How does one brand an illness?

There is an interesting quandary faced by individuals who work for a not-for-profit whose goal is to eliminate or make treatable an illness. How do you brand the effort so that people feel the need to give, without stigmatizing or reducing to some type of pity project the ones you are trying to help. I have a great deal of experience dealing with individuals with cognitive disabilities and to a certain degree it is easy to brand this program because we are not seeking a cure in most cases and we can portray the organization as providing a unique community service providing people with the same dignities all of us aspire to and maybe take for granted.

This becomes a lot more difficult when you are dealing with people who have an illness that may not be apparent but still impacts how they live their lives. Take epilepsy as one example. Those who live with that illness take medication which controls their illness and if current statistics are correct 3% of the public has this illness. So if you are in a room with 100 people in it there are 3 epileptics. Yet unless they have a seizure you will never know they are there.

So if you are the National Epilepsy Foundation, do you call out how many people have this illness, do you show the impact a contribution will have or do you try to motivate people via a call to action. In many cases all 3 seem to work. I have noticed the Epilepsy Foundations work and I respect it because they take a hidden illness and have managed to brand it very well without stigmatizing those who have it.

I like their branding for the following reasons. They sell the facts pure and simple. In selling the facts, they make it a point to dispel the more common misconceptions. Lastly, they make it clear that someone with this illness could be someone you know quite well but never knew had epilepsy. That aspect of making the illness a personal issue for the possible client, sponsor or customer is a fantastic way to brand an illness without seeming crass or insensitive.

All in all this is a fascinating and difficult debate that non-profits will suffer with for their lives. They treat very dangerous ground and lack the ability to develop a clear marketing strategy that most companies can use to market their products clearly. Non profits need to work within a field of sensitivity that makes sure they are not stigmatizing, pandering nor understating their mission. In some regards, they need to be forceful while being sensitive!

Well that's enough for one day I think! Have a great Tuesday!!!