Rebranding the Avon Walk
31 Mar
The walk previously known as the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer wants you to know that they have rebranded into the Avon39. So why the change? I think that there was some confusion about the breast cancer multi-day walks. Currently, there is a 2-day that used to be a 3-day and a completely different 3-day event. Here is the Avon statement regarding the rebranding:
AVON 39 The Walk to End Breast Cancer. Formerly known as the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, the AVON 39 series is kicking off its 13th season with a refreshed look, but the same steadfast commitment to eradicate breast cancer. The 2015 weekend events take place in seven cities from April to October.
There are a couple nationwide breast cancer multi-day walks out there – Avon and Komen. What’s the diff?
If you want to walk 39 miles in 2 days and raise a minimum of $1800 – then you may like the former Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, now the Avon39.
Old logo
VERY old logo. Confused yet?
If you want to walk 60 miles in 3 days and raise a minimum of $2300 – then you should check out the Susan G. Komen 3Day walk, now presented by Bank of America. Interesting that the BOA logo is now part of the event logo. I poked around to see how much that cost but only found a little small-print-info on the pu-pu platter of pink offerings (credit card, donation amount per card to Komen) from their websites.
FYI: The previous Chief Mission Office with Komen has just left to be the CEO of Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG charity. I wonder how she will rebrand LIVESTRONG to make us forget the face of their doping founder, Lance. Good luck with that!
Mother Jones posted an article about how Avon wants you to know that they are not Komen. These folks are so very serious about their brands that they have purchased ads on search engines like google and yahoo. Type in “breast cancer walk” and see what ads pops up first on search results. I wrote about the Avon walk last spring when they were in Boston, with all the deets on where the money goes. Not sure how much they pay for advertising.
So what to do if you want to support breast cancer awareness but do not want to walk for 3 days or 39 miles? There is a nationwide event called Making Strides Against Breast Cancer that has no fundraising minimum and you walk for only 5 miles. In an out in a few hours instead of a few days. 
The fundraising pipeline is full of several other breast-cancer-focused events nationwide raising money to eradicate this disease. Here is an article in the Boston Business Journal outlining the Boston area breast-walks and their impact. Someday we won’t need them (fingers crossed), but until then the branding folks will do their best to help us keep it straight.