Citizen Brand

Lee National Denim Day - 2008

Tim Daly and Chandra Wilson will be our ambassadors for the 2008 edition of Lee National Denim Day.  The TV docs are teaming up to tell America to wear their jeans on October 3 and give five bucks to fund critical research in the fight against breast cancer.

This is the 13th year for Denim Day.  Lee Jeans and Barkley created the program in 1996 and today it is a model for grassroots cause branding programs.  Our partner, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and its Women's Cancer Initiatives use the millions of dollars raised to fund collaborative research teams at a dozen leading cancer research institutions nationwide.

As our client at Lee, Liz Cahill said, "We've learned from our incredible team of scientists in Lee Labs that just like jeans, one cancer treatment does not fit all.  Through our Lee Labs for translational research, the early detection blood test, and our work with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, we're making a significant impact in finding and treating this disease in its many different sub-types and arming people with the information they need if they're faced with a diagnosis."

Companies, organizations or individuals wanting to form their own teams can begin signing up June 5th at denimday.com.  And then be ready to wear your jeans and make a difference.

Happy Lee National Denim Day 2007

It's not too late to throw on your jeans and mosey on over to DenimDay.com to make your five dollar donation to fund research looking for early detection of breast cancer.  That is where the money donated for Lee National Denim Day goes now.  It's not just about building awareness or education anymore.  Your five dollars goes directly to researchers at some of America's leading research clinics who are working together on a landmark project.

So give up that Starbucks just one day and help these incredible scientists in their mission.  Today, wearing your jeans means something very special.

Cause it's the right thing to do.....

Check out Razoo.com and their $10,000 contest to engage us to get more involved.  Razoo is a a new web platform designed to mobilize people for positive social change.  Or if you want to dip your toe in the Razoo water, you can check out their blog and see what they are all about.

This is also a great time to remind you that Lee National Denim Day is Friday, October 5.  This is the 12th year for this great grassroots program that has raised over $67 million dollars toward research and education about breast cancer.  There is a new way for you to get involved in Denim Day this year in addition to your workplace.  You can start your own team and get your friends, family or even strangers involved in helping to fight breast cancer.

Perhaps the coolest thing about Lee National Denim Day now is where your dollars are going.  The Entertainment Industry Foundation has launched its Women's Cancer Research Fund. Focused on early detection of cancer, the initiative is supporting EIF's Breast Cancer Biomarker Discovery Project—an ambitious, groundbreaking scientific project where a group of internationally recognized scientists and clinicians from some of the best scientific institutions in the world are collaborating to develop a blood test that will detect breast cancer in its beginning stages, when survival rates are highest.

I had the opportunity to hear a presentation from the group of doctors from the best universities and hospitals in the USA who are conducting this research.  The work they are doing will yield important results and it is so gratifying to be able to tell each person who donates five dollars and wears their jeans on Denim Day this year that their donation is making a REAL difference in the fight against breast cancer.

If your company has yet to sign up for Denim Day, please take the lead and get them to sign up and if you work from home - create your own team.  Either way, you will know you are doing something good.

Red Carpet Causes

As Forrest Gump might have said, causes and celebrities are like peas and carrots.  They just go together.  And I think it's a good thing.  Sure there are times when some might seem to be doing it for the wrong reasons, but for the most part it is one of the best ways for a cause to get attention and money.

   A new website called SixDegrees.org has recently launched.  It shouldn't be difficult to figure out which star is behind it - Kevin Bacon.  It's a cool site that has about 20 celebrities and their causes highlighted.  You can learn more about each cause as well as donate to them.  And as Kevin Bacon tells you in a welcoming video, you can become the "celebrity" for your own cause on the site.  Great concept.

We have worked with celebrities in our cause programs at Barkley for more than a decade now.  And we have new programs we are working on where we believe celebrities can play an important role.  Whether we like to admit it or not, all of us like celebrities, whether they be in movies, music, sports or politics.  We may not like all of them, but the ones we do like can influence how we think and what actions we take.  Especially when it comes to helping us decide which causes we are going to support.  I'm not suggesting it's the only factor, but celebrity influence does matter.

So if you can ignore the dumb and outrageous actions of the few Paris Hiltons in the world, the next time you see a celebrity pushing their favorite cause, give them a gold star.  It's a good thing they are doing.

Thanks to Britt for pointing out SixDegrees.org.

