Happy Birthday from the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is one of the largest and best-known charities in the world. Yet according to their own research, they were not at all well understood. When consumers misunderstand the services offered by an ordinary company, sales drop and the company suffers. When cancer patients and their families misunderstand the services available from ACS, they suffer and life expectancy drops. We needed to redefine the organization for the target audience. The American Cancer Society is much more than laboratory research. It works toward a goal of less and less cancer and of longer lives for us all. Lives full of more birthdays.

A series of magazine ads, which ran in O, Essence, Woman’s Day and others, asks readers to think about birthdays from the perspective of the American Cancer Society's vision of a world with more birthdays. Like the TV spots, the ads highlighted ACS efforts in prevention, treatment, research and advocacy.

We brought the world with more birthdays to the Internet with several engaging banners, including one that lets you try your luck at blowing out birthday candles. The banners, like all the executions, directed consumers to the microsite, morebirthdays.com.

Two weeks after the campaign launch, 30,000 people logged on to declare ACS the official sponsor of their birthdays. And Nielsen Research found that "More Birthdays" was the best-recalled and best-liked spot of the month.