News SPLASH

At Splash, we go pink in October (change our logo from blue to pink) to remind marketers to Fight Pink Fatigue.  An article in today’s Los Angeles Times demonstrates just how much pink stuff is out there so it’s just a matter of time before marketers will be tempted to search for the next big thing in causes.   

Our entreaty is:  Don’t.  Keep supporting the breast cancer awareness/treatment/cure cause.  Those dollars are doing wonders – I can attest to this as a breast cancer survivor.   Take popular corporate partner Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  To date, the organization has invested $1 billion in research, education and health services.   In October 2008, another frequent partner, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, will award over $34 million in new research grants to 165 scientists from top universities and academic medical centers across the globe.  This all makes a difference.  

So, fellow marketers, keep the cause and challenge your creative team to come up with breakthrough ways to build brand equity and loyalty…while still doing good.  Check back in October for some ideas.  

Thanks for helping us Fight Pink Fatigue!

A recent interview by Erin White of The Wall Street Journal with Yale School of Management's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld offered some important leadership lessons.  Talking about Wall Street's woes, Mr. Sonnenfeld pointed out that some leaders such as Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase saw the same situation others did, thought the group was moving in the wrong direction and broke away from the "thundering herd."  That put J.P. Morgan in the right place to buy out Bear Stearns (and more recently, Washington Mutual).  Courage and character really matter, Mr. Sonnenfeld said, not just intelligence and financial literacy.