PRWeek/Barkley Cause Survey

There is much going on at our company these days.  We simplified our name; added a rocket to our logo; and we are getting ready to move into new digs in a building that Howard Hughes once roamed around in when he owned Trans World Airlines.

We are now simply known as Barkley.  It's the name most people have referred to us for years.  And in mid-November, we move into our new offices in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City in a building that was once TWA's world headquarters.  Howard Hughes put a rocket on top of the building to signify his dream that someday TWA would take passengers into outer space.  We have put the rocket back on the building as we bring this classic retro modern building back to life.

For us the rocket signifies our company's desire to explore and discover new ways to help our clients succeed.  One of the growing ways we are doing that is through cause branding.  And for the second consecutive year, Barkley Public Relations has partnered with PRWeek Magazine to sponsor a survey on the state of cause branding.  If you have not seen it yet. you can read it or download it at our website - www.beappr.com.

This year, we tried something new.  We conducted a consumer survey, PRWeek's first ever.  We talked with members of three different generations - Gen Y; Gen X; and, the Boomers.  We learned that all generations continue to see the growing importance of corporations partnering with non profits to further causes through education, awareness and funding.  There are differences as you would suspect there would be.

Boomers are more trusting of companies in general while the Gen X'ers (30-41 years old) are the most skeptical and trust corporate motivations the least.  Two thirds of all respondents said it is important to know why a company has chosen to support a particular cause.  And by almost a three to one margin, all respondents said a company should support a variety of causes as opposed to supporting only a single cause.

Almost two thirds (64%) of all respondents said they have purchased a branded product because it supports a cause they believe in.  And almost nine out of ten said it is important for companies to support causes or charitable organizations.

I encourage you to take a look at the entire survey and accompanying article in the October 23 edition of PRWeek.  Please let us know what you think of the data and give us feedback so we can make the 2007 survey even better.

Lee National Denim Day - October 6

Lee National Denim Day is Friday, October 6.  So many people are lending a hand as we approach the 11th celebration of the largest single day fund raiser for breast cancer research.

In addition to our friends at Dunder Mifflin and Pierce Brosnan, now a number of other celebrities have taken time to design and decorate denim pockets and put them up for auction.  Find out more at CharityFolks.com

There is still time for you to join thousands of other companies and organizations everywhere to help in the fight against breast cancer.  Click here to go to www.denimday.com and register today.  Your donation will go to an incredible research project being done by eight of the leading cancer research hospitals in America through the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's Cancer Programs.

Dunder Mifflin goes Denim

The cast of the Emmy Award winning comedy "The Office" is jumping in to help our clients Lee Jeans and the Entertainment Industry Foundation with Lee National Denim Day.  The cast took time out recently to produce this public service announcement that will run on the NBC network and on individual NBC affiliates between now and October 6.

If you, your company or other organizations you are affiliated with have not yet signed up to participate this year, now is the perfect time to join the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.  Just go to www.denimday.com to sign up.  Then on October 6, put on your jeans and donate five dollars to EIF's Women's Cancer Programs.

Through Lee's partnership with the EIF, the dollars donated through Lee National Denim Day will directly fund the early detection and treatment research and community breast cancer programs.  For the first time ever, seven of the leading cancer research institutions are working together to help dramatically increase the rate at which laboratory breakthroughs can be translated to more effective therapies for patients.

The seven institutions are:

Johns Hopkins University; Harvard University; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; UCLA; University of Chicago; University of Washington (Seattle); and, Vanderbilt University.

Our company has been proud to be a part of the success of Lee National Denim Day for the past ten years.  I can't wait to once again wear my jeans for a great cause on October 6.

A better role than 007

I reported to you a few weeks ago that our client, Lee Jeans, has named a new beneficiary to begin its second decade of fighting breast cancer.  And today, one of the first benefits of that new partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation was announced.

Pierce Brosnan, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, will be the lead ambassador for Lee National Denim Day in 2006.  One of the things that is great about this is that Brosnan is currently the Honorary Chair of EIF, so his willingness to be spokesperson this year is a great way to kick off the new partnership between Lee Jeans and EIF.

If you or your organization have participated in Lee National Denim Day over the past ten years, we offer our thanks.  If you have never participated before, we invite you to check it out and consider coming on board in 2006.

For more details, go to DenimDay.com.