noticed another kind of combo. Chili’s is doing a full-featured cause-related marketing campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. There was a four-sided laminated table tent outlining the campaign on the table. When the waitress brought the drinks she slapped down Chili’s trademark square paper beverage coasters and on them was a call to action for an element of the campaign called ‘Create-A-Pepper,’ a kind of paper icon campaign. The wait staff was all attired in black shirts co-branded with Chili’s and St. Jude. The Create-A-Pepper paper icon could be found in a stack behind the hostess area. The Peppers are outlines of Chili’s iconic logo meant to be colored. I paid $1 for mine, but they would have taken $5, $10, or more. The crayons, too, were co-branded with the ‘Create-A-Pepper’ and St. Jude’s logos. There’s also creatapepper.com, a microsite, but again wi...

Cause Marketing

Search This Blog