Objective

Enable the dream of young women to attend their Prom.

Dress for a Dream is a heartfelt charitable event with a mission to collect and distribute donated prom dresses to young women who are not able to afford to purchase them. Spearheaded by Marla Tapper of Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield Michigan, her objective was to facilitate the collection, organization, and distribution of dresses to young women who otherwise would not be able to attend their prom. Awareness would be a critical success factor for the project as it was the first year of the campaign.

Solution

Build awareness and an identity for the event by employing multiple media channels. A brand strategy, logo, and design theme was developed that was professional in appearance and would remain fresh year over year. Ads were developed for both local newspapers and magazines. A rich graphic email was developed and sent to thousands of Tapper’s subscribers.

Results

With over 3,500 gowns donated, the event far surpassed expectations. In fact, so many dresses were donated, Dress for a Dream rented a storefront in a local mall to store the dresses and provide a comfortable place for the girls to come in for selection and fitting of a dress. Not only did the local advertisements elicit a strong local response, the email marketing quickly spread the word across the nation as the messages were forwarded to associates, family, and friends, a phenomenon often referred to as viral marketing. As a result, donations were arriving from points across the country including New York, Miami, Chicago and as far away as Los Angeles.

For her efforts and resulting success with Dress for a Dream, Alternatives For Girls in Detroit nominated Marla Tapper for a 2005 Role Model Award.

Continued Support

Due to the support of our incredible city and the wonderful people in our community, this program was an amazing success. For information on how you can help enable the future prom dreams, this year, Dress for a Dream will be carried about by two remarkable women who can be reached at hopecloset@yahoo.com.

Please contact them with any questions, if you have a dress to donate, know someone who is in need of a dress, or if you would like to volunteer.