Cause Related Marketing for Dr. Walter Bortz

assignment Dr. Walter Bortz is the head of Medicine at Stanford University. After writing his seventh book he came to @Radical Media to help promote his message of health as a preventative method rather medicine as a curative method. @Radical Media came to the Brandcenter and presented the opportunity to us.

problem Americans are lazy and unhealthy. Two thirds of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight or obese and the average American will watch nearly 14 years of tv in their lifetime. This is costing the country as nearly 1/5th of our GDP is spent on healthcare costs. Sadly this number is expected to double in the next ten years.

opportunities Dr. Bortz is a unique character.He is one of the most outgoing people you’ll ever meet and on top of this he harbors beliefs that many people would find to be outrageous. For example, he believes that everyone can live to be 100 years old if they live a healthy life. He also believes in taxing the overweight. He believes that people are in control of when they die and should just simply stop eating when they cease to contribute to society.

Dr. Bortz is a poster child for his beliefs. At the spritely, young age of 79 Dr. Bortz is still running daily and is publishing books, traveling the country and living life to the fullest. Aging doesn’t have to mean growing old.

Light a Fire.People know they need to live healthy; they are told this everyday. The opportunity lies in creating a movement that inspires people to do something about it.

target We chose to target the group of Americans in between the Health Nuts and the McDonald’s addicts.

- These people care about health but are not motivated to change anything.- Technology has made their lives too convenient and gives them countless opportunities to splurge.- They feel that living healthy means spending money. Gym memberships and organic/low fat foods require them to spend unnecessary money.

strategy INSPIRE people to defy the odds and live a long, healthy life by creating motivation

campaignWALLY BORTZ WON’T DIE

With this campaign we wanted to introduce Wally to the public while building his credibility and merit. We wanted to motivate people to follow his lead and ultimately create a platform from which Wally could voice his ideas and convictions to the American Public.

To generate an initial media splash we created a Twitter contest and betting line in which people could bet on any day between Dr. Bortz’s 80th and 100th birthday that they thought that he would die (of natural causes). If guessed correctly he would leave said person $10,000 in his will however if he lived past your date, you had to tell 10 people about his message and how he had defied the odds.

HealthEnthusiasts

McDonald’sAddicts

Days of Defiance and Milestones Missed - This was a widget on his website and available for download that focused on how many days past the average American lifespan (77.7 years old for males) he had lived. It also showed the things that he would have missed if he had passed away. This showed the value of living a longer life.

Wally Gear and Corporate Partners - To truly create a movement we allowed people to make the “Won’t Die” commitment. Besides generating additional awareness through eye catching t-shirts this allowed people show off that they had made a commitment to live healthier and it provided them with an online resource to track their progress. Additionally we allowed organizations to join/sponsor the movement creating a more healthy workplace as well as providing them with a co-branding opportunity.

You vs. Bortz and Nike+ - To motivate people we decided to use Wally’s actual workout schedule to show people how a 79 year old man is getting more exercise than them. We thought an extension of this could be to partner with Nike+ to track yourself and Wally step for step and possibly even get other celebrities to track their workouts as well so, for example, you could graduate from Wally Bortz level and then take on Kobe Bryant.