After rapidly selling out of their first order of 500 DanceStrong wristbands, Dance Marathon officials are hoping for similar results with their next shipment, expected to arrive within two weeks.
Modeled after the yellow cancer-awareness LiveSTRONG bracelets popularized by cyclist Lance Armstrong, DM’s blue wristbands quickly became a hit after arriving on campus.
The wristbands are produced by KDB Promotions, a Chicago-area company owned by a Northwestern graduate and former DM participant.
“People were all over the LiveSTRONG fad. (It was) very popular, and most people came to school with one. So I wanted to find a way to cash in on it on DM’s behalf,” said Ben Woo, a Weinberg junior and DM merchandise co-chairman, who came up with the idea.
DM sold about 200 wristbands within 24 hours of going on sale the first day of Reading Week last quarter.
By the end of Finals Week, the group had sold out the entire stock of 500. Each cost $5, earning a profit of $1,500 for DM’s primary charity, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Besides making up about 5 percent of the total check Dance Marathon will write for the foundation, merchandise such as wristbands helps spread the word about the fund-raiser.
“I have a cousin who is a flight attendant and people on her flights are always asking her, ‘I’ve never seen a blue one, what’s it for?’,” said Melissa Borschnack, an Education senior and DM executive co-chairwoman. “So it gets the word out about DM through things like that.”
Additionally, DM items like T-shirts, sweatbands, bottle-opener keychains and shot glasses help bring an element of fun to the event.
“Our mission is to make philanthropy fun and exciting for students — sort of like making it a celebration rather than this tedious thing people do to put on their resumes,” said Elaine Kanak, a Weinberg senior and DM executive co-chairwoman.
Kanak said it won’t bother her if the DanceSTRONG wristbands become a popular fad like the Live Strong bracelets, especially if people are wearing them for the right reasons.
“Obviously we want philanthropy to be trendy, that’s part of what we’re doing here with Dance Marathon,” she said.
Jed Strong, a DM dancer, said he is confident that others are buying the wristbands to support DM’s cause, not because they might be popular.
“I use the band to remind myself to raise money every day, ” said Strong, a Medill freshman.
“It’s the equivalent of writing a note on your hand — it’s on my wrist to remind me that that’s what I need to do.”
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