True confessions: the involvement of Unicef is what made this event a must attend for me. A year and a half ago, I served as a media spokesperson for Unicef on their Trick-or-Treat Halloween campaign and fell in love with their amazing global work. So much so that my spokesperson fee went straight as a donation to their cause.

Carol Stern, relatively newly minted President and CEO of Unicef United States Fund, came to spend time with us to share her passion for Unicef’s tetanus vaccination program, of which P&G Pampers has become a key corporate sponsor. She shared with us pictures and stories from her trip to the field, observing moms birthing in Mozambique, the primitive conditions, and huge risk of death for the newborns. She found herself wondering, “How can this Mom and I exist in the same world? I went into the hospital giving birth to my son practically screaming, ‘Epidural!” And here this Mom is thrilled that her newborn lived, as two prior children died during childbirth.” She describes her work as Moms on a mission: making the world a better place for other moms.

 

Here’s what we learn: Tetanus is an almost certain death. Each year, 140,000 newborns and 30,000 Moms will die due to tetanus infection, mainly in Africa and Southern and East Asia in poverty-stricken areas with little access to health care. And death involves extreme pain: muscle rigidity, painful muscle spasms, inability to eat, seizures triggered by light or touch. Yet we can never eliminate tetanus: it is a spore that lives in the soil, animal excretion, and can even be airborne. Scarily, in many countries, the umbilical cord gets cut with sharpened sugar cane that carries soil, and dirt to open cuts or wounds proves the greatest risk for contracting tetanus. Yet all this can be prevented by a 5-cent vaccine shot.

The cost of one tetanus shot for a child: only 5 cents. Yet every 3 minutes, one child dies from tetanus, a horribly painful death. Enter Pampers, who thinks of themselves as facilitating Moms helping Moms: every specially marked package bought = one vaccine for a third world child. We watched Salma Hayek on Oprah, with an announcement of a thousand vaccines for every audience member: one million vaccines (quick calculation by me: $50,000).

Carol shares, “We have a staff of about 6,000 in 157 countries: we have been there yesterday, we are there today, and we will be there tomorrow. Because we are there everyday, working with local NGO’s (non-governmental organizations), we are not the Western world but a trusted neighbor. We have a tract record of 60 years. For 5 cents, a child gets a tetanus vaccine. For $17, a child could get all the immunizations used for life.

Carol raves about her corporate sponsor, “Pampers has made a corporate decision not to just make diapers, but to save lives in the process.” Pampers’ brand managers describe their UNICEF campaign as facilitating Moms helping Moms. The result: over 45 million vaccinations thus far to help eradicate tetanus, and the U.S. campaign of this program launched in April 2008.

Definite a thought-provoking and admirable new evolution on cause-based marketing.

 

UPDATE, a video describing the program:

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