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How Ice Bucket Challenge’s simplicity made it so successful

Who would have guessed that a bucket, water and ice would be the tools needed to launch the most significant and viral social media campaign of the summer?

The Ice Bucket Challenge, a movement that swept the nation, was intertwined with the sports world and became a way for competitive athletes to rally around a cause. The challenge was designed to raise public awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control muscle movement. There is no cure for ALS.

The challenge started this summer with former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2012, and fellow ALS patient Pat Quinn. It was simple: Frates nominated himself to pour ice water on his head and then challenged a few others to follow suit within 24 hours or donate to ALS. Hundreds of athletes and celebrities not only subsequently accepted the challenge, but they also donated money. More nominations and donations followed.

According to an ALS Association spokesperson for the national office, the organization collected $113.6 million nationwide from more than 3 million new donors from July 29 to Sept. 16, compared with $3.5 million during the same period last year. Considering that the national organization and its satellite charities raised $64 million in 2013, this has been a historic campaign. In addition, almost 50 percent of the country had no idea what ALS is, so the visibility and awareness being generated has sparked necessary conversation.

Red Sox coaches and players douse executives Larry Lucchino and Sam Kennedy on Aug. 21.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
It has worked: On Aug. 20-21, the ALS Association achieved back-to-back record-breaking days in terms of giving. Just in those two days alone, the campaign raised $21.8 million. The organization is able to see in real time those who are donating because of the Ice Bucket Challenge due to a check-box on its donation page.

“As you look at the history of the Ice Bucket Challenge, it has always been associated with athletics,” said Maryilene Blondell, director of development for the Chicago chapter of the ALS Association. “Pete Frates and his friends did this because Frates is an athlete. Teams had a connection to the challenge and felt the need to take ownership of it. ”

There have been more than 2 million videos on Facebook and the challenge has been mentioned more than 2.2 million times on Twitter since the campaign went viral, with many coming from sports figures.

“The Ice Bucket Challenge was a cross-generational movement among teams and leagues both professionally and in the minor leagues with the common link being a meaningful cause and sports,” Blondell said. “Athletic teams across the board genuinely wanted to support the movement. ALS needed a voice like Pete Frates to turn our cause into an international dialogue and social media phenomenon, and we’re unbelievably grateful to the athletes and teams who rose to the challenge.”

If one takes a closer look at the Ice Bucket Challenge as a charitable cause campaign, it’s easy to see that it was simple but hit the right notes:

1. It’s personal. Successful campaigns have credible adopters to help spearhead it. People are more likely to support a cause when it is tied to an individual. In addition, friends challenged friends to donate, so it included a personal connection. Frates is a former athlete and he had the support of his teammates and school; that helped give the effort traction. We care more about identifiable symbols than statistics, and as a former athlete, he had access to other athletes to help bring this effort to the forefront of the country.

Once national media picked it up and participated in the challenge, it aired on local and national television stations. It originally went from athlete to athlete, and then it became team challenges, which increased the size of the donation and the scope of the audience.

2. It’s social. Social media helps spread the word to the masses and allows people to feel included anywhere around the world. There have been millions of mentions of #24hours or #IceBucketChallenge on Twitter and Facebook. Participants tagged their friends and held each other accountable to participate and donate.

3. Low barriers to entry. All a person needed was a nomination, a bucket and ice. It gathered more traction when teams challenged other teams. The result was a greater reach and more donations.

4. It makes a small ask. People donated a small amount, which has resulted in a grassroots campaign. To keep the effort going, teams looking to create goodwill in their communities through promotional events should consider having an Ice Bucket Challenge night, where the team will donate $5 per fan who participates in the event, and it can be done in unison as the team and fans come together.

Sports has the power to transcend generations and bring complete strangers together for a common team or cause. It can be used as a platform to do good for the community, allowing athletes to make a greater impact off the field or court than on it.

When athletes, teams and owners use their likeness to raise awareness for a cause, it attracts attention from sports fans who want to participate and feel included in what their favorite teams and athletes are doing.

In an era with constant sports media, either through the social spheres or through traditional outlets, and millions of dollars spent on sophisticated advertising and marketing campaigns, all it took was a bucket and a bag of ice to create a national movement that raised more than $100 million in a month.

Eric Shainock is an assistant account executive at Intersport in Chicago and founder of the Community Relations/Outreach in Sports blog (crsports1.wordpress.com).

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