A Marketer’s Life

In 2004, Lance Armstrong began selling yellow cancer bracelets with the word Livestrong printed on each. Ever since this campaign began, the selling of custom wristbands has become a normal occurance and nearly everyone has at least one. There are some for diseases, which when sold, proceeds are donated to research which supports the efforts to find a cure for the disease. Another type of band is the inspirational kind. These bands always bare words of encouragement on them. Finally, the last type of band is one that has the purpose of lifting awareness of a global cause. Some of the recent worldwide social issues that have these bracelets are the fight against global poverty, the fight against AIDS, and the battle against racism.

The kind of bracelet that is used for supporting research for a disease has probably been the most popular over recent years. A lot of companies use these bands to help boost donations for the cause by selling cheap bands. A lot of times companies also partner with celebrities, athletes, or other prominent companies to encourage awareness of the disease and the sale of the bands. With the money from the sale of these bands, research has been able to expand and hopefully scientists are getting one step closer to a cure for one of the diseases represented by each wristlet.

Inspirational rubber wrist wear has become popular only in very recent. Some say “Hope,” “Love,” or “Courage” on each one. These types come in many types colors and have hundreds of different words. Some even have more than one color. These bands are used to assist individuals in feeling better about themselves or to give them a reminder of their strengths or weaknesses. Many individuals like to look down at their wrist and have a reminder what qualities they need.

The type of silicone wristlet that is meant to help raise awareness of an international campaign usually comes in the color that is associated with the cause. For example, there are red bands that accompany the social battle against AIDS. There is also a white band that goes along with campaign to help encourage donations for the fight against global poverty and AIDs. The main goal of this type of band is to increase notoriety for the international initiative. The theory of aiming for the target of awareness is that the more people know about it, the more donations will come in to the foundation later and this has theory has proven right. Ever since these organizations started selling wristlets with their cause, donations have gone through the roof and awareness has increased rapidly as well.

The reason these bands have been used often by so many different type of non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations is that these bands are an easy way to encourage donations or make money, respectively. Also, these bands aide the organizations with raising awareness for the cause or the company. The bands are almost always made with the same color that represents the campaign or organization so people learn to associate certain colors with certain causes or certain companies. A Wristlet is a really smart marketing tool for all types of organizations and it will be interesting to see what other types of groups will begin using them in the future.

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