The campaign, now under way, carries the theme “Someday is today,” declaring that progress is already being made in the fight against cancer. That line of thought is carried further in a commercial that includes scenes of people reading a newspaper with a front-page banner headline declaring, “Cancer Cured!”

(Some might say the subtext is that a cure cannot be too far away if, when the breakthrough takes place, there are still print editions of newspapers.)

The campaign, on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, based in White Plains, is being created by a new New York agency named Interplanetary. There is a budget of about $5 million for ads to run in paid media in six large markets as well as a public service component of the campaign, asking media companies to donate space and time to run the ads.

In addition to the commercial, which features a voice-over narration by the actor Michael C. Hall, who had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the campaign also includes content on the organization’s Web site, outdoor ads, digital ads and a presence in social media like Facebook and Twitter. The campaign is indicative of the growing interest among nonprofit organizations in adopting and adapting the tactics of consumer marketing to help them raise awareness among members of the public as well as raise money. Underlining that is the campaign’s consideration of contributions to the organization as investments in a cancer-free future rather than charitable donations per se.

The campaign stems from a goal to “create a master brand strategy for the organization,” says Lisa Stockmon, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, who joined in March 2012 from Time Warner Cable, and “bring a laserlike consumer focus to us as a nonprofit.”

“There were a number of things L.L.S. has done well,” she adds, but there were also challenges that led her to seek advice from the executives who eventually formed Interplanetary. They all knew one another from working together when Ms. Stockmon was at Time Warner Cable and the executives were at Ogilvy Mather Worldwide, the creative agency for Time Warner Cable.

“We’ve made a difference in the cancer space,” Ms. Stockmon says of the organization, “and we are so close to finally finding a cure — not in several years, but soon.”

“We’re using the success of L.L.S. as a proof point for the new brand positioning” of “Someday is today,” she adds.

The organization has more than $300 million in annual revenue, Ms. Stockmon says, and 62 chapters in the United States and Canada. Still, there is a need to “make more people aware of the work we do,” she adds.

One way to achieve that, Ms. Stockmon says, is through engagement, by “keeping our stakeholders engaged” in what the organization does.

Certainly, it is engaging to take an approach that discusses how there could be a cure for cancer someday soon. And in not being “morose,” as Ms. Stockmon puts it, the campaign is in counterpoint to many others from nonprofit organizations.

But is it too risky, raising the possibility of false hope?

“No, we didn’t blink” when the executives at Interplanetary suggested the central points to make in the campaign, Ms. Stockmon says, and “we had the support of our C.E.O.,” John E. Walter, as well as the organization’s chief mission officer, Louis J. DeGennaro.

The organization did, however, conduct research on the tack the campaign would take, to see if consumers would believe it was valid and credible.

“When you put it in front of them, it resonated with them,” Ms. Stockmon says. “They said, ‘Yes, there are advances, and L.L.S. is working toward cures.’ ”

“Is it out there?” she asks rhetorically, then answers her own question by citing the cover article in the April 1 issue of Time magazine, which carried the headline “How to Cure Cancer*,” beneath which were these words: “*Yes, it’s now possible — thanks to new cancer dream teams that are delivering better results faster.”

“I don’t think I’m overpromising,” Ms. Stockmon says, citing work by scientists and doctors supported by the organization “who’ve made amazing progress” in the fight against cancer.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/business/media/in-these-ads-someday-is-more-than-a-wish.html?partner=rss&emc=rss