This October, you might notice businesses looking a little pink. Many Australian companies will turn their social media profiles and shop windows pink in support. But why?
October is globally recognised as the month to raise breast cancer awareness. Referred to fondly as The Pink Month, the colour of the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, it’s an opportunity for brands and Australian businesses to openly communicate with their audiences about Breast Cancer.
For the month of October 2022, we will be donating 100% of the cost of any orders placed for custom-printed breast cancer awareness wristbands created using our wristband designer! The donation will go to the McGrath Foundation, an organisation who support individuals and their families experiencing breast cancer. If you would like to make a direct donation to our McGrath Foundation fundraising page, you can do that here.
Here are our recommendations on how you can make sure your business is ready for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Plus, how The Wristband Co. can help you raise awareness with your clients.
About Breast Cancer Awareness this October
Firstly, why do we have a whole month dedicated to the awareness of this campaign? You might have seen our previous article about different awareness weeks and months. Several campaigns are often happening alongside one another, from Breast Cancer to mental health weeks and suicide awareness.
We take the whole month of October to raise awareness and talk about early detection and treatment because, in Australia, it is estimated that 1 in 8 females will be diagnosed with breast cancer by age 85. So that’s 20,428 females receiving life-changing diagnoses this year alone.
October has been dedicated to awareness since 1985. However, it gained massive momentum in the ‘90s when the associated colour pink became a brand for the campaign. The campaign began with pink ribbons, worn on lapels and clothes, but fast grew to include all sorts of merchandise. Now, we see the popularity of pink wristbands being used to promote the campaign—a more modern flex on the traditional lapel pin.
The aim of dedicating October to breast cancer awareness is to get as many people involved as possible in the conversations around the detection, treatment, risk factors, symptoms and signs to be aware of.
However, it is also, of course, essential to raise as much money for breast cancer prevention and treatment.
How To Prepare for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Producing Online Content
When getting involved in this or any other cause, you must be motivated by the overall intention of generating awareness for this life-saving campaign. However, of course, it does positively impact your business to be aligned with such worthy causes. However, your clients and audience will only engage with you if your motivates are seen to be authentic, i.e. not a performance.
Using your online channels, website, social media, email newsletters, and more are perfect ways to have open, authentic and original conversations with your clients and reach a larger audience. Some ideas of how you can interact are to;
Updating Brand Colours to Pink
Often, you will see businesses turn pink throughout October to support breast cancer awareness. This is an impactful way to show your support for the cause. However, simply turning your Facebook profile pink is not enough. Think about your customer’s journey. How often do they come into contact with your band, and can you look to raise awareness at all these touchpoints, e.g.
An excellent tip for an annually repeating cause like this is to make sure you review how successful your campaign was. Then, act on your findings and save your content and planning for the coming year.
Arranging Donations to Relevant Foundations
Whilst awareness in itself is one of the main aims of the October campaign. However, it is also essential that non-for-profits can raise money and funding. As well as raising awareness, see how you can link up with registered charities and partners and how you can raise money for them. It might be as simple as your company pledging an annual donation to the charity or if you’re a smaller company, making a one-off donation.
Or you might organise fundraising drives e.g.
There are four main non-for-profits in Australia that you can contact to find out more about what is happening in your local area.
Internally Distribute Awareness Material
Businesses can easily forget to communicate to their staff the messages they are sharing with clients and public audiences. Australian companies must act responsibly with their teams and commit to educating and sharing knowledge with their staff.
Think about how you can communicate internally with your staff. Will it be by email, digital newsletter, social media, internal training sessions or in-person events, e.g. networking evenings or staff parties? Our coloured wristbands can help transmit messages quickly and efficiently to your staff. For example, you can easily customise pink wristbands to promote breast cancer awareness month and your business. In addition to this, for the month of October 2022, we will be donating 100% of the cost of any orders placed for custom-printed breast cancer awareness wristbands created using our wristband designer! The donation will go to the McGrath Foundation, an organisation who support individuals and their families experiencing breast cancer.
Australian company, Black Dog Institute, have long been championing how important employee and internal communications are for promoting positive mental health. Plus, a healthy and motivated team is vital for creating a successful and productive work environment.
Source Pink Merchandise
A clear way to support breast cancer awareness month and to turn your business pink is to create pink merchandise and purchase pink products. Whilst you can look to rebrand existing products in pink and support Breast Cancer Awareness – special edition products are always popular with loyal clients.
You can look to also create other visual merchandise such as ribbon pins and stickers; of course, pink wristbands are a good option for this, especially if you’re holding an event to raise money for breast cancer research and want to keep track of who is an attendee.
Pink wristbands are a great visual option with a high reach potential as they travel outside your business premises with your staff and customers.
Arranging Participation in Awareness Events
As mentioned earlier, one of the most popular ways to promote awareness of a cause is with a public event. From music festivals to challenges to fun runs. Public events are a fantastic way of creating an exciting, memorable atmosphere around your business and Breast Cancer Awareness.
Check out the following events being held throughout Australia;
Fun runs, 1k, 5k and 10k walks and women-only walks have become almost synonymous with Breast Cancer Awareness, and you’ll see lots of these events scheduled and happening throughout October. In addition, there are some excellent foundations, like the Cancer Council, that you can contact to find out what is happening in your area. Then, you can participate personally and find out how your business can get involved in the event.
Important to Remember
We couldn’t finish this article without highlighting how you can encourage the women in your life to take action to overcome any hesitations towards taking regular mammograms and to checking their breasts regularly.
The guidance from the Cancer Council is to book and take a mammogram every two years. Regular mammograms are the best way to detect breast cancer early, which is the biggest weapon we all have in improving survival after diagnosis.
To make an appointment at one of more than 600 BreastScreen Australia clinics nationwide, phone 13 20 50 at the cost of a local phone call.
Ways we can help
At The Wristband Co. we regularly work with customers planning awareness campaigns of all sizes. We are happy to assist in any way we can, including helping you find the right wristbands for your awareness campaign. Get in touch with us today on 08 8363 4850 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
You can find out more about our company here.
Meet the Author
Laura Sayer – Marketing Specialist at The Wristband Co.
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