September 13, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
As football season starts, so too does a new fund-raising and promotion campaign by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in Memphis, and the Fox television network.
Employees of Fox Sports selected St. Jude as the beneficiary of one of its employer’s charitable giving programs.
All of the sport station’s broadcasts of National Football League games this year will feature public-service announcements and on-air mentions about St. Jude’s efforts to fight childhood cancer and other diseases—all the way through the Super Bowl. St. Jude patients will also be featured in pre- and post-game coverage.
Spots about the hospital will also air on other Fox outlets, including National Geographic and Fox News. All told, Fox expects that St. Jude will be mentioned on its airwaves about 1,300 times throughout the season.
Nine Fox Sports on-air personalities, including Pam Oliver (above), recently traveled to St. Jude, where they filmed a series of announcements with young patients. “Help St. Jude tackle childhood cancer,” one says.
The spots urge viewers to donate to the hospital by visiting a Web site where they can also watch videos, learn more about the children in the advertisements, and download press releases and other information.
To maximize the fund-raising potential of the broadcasts, St. Jude is now recruiting volunteers to host playoff and Super Bowl house parties where they and their guests will watch the big game and make donations to the hospital.
