A social-media experiment in raising awareness, funds
On May 20th, 2009, self-proclaimed geek Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer (Hodgkins Lymphoma). Different people will deal with such news in different ways, but Drew’s attitude is unique to say the least. Not just in his optimism and humor, but in his method for raising awareness and funds for cancer charities.
Over the years, Drew has developed a keen awareness of the abilities of social networking as a marketing tool. He decided to take a running joke where he blamed his cancer for everything that went wrong in his life (lost keys, wallet, Phillies losing, etc.) turning it into a means of raising funds.
Soon after receiving his diagnosis, Drew founded BlameDrewsCancer.com. Why? Because he is trying to stay positive about things. He’s got stats on his side as this type of cancer is 90% curable. Another reason is to help those with more insidious forms of the disease.
The theory behind BlameDrewsCancer.com is a simple one. If enough people blame enough things, cancer will submit to the beat down. And, on a more serious note, for every blame posted, a dollar will get donated to the American Cancer Society and the Make a Wish Foundation.
Here’s how it works. Sign on to Twitter.com and tweet whatever it is you want to blame with the hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. For example:
I #BlameDrewsCancer for spam
I #BlameDrewsCancer for the election results in Hoboken!
I #BlameDrewsCancer for my hangover
Doing so will add to the total donation amount and will get you quick place on BlameDrewsCancer.com. You’re gonna tweet whatever nonsense anyway (you know it’s true), so why not make it worth while?
See Also:
BlameDrewsCancer.com
drew olanoff dot com
American Cancer Society
Make a Wish Foundation
