The Champions of Hope Gala is one of the largest fundraising events in the country for the American Cancer Society (ACS). The attendees tend to be large donors and sponsors from various corporations and organizations in the region, so inspiring donors to open up their hearts and wallets is vital to helping fund ACS’ mission of improving the lives of people with cancer and their families.
Since this would be the eighth year of the fundraiser, HLK was tasked with generating a fresh thematic platform to help this year’s gala stand out from previous ones. ACS helps patients fight all forms of cancer. Therefore, our thematic platform needed to be engaging but still flexible enough to work across all of our messaging needs. We created the thematic positioning “Suits, Sequins and Sneakers: GAME ON” to help bring the event to life.
“Suit, Sequins and Sneakers” invited our guests to show up wearing their best gala attire and favorite athletic sneakers. We even encouraged guests to use their shoelace color to generate awareness about different forms of cancer.
“GAME ON” served as a rallying cry to inspire our supporters to step up to the challenge and finally put cancer in its place. The campaign collateral and event assets featured an eye-popping holographic aesthetic to represent the full spectrum of cancers. So depending on how your viewpoint changes, so does the color — just like the many shifts in angles and tactics used by ACS to change the game and eradicate cancer.
The event successfully raised more than $1.7 million dollars, making this the highest amount ACS ever raised.
See why this fundraiser successfully raised the highest amount ACS ever raised below, more than $1.7 million dollars.