In an editorial titled “Health of Blacks is on the Line,” The Arizona Republic today discusses the Live It Change It campaign. The campaign is urging African-Americans “to save babies by urging tomorrow’s parents in the Black community to make healthier choices today.” Read the full editorial by clicking here.
Live It Change It is a campaign for the Black community that is asking people “to take charge of your personal health and consider what may be passed down to future generations.”
One of the posters from the campaign:
For more information and materials visit the Live It Change It website. A higher resolution version of this poster is also available there.
From spearheading a worldwide effort to eradicate polio to sponsoring a pancake breakfast to raise funds for a kids’ playground at a local park, Rotary Club members are at the forefront of public service.
They put into action their mantra of “service above self.”
In the truest sense, Rotarians (1.5 million members in 33,790 clubs worldwide) are volunteer activists — doers and believers — for numerous causes, be it buying wheelchairs for underprivileged children, combating hunger, improving health and sanitation, providing education and job training or teaming with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($335 million donated) to provide polio vaccines to tykes in the ghettos of less-developed countries.
A classic example of Rotary-style activism was aptly expressed in an article by Dr. Scott Leckman that appeared in the Salt Lake City daily newspaper, the Deseret News, on Oct. 23, 2009.
A physician and member of the Salt Lake Rotary Club, Dr. Leckman wrote of an experience he had earlier in the year after immunizing kids for polio in Firozabad, a ghetto of some 400,000 inhabitants 40 miles from Agra, India, home to the storied Taj Mahal. He was one of a group of 16 from Utah who paid their own way to India to partake in a Rotary International humanitarian effort.
"Namaste."
Dr. Leckman wrote: “Indians have a wonderful greeting, ‘Namaste.’ When spoken to another person, it is commonly accompanied by a slight bow and made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upward. It means ‘I bow to the divinity inherent within you’.”
He recalled this exchange following a day of giving babes-in-arms polio vaccine drops in the squalor of Firozabad where mud-brick shanties front on alleys lined with troughs full of sewage:
“As I walked through Firozabad to catch the bus, an Indian gentleman rode his bike past me, then stopped to talk.
“Why are you here?,” he asked.
“I am here with a group of Rotarians to give children polio vaccines.”
“What do you get out of it?”
Dr. Leckman responded: “A world free of polio.”
“He (the stranger) thought for a moment and said ‘namaste,’ then rode off,” the doctor recalled.
In that brief exchange, Dr. Leckman epitomized Brand Activism in its basic form. He had a good product, he strongly believed in that product and he conveyed its value succinctly to his audience — who obviously was sold on it.
That is similar to the studied approach RIESTER takes in advocating Brand Activism about products and services it successfully touts to targeted audiences on behalf of its clients. RIESTER (with 100 employees in offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City) develops advertising, public relations, web, social media and public policy messages that resonate. Just like Dr. Leckman’s.
Rotarian and RIESTERite Mike Korologos administering polio vaccines in India in 2008. This is Brand Activism.
RIESTER is working on a new campaign called “Live it, Change it.” This video serves as a call to action to raise awareness and positively affect behavior in the African-American community surrounding healthy living habits and healthy pregnancies for the benefit of current and future generations.
The year is 1963 and Annabelle Mathis, an old flame of senior partner Roger Sterling, stops by Sterling Cooper, the fictional advertising agency on the television show “Mad Men.” She is in New York shopping for a new ad agency for her family dog food business, as well as possibly reigniting her romance with Roger. The show’s protagonist, Don Draper, is sitting in on the meeting with Roger and Annabelle. Annabelle says that she is now single because her husband died of lung cancer. He was 51. A moment after she delivers this news the camera cuts to Don Draper as he lights up a cigarette.
Lung cancer. Smoking. The juxtaposition is intentional.
This is classic “Mad Men.” The smoke is thick. Characters smoke in every possible setting, and they smoke often. The writers overdo it with the smoking to create a not so subtle visual reminder of the ethos of another time. From the first episode of the series titled “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” to the recent scene with Annabelle, a woman whose husband died from his addiction to nicotine, the air on the show is constantly clouded with tobacco smoke.
Because we understand fully today the true effects of smoking, there is little glamour left in taking a long drag and artfully exhaling smoke. RIESTER has been a leader in changing the character of our culture and its relationship with tobacco. One of our signature campaigns characterizes smoking in these words: Tumor causing, teeth staining, smelly, puking habit. There is another important word that describes smoking: killer.
Smokers are addicts. This is not an insult, it’s a physical fact. A massive and repetitious public awareness campaign has changed the way we think of smoking. While these efforts have not ended tobacco addiction, the mind shift that has occurred among millions of people is profound. Today a show like “Mad Men” can use smoking as a backdrop to help capture the feel of a different era. The thick smoke mocks another time. While people still smoke today, very few smoke in public places. The scene described above in “Mad Men” is almost unheard of today. Not many people can get away with smoking at work.
This is a good thing. There is no reason for Annabelle’s husband to be dead from lung cancer, though he was just a fictional character. Every day real people die as a result of their addiction to tobacco. We’ve come a long way since 1963, but the battle continues. Public awareness campaigns are one of the most effective tools available for breaking the grip of addiction.
The final episode of season three of Mad Men airs this Sunday on AMC.
For starters, please check out StandForLess.com. This campaign kicked off in the spring, and thanks to a collective effort and our man-on-the-street, Jim Breitinger, we are keeping this movement going with some very current blogging. The writing is great and quite relevant.
If you check out the Print section of Creative on RIESTER.com, you will also find the newest campaign for Alta Ski Resort. For those of you who aren’t skiers, this is one of the oldest resorts in the country. The work is just as special.
For Casino Arizona’s newest campaign, RIESTER teamed up with director James Bartolomeo to create two very funny spots, which are quite different for the category. You’ll find those on riester.com, as well — under Integrated Campaigns. Look for Easy Street.”
Lastly, if you haven’t seen the recent updates to venomocity.com, please treat yourself. This site is always an adventure and the team has worked hard to keep it alive and growing.
These are just a few examples. Check ‘em out.
Take a look at some of RIESTER's latest creative work
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