To unveil its new partnership with Joe Fresh Style for this year’s Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Campaign, Rethink Breast Cancer hosted a cocktail party and burlesque show for 150 journalists and sponsors at Jezebel Tuesday. “We thought a burlesque club in a back alley off of Ossington might attract a few people,” Katie Gillespie, a senior manager with Rethink, said of the venue choice. “It has created some buzz itself.”
The organization began producing T-shirts with the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer logo in 2001 and approached Joe Fresh Style—which sells clothing at Loblaws stores throughout Canada—about designing and selling this year’s T-shirt in the hope of reaching more women across the country. “It’s our flagship fund-raising campaign at Rethink and it’s meant to encourage young women to target their breast health. The T-shirts act as a billboard," Gillespie said. (Retailers such as Holt Renfrew and Roots have participated in past campaigns.)
The T-shirts, which feature a pink and orange target, hit Loblaws stores last Friday at a price of $12 each. “In the first two days we sold over 20 per cent of the stock,” said Liz Margles, vice president of marketing for Loblaw Companies Ltd. “They were looking for a retail partner that could be even more national. They had had great success with the program before and were looking to step it up,” she said. “And we had been looking for a charitable partner for the brand.” Margles said Loblaws and Joe Fresh are already working with Rethink on a possible fall campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “It will be an ongoing program," she said.
Rock-it Promotions, which managed Tuesday's media event on behalf of Rethink, worked with the organization to create a nontraditional launch party. “Every year that we’ve launched with a new retail partner we’ve done a launch event, traditionally in the store space,” Gillespie said. This year, burlesque dancers from LaRouge Entertainment performed on stage at Jezebel while wearing the new T-shirts, and two male models dressed as firefighters donned the tees while handing out Schick Quattro razors at the hot pink Schick fire truck parked outside the venue. “It’s a bit of a cross promotion, and it’s designed to help bring focus to the target,” Gillespie said.
Bartenders offered two custom cocktails—the Schick-tini and the Vitaminwater Smash—in honour of the event sponsors, and servers from Four passed hors d’oeuvres including house-made sushi, Thai spring rolls, cocktail shrimp, and goat cheese tarts. Custom mini cupcakes topped with the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer logo were handed out to guests in little takeaway containers at the end of the evening.
Event sponsors included Joe Fresh Style, Chatelaine, Flare, Schick Quattro, Yellow Tail, Telus, Principle, John St., Vitaminwater, Hello! Canada, Lou Lou, MoneySense, National Post, and Torkin Manes.
