International Paper Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) launched the Pink Ream campaign in 2017 with distinctive, specially-designed packaging for reams of HP Office paper.
For the initiative, the manufacturer collaborated with the Susan G Komen Europe Network and for every special edition Pink Ream sold, International Paper donated €0.10 to European programmes focused on breast cancer research, awareness and prevention. A total of €198,000 ($230,000) was contributed.
This year, the Pink Ream campaign is continuing the battle in partnership with Think Pink Europe, an umbrella group that unites over a dozen national breast cancer organisations. Among the many activities supported by Think Pink Europe is the flagship initiative, the Race for the Cure (below), the world’s biggest walking and running event which is designed to raise public awareness of breast cancer.
The HP Office Pink Ream will be available throughout October – global Breast Cancer Awareness Month – and International Paper has again guaranteed a minimum contribution of €100,000. Of the total amount raised, 80% will be donated to local associations while 20% will be invested in pan-European programmes – all through Think Pink Europe.
In its fight against the disease, International Paper EMEA is following the lead of its parent organisation in the US. Since launching the HP Office Pink Ream in 2007, the paper manufacturer has donated more than $700,000 to breast cancer research. This and similar initiatives express the company’s commitment to community engagement, which is part of its approach to create value for all stakeholders for generations to come.
Pink Ream campaign wins EOPA 2018 award
International Paper’s HP Office Pink Ream campaign, which ran from May through December 2017, made a real splash on a European level, both from a sales as well as philanthropic point of view. During this period, International Paper set aside €0.10 from the sale of each ream of HP Office to donate to the Komen Europe Network, part of the world’s largest breast cancer group, the Susan G Komen organisation in the US.
The amount given to the non-profit organisation after the campaign was nearly double the planned minimum International Paper pledge of €100,000 ($117,000). The funds will support European programmes that focus on breast cancer research, awareness and prevention.
The campaign attracted much attention, not least from the judging panel of OPI’s 2018 European Office Products Awards (EOPA). Having been shortlisted following the judges meeting in December 2017, International Paper’s HP Office Pink Ream campaign ultimately won the Initiative of the Year award at the EOPA presentation dinner in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in March 2018.
Think Pink Europe: Race for the Cure
The Race for the Cure is the world’s biggest walking and running event in the fight against breast cancer. Over 30 years ago, Nancy G Brinker promised her sister Susan to help end the disease that had taken her life: breast cancer. In 1982, she founded the Susan G Komen organisation and a year later arranged the first edition of the Race for the Cure in Dallas, Texas.
There are now over 150 races all over the world with about one million participants. The walking and running event crossed the ocean almost 20 years ago and touched down in Rome, Italy, where the largest edition of the Race for the Cure worldwide is still organised, hosting 67,000 participants.
Across Europe, the Race for the Cure is now held in Brussels, Antwerp, Namur, Bari, Bologna, Brescia, Athens, Bucharest and Sarajevo. Think Pink Europe will host all European Races for the Cure – and similar events – on 29 September 2019.
