Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, is a disorder leading to the deaths of neurones. In comparison to other disorders and conditions, the percentage of people suffering from ALS is reasonably low; making it hard to raise money for the cause. Usually disorders, conditions and illnesses do not receive the awareness necessary for funding when the population of people suffering from said illness is low.
Despite this unfortunate norm, the ALS foundation decided to take action and revolutionize social media marketing. Instead of using platforms to sell products, the ALS foundation marketed their cause by adopting a local challenge and popularizing it in their own fashion.
Before the ALS foundation, the challenge was merely: 'The Ice Bucket Challenge' and, as the name suggests, simply involved pouring a bucket of ice over your own head. For no reason.
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| The Ice Bucket Challenge |
It didn't take long for the ALS foundation to realize the true potential behind what seemed to be a very local and short-lived fad.
ALS flipped the Ice Bucket Challenge into more than a dare. The foundation urged those willing to take on the challenge to remember the feeling their body's experienced the split second of the icy water came into contact with their skin. This brief feeling of shock and surprise is, according to the ALS foundation, supposed to replicate the feeling of not being capable of moving.
"Imagine if that one second of shock lasted a lifetime" said some people prior to or after pouring the icy cold water upon themselves. The challenge took off mid 2014, and went viral internationally. The ice bucket challenge even saw celebrities and notable figures participating, donating and encouraging others to do the same.
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| The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge goes viral in August 2014 |
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| Donatella Versace takes on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge |
But how successful was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in meeting the campaign's goals? In 2015 The ALS foundation stated they had raised over a whopping $115 million, and have planned out five stages for spending their money. $77 million is the budget for stage one, which is purely researching the disorder. Of that $77 million the foundation have currently spent $47 million. This money raised is only from foundations themselves, and does not even attempt to cover people's individual donations to the disorder outside of commercial foundations.
Although technically the ALS foundation didn't use the Ice Bucket Challenge as a form of marketing a product or service, they used it to promote a noble cause, and added depth and value to an otherwise fun yet frivolous activity. The challenge truly went viral, over 17 million people uploaded an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video, and over 440 million people viewed these videos.
The ALS foundation proved to millions of social media users and marketers everywhere that social media marketing campaigns can be both positive and socially conscious. The ALS foundation opened the eyes of millions of people who were unaware of the threats of ALS.
