The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign has prominently been in the news this past week. The campaign is pushing for a movement towards awareness of the sad truth that the number one killer in women today is heart disease. I found the campaign intriguing because it is just being launched this year, which makes for an excellent case study on how well the campaign will do in comparison to other causes like the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk and Lee National Denim Day, both fundraisers for breast cancer research and awareness. I was fortunate enough to intern at the agency that handles both accounts, so I was able to see how much work is put into a cause branding project.

So far, the Go Red for Women Campaign has been seen increasing awareness of the project through the creation of National Wear Red Day on February 1 this year. It also partnered with Macy’s to promote National Wear Red day through a Public Service Announcement. The highlight of that day was the “Heart Truth” fashion show during Fashion Week in Bryant Park featuring First Lady, Laura Bush, as the guest speaker. With celebrities like Heidi Klum modeling red dresses from American designers, the fashion show received a lot of great press. What an innovative idea to raise awareness for the target audience of women through a fashion logo (red dress), fashion sponsorship (Macy’s), and an actual fashion show during New York Fashion Week! To me, this sounds like a great start for this campaign. What do you think? Should they have done anything differently?

It will be even more interesting to see what happens the rest of this year. I will keep you ‘in-the-know’. More on cause branding to come soon, too.

(Photo from American Heart Association)