Dive Brief:
- The American Diabetes Association has launched a new social media campaign, aiming to raise donations and awareness by daring people to record videos of themselves dancing and share those clips online under the hashtag #DiabetesDanceDare.
- Similar to The ALS Association's Ice Bucket Challenge, the ADA hopes the social and competitive aspect of the campaign will help jumpstart fundraising. The campaign calls for participants to post a 23-second video of their best dance moves on Twitter or Instagram, and dare three other people to do the same and donate — alluding to the fact that someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with diabetes every 23 seconds.
- More than 29 million people in the U.S. have diabetes and a further 86 million are at risk of developing the condition, according to Kevin Hagan, CEO of ADA.
Dive Insight:
Following the overwhelming success of The ALS Associations's Ice Bucket Challenge (which raised over $220 million in donations), the ADA is aiming to tap into the power of social media through its first Diabetes Dance Dare.
"Our hope is that through the Diabetes Dance Dare, we will engage millions of individuals across the country, igniting conversations and generating funds to help us fight the disease." said Hagan
The ADA enlisted the support of a number of former and current professional athletes, including former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal; Shane Ray, linebacker for the Denver Broncos; and Rashad Jennings, running back for the New York Giants.
Shaquille O'Neal has already kicked things off with a video of himself dancing, which has been viewed 301,000 times on Instragram.
While the ADA didn't indicate what it hoped to raise money for, the success of The ALS Association's campaign did lead to funding for new research into the neurodegenerative disease, including a $1.5 million grant to Cytokinetics to support a Phase 3 trial of tirasemtiv in patients with ALS.