Vera Bradley taps mobile to empower volunteers for breast cancer fundraiser

By Chantal Tode

July 24, 2013

Vera Bradley leverages mobile for events

Handbag and accessory brand Vera Bradley tapped mobile to help empower volunteers at an annual fundraising event for the company?s breast cancer foundation.

The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer developed a custom mobile event application to improve communications and eliminate paper waste for the organizaton?s 20th Annual Vera Bradley Golf and Tennis Tournament fundraiser. The app saw a 50 percent adoption rate among event organizers and volunteers, with the app being used 3,000 times over the course of the three-day event.

?It makes sense for Vera Bradley to leverage mobile applications for their fundraising events via the Sojourner Mobile Volunteer App because they have over 300 volunteers and sometimes more that help with their events,? said Jeanette Mojares, director of marketing at Sita Corp., Somerset, NJ.

?Their volunteers are spread out during the event,? she said. ?Everyone has a smartphone device.

?It was an easy way to collaborate the tasks, communicate information and provide last-minute changes to the schedule. It saved them on paper costs, time and enabled communication in real-time.?

The Vera Bradley Foundation raises money to fight breast cancer and manages the largest women?s amateur golf and tennis charity in the nation.

Easier communication
Vera Bradley worked with Sojourner Mobile Communications, a division of Sita Corp., to develop the mobile event app during a three-day development and deployment period.

This year?s event included a Go Green initiative, with the mobile app helping the organization reach it goals of replacing a dozen event organization binders. The app also saved 3,000 pages of paper over the course of the event.

The app?helped volunteers keep the event running smoothly?

The app made it easier for event organizers and volunteers to communicate and coordinate activities, freeing them up to focus on raising funds and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.

The customized app was used 1,400 times on the first day of the event.

Mobile events
Like many fashion and accessory brands, Vera Bradley has been building its mobile repertoire over the past couple of years.

For example, the company offers the Vera Bradley iCatalog for iPad app, providing a feature-rich way to shop its catalogs.

Last year, it also brought out a Welcome Back app for fall 2012 that featured the latest back-to-school fashions.

All types of brands are also leveraging mobile to enhance events they are organizing or sponsoring.

Online insurance firm Esurance recently made it easy for attendees at the Bite of Seattle festival to share their favorite foods for a chance to win a prize via Twitter (see story).

Additionally, surfing apparel manufacturer and retailer Rip Curl drove a 23 percent increase in app opens for its surfing events app by incorporating rich media push notifications (see story).

"More and more brands are embracing mobile for their events,? Ms. Mojares said. ?All major brands have at least one mobile app to promoting their brand.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Associate Editor Chantal Tode covers advertising, messaging, legal/privacy and database/CRM. Reach her at chantal@mobilemarketer.com.

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Landmark breast cancer study

A new study could revolutionise the way women with breast cancer will be diagnosed and treated in the future by reclassifying the disease into 10 completely new categories based on the tumour’s genetic ‘fingerprint’.

The study suggests that doctors could one day predict survival more accurately based on these new categories or subtypes, and better tailor treatment to the individual patient.

The research, published in the journal Nature is the largest global gene study of breast cancer tissue ever performed – the culmination of decades of research into the disease.

Researchers from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at King’s College London were part of an international collaboration that gathered, and then analysed, the DNA and RNA of 2,000 tumour samples taken from women diagnosed with breast cancer between five and ten years ago.

The scientists classified breast cancer into at least 10 subtypes grouped by common genetic features that correlate with survival – this new classification could change the way drugs are tailored to treat women with breast cancer.

The team discovered several completely new breast cancer genes that drive the disease – these are all potential targets for the development of new types of drugs. This information will be available to scientists worldwide to boost drug discovery and development. 

The study reveals the relationship between these genes and known cell signalling pathways (the messaging networks that control cell growth and division) – this could pinpoint how these gene faults cause cancer by disrupting important cell processes. 

Prof Arnie Purushotham, a co-author of the paper from King’s, said:  ‘This is a huge step forward towards personalising the diagnosis and care of individual patients. In the future we’ll be able to diagnosis exactly which type of breast cancer a woman – and occasionally a man – has, and which types of drugs will work best.’

The next stage is to discover how tumours in each subgroup behave, for example how quickly they grow or spread. More research in the laboratory and in patients is needed to confirm the most effective treatment plan for each of the 10 types of breast cancer.

For further information please contact Emma Reynolds, Press Officer at King’s College London, on 0207 848 4334 or email emma.reynolds@kcl.ac.uk.

For more information about King’s see our ‘King’s in Brief’ page.

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Key gene in breast cancer development identified

Researchers at King’s College London have identified a gene involved in the development of breast cancer, which could lead to the earlier detection and treatment of the disease.

A new study, in collaboration with Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL), has found that gene changes occur up to five years before the detection of breast cancer, paving the way for treatments aimed specifically at reversing changes in susceptible genes before cancer occurs.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with around 50,000 people diagnosed each year.

Published today in Carcinogenesis, the study was based on a group of 36 identical twin pairs from TwinsUK, based at King’s, the biggest adult twin registry in the UK, where one twin had developed breast cancer and the other had not. Comparing DNA samples from each twin, collected before and after the diagnosis of breast cancer, as well as samples from breast tumours and breast cancer cell lines, the research team found significant chemical changes in around 400 sites in the affected twin. Of these, scientists identified the DOK7 gene was identified as most likely to be directly involved in the development of breast cancer. On average, these chemical changes took place five years prior to the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Identical twins such as those at TwinsUK are ideal for studies of this nature as theyshare 100 per cent of their genes. Therefore, any difference between twins is attributable to environmental factors or chemical changes to their genes. These chemicalchanges in the way genes are expressed is called epigenetics.

Crucially, the DOK7 gene identified in this study can be switched on and off epigenetically, says Professor Tim Spector from the Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology at King’s, who co-authored the research paper.

Professor Spector said: ‘The identification of the DOK7 gene offers possibilities for the prediction and treatment of breast cancer and other common illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis. In the future screening of epigenetic changes in key genes followed by drug treatments could be commonplace. Our twin studies are a great way of detecting these small but important differences between sisters and we hope to explore many other diseases.’

Dr Manel Esteller, Head of Epigenetics at IDIBELL, said: ‘An epigenetic alteration associated with an increased risk of breast cancer can be detected in the sick twin before theclinical diagnosis.’ The next step for researchers will be identifying the exact function of the DOK7 gene.

Dr Esteller added: ‘We believe the DOK7 gene is a regulator of tyrosine kinases, an antitumor drug target already used for the treatment of breast cancer. If DOK7 performs this function, new studies to test drugs for tumours resistant to chemotherapy could take place in the future.’

Notes to editors

Professor Tim Spector is available for interview.

Please contact Jack Stonebridge, PR Coordinator at King’s College London, on 0207 848 3238 or email jack.stonebridge@kcl.ac.uk

View the Carcinogenesis paper.

For further information on King’s visit our ‘King’s in Brief’ page.

For more information on the Epitwin project visit the website.

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