"This is either going to be amazing or mortifying."

That’s how I kicked things off on a Zoom meeting with Madeline Caldwell last fall. I was about to pitch her on a promotion to trade poop for beer.

A few days earlier on a webinar for AMA Baltimore, Madeline—then leading marketing at DuClaw Brewing Company—said that they were trying to do a collaboration with Squatty Potty around DuClaw’s popular Unicorn Farts sour ale. I suggested that they partner on a limited-edition beer that you could only get by submitting a stool sample, benefiting the Colon Cancer Foundation.  

See, colorectal cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer affecting both men and women in the U.S.—but it’s highly treatable when you catch it early. And although most people aren’t considered at-risk until they're 45, the highest growth rate of cases is among millennials, particularly BIPOC millennials. So why not use good beer and potty humor to create awareness and show everyone how easy and non-invasive screening can be?

A deleted scene from Mad Men, probably.

Madeline didn’t laugh me off the call. She said, “let’s do this.” I floated the idea to the Colon Cancer Foundation and they said the same thing. And so did Squatty Potty, whose CD Carson Stilson generously agreed to produce content to promote it. When Madeline left DuClaw to join 212 Communications, her team of PR pros began plotting out an earned media plan and social strategy. Rachel Bradley, the newly promoted head of DuClaw marketing, picked things right up and led the creation of the beer itself. We found awesome partners in CraftShack to deliver the beer to eligible markets. The Colon Cancer Foundation and their partners at Social Endurance secured a donation of colon cancer screening tests from Everlywell. The Give a Crap Challenge was happening.

(I can’t give enough props to Cindy Borassi at the Colon Cancer Foundation. I’ve known her for years and thrown out plenty of wild, scatological ideas to support the cause but she’s the one who actually goes before their board of oncologists and pharma reps and champions these ideas. She gets it, and she's fearless. Look for big things from this organization.)

And of course, my colleagues at Elevation never hesitated to dive in. Frank Gilliam and Aaron Dotson greenlit pro-bono resources to develop the campaign components. Frank personally designed a gorgeous campaign website. Brian Burton was sending hilarious copy from the hospital while his wife was in labor (“I had some downtime,” he said). Chris Fullman put his blood, sweat, and tears into bringing Frank’s designs to life, and he and Shade Wilson put all the info capture backend into play.

Several thousand poop jokes later, at 12:01 this morning—the start of National Colon Cancer Screening Day—GiveaCrapChallenge.com went live and submissions started rolling in immediately. Next week, 100 people will be randomly selected to receive an Everlywell Colon Cancer Screening Test, a Squatty Potty, and a six-pack of DuClaw’s Thanks for Giving a Crap sour ale.

Courtesy of Squatty Potty

There’s been a lot to figure out over the last few months, but I’m so proud to work with this team of selfless, creative people that saw an idea and ran with it, donating their skills and time to fight colorectal cancer. There’s still a lot to do with the Give a Crap Challenge, but at least we’ll have plenty of good beer. And hopefully, we'll save a few lives along the way.