A pioneer in social networking, the American Cancer Society realizes that Web 2.0 tools are just high-tech ways to continue what it's been doing for a hundred years — building and interacting with a community of constituents united against cancer.

By Abny Santicola

One of the key components of the revitalization effort is “The Official Sponsor Of Birthdays” campaign, which strives to spotlight the role ACS has played in decreasing the cancer death rate by 15 percent since the 1990s, meaning nearly 100,000 more people celebrate birthdays annually.

“The Official Sponsor Of Birthdays” campaign is an integrated effort that includes TV and print ads that drive people to morebirthdays.com, where they can sign up and declare the American Cancer Society the official sponsor of their birthdays. Web visitors who do that can create personal birthday fundraising Web pages that ask people for donations to fight cancer in lieu of birthday gifts; spread the word via a Facebook application that also encourages friends to donate to ACS in lieu of gifts; visit the birthdays blog
(officialbirthdayblog.com); and send e-cards to friends and family.