Susan G. Komen for the Cure®'s New ‘Imagine' Campaign Ties Public to Its Running Ribbon Logo, Global Mission to End Breast Cancer Forever
DALLAS - August 7, 2008 - Consumers across the country are being challenged to "Imagine life without breast cancer" in a new promotional campaign launching this week from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the global leader in the breast cancer movement.
Print materials, shopping cart ads in top markets, "door clings" and special back-lit displays at shopping malls in major markets across the United States will reach millions of people with Komen for the Cure's vision of a world without breast cancer. The campaign is prominently featured in top women's magazines, including several that target African American women, a population sector that bears a disproportionate breast cancer burden.
The "Imagine" theme also is being featured on merchandise items, direct mail pieces, donor materials and online communications from Komen for the Cure and its corporate partners.
As part of the campaign, Komen is introducing a web site, www.ThisIsTheRibbon.org, going live August 12, where users can upload photos and share breast cancer stories.
Featuring Komen's distinctive running ribbon, which was created as part of the organization's bold brand re-launch on its 25th anniversary, the "Imagine" campaign's overall objective is to securely place Susan G. Komen for the Cure in the world's consciousness as the frontrunner in the fight against breast cancer
Dallas-based advertising agency Launch created the campaign, which will appear in select publications starting Monday, August 11.
Standing above a sea of pink ribbons
"The ‘Imagine' campaign is designed to grab people's attention in some pretty unusual places, touch them emotionally and encourage them to support our goal of ending breast cancer forever," said Tim Doke, chief marketing officer at Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
The "Imagine" campaign's poignant survivor messages, coupled with specific information about the global impact Komen for the Cure is making on breast cancer, is designed to help consumers and donors recognize and rally around Komen's pink ribbon as a symbol of a future without breast cancer.
Komen wants consumers, who increasingly are bombarded with generic pink ribbons, to equate its running ribbon logo with significant progress, real results and important breast cancer breakthroughs.
"We want people to identify with our mission - to truly imagine the end of breast cancer - and to see our ribbon as an invitation to get active and engage in any number of ways with Komen in the fight against breast cancer," Doke said.
Many corporate partners incorporate the organization's ribbon in special programs and services they offer during October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Along with clear information about how the purchase of Komen-branded pink ribbon products and merchandise helps fund important breast cancer research and community health programs, consumers receive information on breast health, breast cancer and the benefits of early detection.
Since its inception more than 25 years ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has invested more than $1.2 billion in scientific research and community health programs. With the re-launch of its brand in 2006, the organization committed its resources to ending breast cancer forever and pledged to invest no less than $2 billion more to bring about a significant decrease in breast cancer deaths by the year 2017.
Tied to the cures
Despite notable progress made in the last quarter-century, breast cancer continues to claim more than 410,000 lives annually around the world. Over the next 25 years, another 25 million men and women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer and another 10 million people will die of the disease. Most of the deaths will occur in the developing world, including 30 countries in Africa and Asia.
