Much Ado About Pink

This year’s Pink Glove Dance Competition, sponsored by Medline, has to be considered an overwhelming success. More than 100 organizations submitted videos, hundreds of thousands of people voted for their favorites, communities rallied in support of their local entries, and the competition generated press coverage in markets across the country.

For me, the competition lasted too long and was stressful, to say the least. Throughout the three week voting period (135 or more videos vying for first prize) my client, Lexington Medical Center, held either first or second place. It required a constant effort to sustain the buzz over this extended period of time. Late last night, as the competition was drawing to a close, I told my wife how happy I was to see it end. She was clueless about the contest and asked me to show her Lexington Medical Center’s video. She got choked up watching the video. Then she gave me a lecture about how lucky I was to be a part of something so special. That made me think about the impact of all these Pink Glove Dance videos, ultimately impacting breast cancer awareness.

Take Lexington Medical Center’s video as a case study. Here’s the outcome (s0 far):

• 60,000+ people “liked” the video during the contest
• 114,000 people viewed the video on YouTube (Highland Hospital, the runner-up, had 87,000 YouTube views)
• Hundreds of Lexington Medical Center (LMC) employees participated in the making of the video
• Press coverage of Lexington Medical Center’s participation in the Pink Glove Competition was extensive including major stories on local media outlets: WIS-TV, WACH-TV, WLTX-TV, The State Newspaper, The Chronicle. To view samples of the press coverage, go to the LMC blog.
• The entire state of South Carolina rallied behind Lexington Medical Center (the State’s only entry in the competition).

How can that be seen as anything other than a success? And now imagine 135 organizations going through the same process in their communities. How many people did this promotion touch over the last month? The impact is truly remarkable. The winners are due to be announced tomorrow (October 28th). I’ve got my fingers crossed that Lexington Medical Center pulled off a first place win. Even if they didn’t, this was a huge victory for everyone who participated!