This week, we shared our Together for Care ‘Sizzle Sheet’ with a few selected, longtime colleagues who expressed an interest from the first mention. This is a great sign, as these guys have been around awhile and it takes a lot to impress them! Almost every discussion was not only positive, but immediate offers of pitching in were made – from sales to technology – that it is truly starting to feel for me like a virtual powerhouse team. So much so that I thought I should blog, because this could grow into a tremendous success and wouldn’t it be fun to watch the team build and deliver as it happens.
Plus, AFCC Allies, a term suggested by my clients in New York at Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) – thanks Roberto – could stop in and read and see who else was ‘on the team.’ Wins might even be celebrated in person – and where better to announce it than on a blog!
So here is The Coming Together of Together for Care
Apr 26 So first – and biggest – tip of the hat – so far – goes to the gang at Shaw Media’s Marketing Ventures group. From the get-go, this group of Melissa Barron, Trevor and Tara MacIntosh took this idea seriously and started throwing out programming ideas. Here we are about a month in and the official Letter of Intent is expected this week. All items have been nailed down and like that Grand Funk song Some Kind of Wonderful, “it’s more than we could ask for.” We have an hour on Global National at 7pm and plan at least a 5 week campaign on television and online to promote the event. And tons of other promotional and programming ideas.
So the early birds who’ve seen the sizzle sheet are Tom Harkness, recently-retired-most-admired radio rep from Rogers 680News and by sheer fluke on a completely separate occasion, Tom’s former colleague at FI jumped on it as well. JP as we all know him was at the Rogers box for The Jays against the Rays on Good Friday night. One of my newer rep relationships – which has been a great discovery – Laura Dickson over at Fan590 offered me the tickets. After Canada Post mis-delivered them 3 times despite the right address AND postal code (only the suffix Drive was wrong), I went to pick them up from a woman who so graciously looked me up (thankyou Google Places) and left me messages that this envelope kept coming back to her house over and over again. Turns out she’s a graphic designer, does 3-D packaging for Crayola: Bluedart design. Thanks to Lindsay there, or I would’ve never got to the game where I met JP.
Last week I met with David Plant, longtime producer from Cameron Thomson and global ventures. Same jumponboard attitude, and what’s so great is that his team are mobile app builders. Imagine:
Scenario A: Get a mini-brain-game to play on your phone for free, $ donation goes to AFCC. Sponsored by Microsoft’s xbox or Nintendo’s Brain Age 2.
Scenario B: We can ask Shirley Eikhard to perform (it is a concert!). A much-loved singer who we haven’t seen much of lately who has a song called Emily Remembers. Thanks to my longtime and recently reunited pal Greg Brook for just randomly mentioning it on the Go Train on the way to the Jays Game…you know so even Greg helped. Partly because he loves music and even knew that, and partly because his mom – at 90+ – has Alzheimer’s Disease. Download the tune for $$, contribution to AFCC.
Get my gal in New York, Josie diChiara, Ms. Event and Talent Manager Extraordinaire to look Shirley’s agent up and ask her.
Scenario C: Sign up for weekly tips by text about AD, for the close to 1-in-4 Canadian families who are coping with the disease in their immediate family. Sponsored by a wireless carrier: Textscanbehelpful!
Only two other meetings so far with the ‘sizzle sheet’…both informal…both with dear friends – probably the best in the biz, and both had words of caution. But they can’t help it, they’re from the pharmaceutical industry.
