CLIENT: The American Heart Association
PR
AGENCY: Cone Inc.
CATEGORY: Cause-Related Marketing
BUDGET: N/A
TIMEFRAME: February 2004-February 2005
Heart disease is the Number One killer of women in the United
States today. It was this stark fact, which most women do not
realize, that prompted the American Heart Association to
seriously begin addressing the issue back in 1997. "There was a
general lack of awareness on the part of everyone -- men, women and
physicians," says Robyn Landry, executive vice
president/communications of the American Heart Association National
Center. "So we launched the 'Take Wellness to Heart' campaign. In
some ways, we were a little ahead of our time, because the
marketplace wasn't ready."
Fast forward to the beginning of 2003. While the non-profit AHA
had continued with its programs aimed at women, including one
called, "The Passion Project" launched in 2001, the numbers hadn't
moved much. And it realized it had to become more proactive,
causing an internal audit of its organizational methods and the
whole issue of cause marketing. "We needed a more comprehensive
approach that cut across PR, media communications, awareness
campaigns and advocacy efforts," Landry says. "We needed to turn
this into a cause that people could get behind."
To do this AHA hired the Omnicom-owned Cone Inc.
as a partner. "We wanted women to think about heart disease as
their Number One killer, and we had to address this on many
different fronts," Landry says.
Cone spent the first six months just doing research, and it
discovered AHA also had an image problem. "AHA is known for its
scientific research and its mandate of helping find solutions to
different types of heart disease," says Carol Cone, CEO of Cone.
"The organization had a white-coat image and ethos, and wanted to
enhance its brand with emotion and passion beyond the scientific
and clinical."
The initial brief was to look at how AHA positioned itself as a
cause and to help it enlist partners across different categories.
Cone and AHA created short-, medium- and long-term goals, with the
overall aim of reducing coronary heart disease, stroke and risk by
25% by 2010. "The aim was to be relevant, engaging and to
ultimately change behavior via different programs," Cone says. "The
question was, could we make heart disease a much more relevant and
compelling cause?"
The first priority was heart disease and women. Unlike breast
cancer, heart disease is largely preventable and impacted by
lifestyle. "If you can arm women with information, education and
inspire them to act, you can have tremendous impact," Cone
says.
It was important, says Landry, to unite with such heart-disease
organizations as the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute. "They already had a red-dress campaign, and we
partnered with them because we felt there needed to be a link
between the campaigns," she says. "By focusing on the same symbol
we'd all be working toward the same cause."
Because of the huge amount of women affected, Cone suggested
that it should not just be a campaign, but a movement -- something
the PR agency knew a lot about. It had already created something
similar for shoe company Rockport in the 1980s, helping to
launch the activity of "walking" as a movement. Cone had also
partnered with Avon to create the Avon Breast Cancer
Crusade. "We had a 20-year history of linking companies and causes,
which probably no other PR company had," Cone says.
But the movement needed a rallying cry and a name. Cone
brainstormed with sister Omnicom agency Interbrand to create
"Go Red For Women." The next part involved signing corporate
sponsors and supporters. Two early conscripts were Pfizer,
already a longtime AHA supporter, and Macy's -- with its
more than 200,000 employees and millions of women customers. "What
was key about Macy's or Pfizer was that, through them, we'd be out
there in front of consumers," Landry says. "So when they go to the
store, they're seeing 'Go Red For Women.' We needed to weave it
into the culture of what families do every day."
Supporters at other levels included Bayer and
PacifiCare Foundation, a West Coast HMO. "We wanted to
target all sorts of appropriate companies," Cone says, adding that
there also were certain categories of companies that were
inappropriate, such as tobacco or some food companies. Other
cause-marketing partners made jewelry products, lingerie, paper
products, clothing and perfume.
The "Go Red For Women" movement officially launched in February
2004, already designated American Heart Disease Month, and in
conjunction with the release of AHA's updated primary prevention
guidelines. It also launched a "Go Red For Women" Web site, and
"Choose To Move" and "Simple Solutions" programs to help women
change their behavior. The AHA's 2,200 chapters and more than 22
million volunteers orchestrated a nationwide campaign based around
the color red.
Company employees could "buy the right" for $5 to wear red at
work. Local chapters organized "Go Red For Women" lunches, local TV
anchors wore red, and such monuments as the Empire State Building
and Niagara Falls went red in recognition.
"When you create a movement you need to create multiple ways for
money to go to the cause and simple but compelling ways for people
to get involved," Cone says. Pfizer, for example, got involved by
creating kits for physicians.
Media partnerships included one with Women's Day, which
created a special advertorial, while Clear Channel
Communications provided media for billboards and PSAs. Another
important part was AHA's advocacy movement, lobbying Washington,
D.C., targeting legislators and getting women to become
advocates.
Within the first six months, Cone says, $25 million was raised,
the campaign achieved 900 million media impressions and around 800
companies got involved. The initial "Go Red For Women" program
evolved into events around Mother's Day, and September's National
Hispanic Month. Measurement goals were, again, short-, mid- and
long-term, and not everything was instantly measurable. For
example, "because we have a volunteer base and access to so many
physicians, you hear a lot of anecdotal information about women
wanting to change their diets," Landry says.
AHA and Cone see "Go Red For Women" as a long-term movement, and
they relaunched it last month with even more success. Singer Toni
Braxton came onboard as a spokeswoman, and AHA launched an online
store. Five-foot-tall red-dress statues, designed by a variety of
celebrities, were created and displayed on TV, including "The Jane
Pauley Show." Even celebrity chefs signed on. And this year, more
than 7,000 companies got involved. Total registrations on the Web
site included 150,000 enrolled in January and February alone.
Longer-term goals include getting a half-million women enrolled
in "Go Red For Women" by 2007. AHA also is trying to increase the
number of women who know their cholesterol levels and blood
pressure. As for the ultimate goal of reducing the levels of
coronary heart disease, stroke and risk, it'll be some time before
AHA knows. "Data from organizations that track things such things
as mortality and stroke rates are usually on a two-year time lag,"
Landry says. "So data from 2002 is available in 2004 and so
on."
But no one doubts the success of "Go Red For Women" so far,
which Cone says was due to total 360-degree integration. "One year
on, it's exciting to see the momentum," she says. "There are many
causes that are equally engaging and compelling, so the challenge
is to keep it fresh and engaging." PRN
Contacts: Robyn Landry, 214.706.1469, [email protected]; Carol
Cone, 617.939.8353, [email protected]
Take Heart
AHA attributes much of its success to its 22 million volunteer
foot soldiers who helped orchestrate the national grassroots
movement and creative local initiatives. AHA also had authenticity;
deep credentials; and a recognized, respected brand. "The challenge
was providing AHA with a rallying cry and the simplicity of
something that was very compelling and engaging," Cone says.