Are You Man Enough? by Aaron Legge

In the increasingly competitive world of fundraising events, finding an original concept that connects with participants and donors can be the defining factor in a memorable and successful event. This coming January, The Manathlon in support of The Canadian Testicular Cancer Association (TCTCA), combines a fun and creative fundraising event with a unique partnership structure to deliver value to participants, TCTCA and sponsors.

Teams competing in the Manathlon will consist of 5 members tasked with raising money for The Canadian Testicular Cancer Association, through individual fundraising events and pledges.  As a reward for fundraising efforts, each team will compete in a unique event featuring ‘manly’ challenges with the winner being crowned the “Manliest team in Halifax”. The Manathlon will take place during Testicular Cancer Awareness month on Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at the Cunard Centre. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men between the ages of 15-29, but when caught early, it is often easily treatable and curable.

One of the key advantages of sponsorship as a marketing platform is the ability to extend. Extension of benefits over a period of time or over multiple mediums is what separates sponsorship from other forms of marketing and enables multiple objectives to be met through a single investment. The mission of the TCTCA is solely to create awareness for this deadly disease, so with that in mind, Sports & Entertainment Atlantic pitched media sponsors that reached the target demographic of males aged 15-35 to come on board and support the event with media value that could be used in a post-event awareness campaign. Partners such as The Bounce, The Metro and Empire Theatres, were asked to help us reach the targeted audience with a campaign that stresses the importance of early detection. By leveraging the one-day event to generate the media buy required for an awareness campaign, the partnership extends for a longer period of time and ties the sponsors more directly with the cause.

This January will mark the inaugural Manathlon event with hopes that one day it will reach the same level of success as Bust-a-Move and Movember across Canada. Testicular cancer is treatable, if detected early enough and with the support of the TCTCA and the “manliest men in Halifax” we can greatly reduce the number of deaths from this disease. For more information on registering a team please go to www.manathlon.ca.