Skadaddle Media Announces Launch of New Grassroots Twitter® Campaign, Twitter for Sh-tters, to Help International Non-Profit Wherever the Need Raise Money to Build Eco-Sanitation Toilets in Developing Countries

Forwarded to the Portal by Leonard Markidan,

Skadaddle Media

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Aggressive Social Media Initiative Challenges Twitter Users and Others to Step Up and

“Talk Sh-t” to Generate Much-Needed Funds, Attention for Important Global Health Issue

Skadaddle Media, Inc., a creative marketing studio which specializes in the development and execution of ideas that solve specific communications challenges, today announced the launch of its latest social media initiative, Twitter for Sh-tters (http://www.twitterforsh-tters.com), on behalf of its non-profit client Wherever the Need (WTN). A grassroots Twitter® campaign, Twitter for Sh-tters seeks to raise critical funds to build eco-sanitation toilets in the poorest regions of the world, and bring the important topic of sanitation to the forefront of discussions concerning pressing global health and poverty issues.

Founded in 1997, WTN aims to alleviate poverty and ill health through the implementation of environmentally-sound sanitation and water solutions that empower individuals and communities without undermining traditions and cultures. The organization targets regions within developing nations, such as India, Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone, to provide sanitation solutions by building specialized eco-sanitation (“eco-san”) toilets, and to facilitate the conversion of human waste for local agriculture usage.

The campaign, an audacious effort compelling Twitter users to get involved in an oft-ignored crisis, invites people to tweet on behalf of TwitterforSh-tters.com to drive donations for WTN and its ongoing programs in the world’s most impoverished areas. The idea is simple: every day, Twitter users, whether they have five followers or 5,000, spend the day tweeting to invite their followers to donate to WTN and its cause. These “Daily Dumpers” can tweet about anything they want, from the best “potty humor,” to simply just “talking sh-t.”

“We firmly believe that the power is in the people, and what better way to ignite conversation about this age-old, taboo subject than via social media,” said Beverly Visty-Doman, executive director of Wherever the Need USA. “We all go to the bathroom, regardless of social status, location, age, or gender, yet no one wants to speak about it. Our goal is to drive awareness about the role sanitation plays in diminishing poverty and disease, while facilitating the construction of eco-sanitation toilets...wherever they are needed.”

“It’s about time that sanitation, the lack of which causes the world’s biggest unaddressed public health crisis, stops being a dirty word,” said Rose George, author of The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters, and global advocate of constructing eco-san toilets in impoverished areas. “Wherever the Need’s aim to tweet sanitation out of the dark corner into which it is usually relegated is admirable and welcome.”

Eco-san toilets represent a practical, sustainable solution to a global epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, (WHO), an estimated 2.5 billion people do not use satisfactory toilet facilities and must resort to open defecation, a well documented practice that spreads multiple diseases. Meanwhile, intestinal and diarrheal illnesses, caused by poor sanitation and insufficient clean water resources, cause a child under the age of five to die every 17 seconds. Every day, approximately 5,000 children, more than those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles combined, perish as a direct result of these problems.

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Skadaddle Media Launches New Grassroots Twitter Campaign, Twitter for Sh-tters, to Help International Non-Profit Wherever the Need

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“With thousands of worthy causes, perhaps all of which are admittedly ‘sexier’ and more approachable than sanitation, we felt it was important to create a grassroots communications initiative for Wherever the Need that addresses the issue in a bold manner,” said Todd Lieman, founder and co-president of Skadaddle Media, Inc. “For those who have seen the Academy Award^â-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, the sanitation conditions portrayed in the movie are identical to those which Wherever the Need is addressing in India and other locales. That said, our strategy is not to tug on heartstrings or create guilt for what we have. Instead, the campaign uses a straightforward approach that challenges individuals, corporations, and even governments to quite literally step in it and – pardon the expression – ‘give a sh-t’. This is just the beginning.”

In utilizing Twitter, a popular “micro-blogging” service that allows users to post continual personal status updates of up to 140 characters, the campaign hopes to generate grassroots support for Wherever the Need’s message. For more information on the Twitter for Sh-tters program, please visit http://www.twitterforsh-tters.com, or follow the initiative on Twitter at @tw_tter4sh_tter (http://twitter.com/tw_tter4sh_tter).

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About Skadaddle Media, Inc.

Based in Sausalito, Calif., Skadaddle Media is a creative marketing studio which specializes in the development and execution of ideas that solve specific communications challenges. The company draws upon deep experiences and capabilities from across the marketing, content, and media production continuum, and then integrates this collective expertise into a distinctive client service model which emphasizes authenticity, collaboration, and transparency. The result is a unique firm which embraces and leverages creativity, technology, passion, and teamwork to generate the right concept…at the right time. Founded in 2008 by Todd Lieman and Jon Wank, and regarded for its client partnerships across a broad range of industries, Skadaddle Media is the group behind Mutual of Omaha’s highly-successful national “aha moment” campaign, and other innovative programs for such clients as MBT Footwear and non-profit Wherever the Need. For more information, please visit http://www.skadaddlemedia.com.

About Wherever the Need

Founded in 1997, Wherever the Need (WTN) seeks to alleviate poverty and ill health through the implementation of sanitation, water and livelihoods, and in a manner that empowers individuals and communities without undermining their traditions and cultures. WTN collaborates with developing countries, such as India, Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone, to provide sanitation and water through specialized “eco-san” toilets, and to facilitate the conversion of human waste for local agriculture usage. Wherever possible, the organization works on projects that are naturally sustainable, and implements them in environmentally-friendly ways using materials that will not damage the planet. For more information, please visit http://www.wherevertheneed.org.