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MS Challenge Walk 2014 promo

Written by on Feb 28, 2014
Ken

The MS Challenge Walk is a difficult experience to capture. How do you explain to someone what would make you walk fifty miles — not just one year, but every year? How do you put into words the hope and love that come with strained muscles and flowing tears? It doesn't make sense, and it's almost impossible to convey.

Yet just as we set out to do the impossible by walking fifty miles, so too does the crew of Red Dirt Productions tackle the challenging task of capturing and sharing the experience. For years, Brenda Neary and her crew have come to Cape Cod to volunteer their video production skills to produce commercials based on our walk. They have now unveiled their promotion for MS Challenge Walk 2014:

Three minutes may be the perfect length for the more attentive television generation, but in this age of tweets and Facebook posts, it may tax one's attention span. So here's a 30-second version:

Please share this video on Facebook or put it on Twitter to tell all your friends about this amazing experience!

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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Jumpstart your online fundraising

Written by on Feb 8, 2013
Ken

A growing percentage of MS Challenge Walk fundraising occurs online — and why not? Which is easier: sending a letter to your friend in Nome, Alaska, her writing a check and returning it in your self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), you then writing a receipt and mailing the check to the NMSS; or sending your friend an email and asking her to punch in her credit card online?

Not only does the online approach get the money into the bank more quickly, it also gives the National MS Society a bigger cut, as fewer hands need to be hired to process a check. It's a winning situation for all parties.

There are other online fundraising tools, too: you can make every email into a fundraising solicitation; a handy Facebook application can do your fundraising for you; you can promote your offline events in an online event calendar; you can even get Amazon.com to give you a piece of the action.

I reviewed all these tools and more at last month's Jumpstart Your Fundraising meeting. Didn't attend? A 20-minute recording of that presentation is available in the below YouTube video:

If you want more details about any of these opportunities, please email me or leave a comment. For more advice from Jumpstart, listen to the MS Challenge Talk audio recordings. To be alerted to future Jumpstart sessions, sign up for free email notifications!

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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MS Challenge Walk 2013 commercial & PSA

Written by on Jan 20, 2013
Ken

Every September, Brenda Neary and her Red Dirt Productions crew come to Cape Cod not just to bear witness to MS Challenge Walk, but to share the experience with a wider audience. They do so by recording the event on film and editing an amazing three-day adventure into a three-minute commercial that captures the essence of what it means to be a part of the MS Challenge Walk community.

The 2013 video is now out, having been filmed at the 2012 walk. Not only will you see many familiar friends and faces, but you can use this video to recruit even more heroes into our ranks. Use the "Share this" buttons at the bottom of this post to take advantage of this recruitment resource. Make them the stars of next year's commercial!

And here's a separate, shorter video that features different heroes:

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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Stay hydrated in hot weather

Written by on Jun 20, 2012
Ken

Today at 7:09 PM marks the beginning of summer — and the heat is here to prove it! With temperatures rising to the nineties, it's important to be safe and stay hydrated as you continue your training for MS Challenge Walk.

Here with tips on how to stay hydrated is Dr. Mary-Elise Manuell of UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Best tip: Don't wait until you're thirsty. Keep chugging those liquids in anticipation of them being depleted! You'll feel better and be safer.

For more advice about staying hydrated, check out the National MS Society's Web site or other posts on the Challenge Blog.

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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Making connections

Written by on Jun 13, 2012
Ken

For the past two months, I have been sitting down with veterans of MS Challenge Walk and asking them to tell me their stories. Ostensibly, the reason for these interviews is to produce MS Challenge Talk, a weekly audio recording that allows anyone within or without our community to learn more about its members.

In actuality, the podcast is an excuse for me to do what I love most: make connections.

When my mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1990, all we saw ahead of us was struggle. We knew that what started as a slight unsteadiness on her feet could someday become something far worse, closing her off from the rest of her life and her world.

What none of us saw was the connections we would make with others who were fighting this same battle. Through our involvement with MS Challenge Walk, we have made new friends, been supported by old ones, and gained more perspective than we knew was possible.

MS Challenge Talk is my own personal connection accelerator. Heroes who I've seen only briefly on the walk, in a context that lets me get to know them only in passing, are now inviting me into their lives and their homes and sharing with me the most intimate details of their hopes and fears. Every time, I come away awed and humbled — and having made a new friend and a stronger connection to the cause.

MS Challenge Talk begins with MS Challenge Walk. The walk isn't just to find a cure; taking the pledge to walk three days and 50 miles makes you the cure.

Thank you to everyone who is walking with me — and to everyone who is talking to me. Wherever it is we're going, we'll make it … together.

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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MS Challenge Walk 2012 commercial & PSA

Written by on Jan 18, 2012
Ken

They've done it again! You wouldn't think the incomparable experience of walking three days and fifty miles with some of the world's most amazing volunteers could be condensed so succinctly, but Brenda Neary, Marsha Harris, and Mary Esper of Red Dirt Productions have produced the following three-minute video that captures the MS Challenge Walk 2011 and promotes the 2012 event.

This 30-second commercial airs on Comcast Jan 30–March 4: 

The spot will be featured on Comcast's Web site. Comcast subscribers will be able to click through from that commercial to watch the three-minute piece in Video On Demand:

AEN-TVSa-Su 9am-7pm
BRVO-TVM-Su 8pm-12am
ENT-TVSa-Su 10am-6pm
FOOD-TVSa-Su 10am-7pm
M-Su 6pm-12m
HALL-TVSa 8pm-11p
HGTV-TVM-Su 8pm-12m
LIF-TVM-F 2pm-7pm
STYL-TVM-Su 8pm-12m
TLC-TVSa-Su 10am-6pm
M-Su 7pm-12m
VH1-TVSa-Su 10am-6pm
M-Su 7pm-12m

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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MS Challenge Walk 2011: The Movie

Written by on Mar 25, 2011
Ken

In a world where heroes can make a difference — there exists one weekend when they will do the impossible. The stars will align for hundreds of champions to come together and light a flame against the darkness, daring to defy their very fate. Friendships will be forged and all limits shattered, ensuring nothing will ever be the same.

The tragedy and the triumph has critics raving. "STUNNING," says Leonard Maltin. "A MASTERPIECE," according to Steve Sookikian. "TWO THUMBS UP" from Roger Ebert.

Starring YOU, MS Challenge Walk opens September 9, 2011, for a limited engagement of one weekend only. Watch the sneak preview, then get your tickets today!

Share with your friends by clicking the "Like" button below!

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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MS Challenge Walk 2011 commercials

Written by on Feb 2, 2011
Ken

The snow may have us shut indoors, but we're getting the word out! We want the tenth annual MS Challenge Walk on Cape Cod to be the best yet, and that means recruiting friends new and old. So we're advertising on Comcast, January 31 through March 6, during which time you may spot this commercial:

This commercial will air on these stations and shows:

AEN
Sell This House, Flip House, All AEN programming, movies
BRVO
Housewives, Rachel Zoe, Flipping Out, Law & Order, movies
ENT
E! Entertainment
FOOD Network
HALL
Hallmark Feature Movie
HGTV
TLC
Jon & Kate, Cake Off, 18 Kids, Toddlers, Yes to Dress, Ink, Dateline, What Not Wear

In addition to the thirty-second commercial appearing during the above shows, this three-minute video will be available in the Comcast Video-on-Demand library:

Please post these videos to your Facebook profile or send them to any of your friends who are considering participating in the MS Challenge Walk!

Ken joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

Posted in Publicity | Comments Off on MS Challenge Walk 2011 commercials

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