Company: Sharpie
Cause: Breast Cancer Awareness
NPO Partner(s): City of Hope
Website: www.Sharpie.com

Program of Action

Pink is the new black in October and Sharpie kicks off their second annual breast cancer awareness campaign “Ink it Pink” with a goal to fundraise $10,000.

The program seeks to encourage individuals to buy pink ribbon sharpies and help donate to City of Hope, the leading global medical cancer treatment and research center.  Sharpie will donate ten cents to City of Hope for every pink Sharpie bought and $1 for every pink autograph uploaded to www.sharpieuncapped.com.

That’s not all – Sharpie invites celebrities to participate and will be uploading those autographs received to support breast cancer education, treatment, and research.

Best Practices

Ink it Pink comes not only as a catchy tagline, but does a great job of leveraging the power of consumer and celebrity engagement that enhances their brand reputation. If you do a quick Google search you’ll find blog posts spreading the good word about Sharpie’s campaign.  In addition, several celebrity videos have gone viral (e.g. Miley Cyrus).

We’re a fan of this creative do-good campaign, but we are left curious if they ever met their $10,000 fundraising goal last year and what was the total dollar amount raised? JWT Intelligence recently released their Social Good report, where 75% respondents agree brands and companies don’t disclose enough information about their charity/social cause programs.

 A little more transparency may reduce the skepticism in the air around cause marketing campaigns, especially in October when everything is washed in pink.

Program Outcome

In 2010, Sharpie’s goal was to raise $10,000 (maximum donation) for the month of October to go to City of Hope and will stay the same goal for this year.  Sharpie has donated more than $2 million since first partnering with City of Hope in 2006 to lifesaving research and treatment programs.  The campaign kicked off on September 24, 2011 and will continue until October 31.

Support City of Hope and get on board by inking your autograph pink this October. Don't forget to upload a picture of your signature made with a Sharpie Pink marker to SharpieUncapped.com!

Check back next week as we continue to review best practices for breast cancer awareness campaigns!

Your CM aficionados,
Amy and Kassie