Rocco Pallatto, Director of Development at the Ad Council, talks about the history and mission of the Ad Council, which dates back to 1942.   Rocco also discusses one of the most engaging social impact campaigns ever, the Ad Council’s ‘Love Has No Label’ video campaign, which is aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion.  It has brought together several big name brands to fund this effort to remind the world that people are just people.

This week CJ Follini chats with Daniella Campari, Sr. Vice President and Head of Marketing for the American Cancer Society, and Laura McLane, Vice President of Content and Creative Design and User Experience.  They discuss the mission of the American Cancer Society, their history, and their recent Advantage Humans video campaign and the emotional impact it has had.  

This week a look at some of the brands that have discovered the immense benefits of cause marketing.  Afdhel Aziz and CJ Follini discuss how TOMS, Citi, Dulux, and others experienced tremendous brand awareness through genuine cause marketing campaigns.  But the key is that these were genuine efforts to help a community and not just shallow attempts at free publicity. 

Afdhel Aziz, Brand Director at Absolut Labs and co-author of 'Good is the New Cool: How to Market Like You Give A Damn,'

Shot@Life, a campaign of The UN Foundation, aims to ensure that children around the world have access to life-saving vaccines, through education, advocacy the campaign strives to reduce vaccine-preventable death and aims to give children a better shot at life.  Devi Thomas, Senior Director at Shot@Life, tells CJ about the formation of this campaign and some of the logistic challenges that go into marketing to severely underserved populations.

Donna Bembenek, VP of Marketing and Communications for YMCA of the USA, talks about the shifts they’ve made in their national marketing and sponsorship strategy.  Specifically, how the Y wants to make sure people know they are more than just a gym and swimming by stressing the critical, social, and impact work they are doing in the community with their ‘For a Better Us’ campaign.  She breaks down all the work that led to these strategy shifts and the positive impacts.  There’s also the ‘Zoe for President’ campaign that highlights the Y’s role in helping anyone achieve their full potential in life.