More on Red Dress Campaign!

So with only 3 more days left in February, the month for Heart Health, we thought we'd elaborate more on the cool message/credible celebrity/brand partnerships of successful cause related marketing campaigns.

First of all Heart Health... who would have ever thought of going the Red Dress angle? Well probably before they decided on this COOL MESSAGE, they worked internally or with external groups to come up with the right strategy to get a hook for the campaign. The first and easiest step is to try and figure out what else is going on at the same time to figure out what partnership opportunities could be worked out. Heart Health Month is February... so what else goes on in this month?:

• NYC Fashion Week (only twice a year, other is in September)
• Super Bowl (always first weekend)
• NBA All-Star Weekend
• NHL All-Star Weekend
• Awards Season
• Oscars
• South Beach Wine & Food Festival

When you take a look at this list it seems obvious, but only because we are use to the campaign now. Men are afflicted by heart problems as well, but sometimes when you target a cause to a specific group it is easier to rally behind it and create an emotional connection. Plus you get the peripheral halo effect when you make a STRONG impact with a targeted group. Whether the women's demo came before or after their decision to go with Red Dress, it doesn't really matter, the marriage was perfect. They made a connection with their target demo.

Once you have a solid message it is a lot easier to get brands to rally behind it because there is a common and clear goal, here are some of the campaigns that came from the red dress concept:

HEIDI KLUM- COCA-COLA
If you are obsessed like we are with the Oscars than you probably saw the Heidi Klum commercial for Coca-Cola and Heart Truth a million times. What a great celebrity, some get annoyed by perfection, but she is adorable, smart and supports the little people (up and coming fashion designers and charities). The commercial was a perfect marriage and emotional connection. People were watching the Oscars and with all of the dress watching probably got caught up in the superficiality that comes with the red carpet. This commercial brought you back to realize what is really important and how small statements like supporting the Heart Truth with Diet Coke can really make an impact. If you haven't caught the commercial check it out:
HEART TRUTH RED DRESS & HEIDI KLUM & COCA-COLA

NICOLE MILLER & JANE KRAKOWSKI- CAMPBELL'S
My other favorite that we mentioned was Campbell's Red Dress Campaign with Nicole Miller. Check out the microsite they created to build the campaign and create a contest to vote for the favorite Nicole Miller dress for Jane Krakowski to wear on the red carpet. They had 2 celebs both benefiting by added exposure for their brands, plus with all of Campbell's products benefiting heart health, the charity is a perfect fit to tout its brand benefits to the consumer.