Where is it?

The Z beside the Y is a Cambridge Youth Center that is very difficult to find despite the fact that it is as the title states beside the Y on Hespeler Road. So why is it hard to find? and why is it poor marketing?

This is an over head picture of the Z location that was obtained from the Z beside the Y website and slightly altered to show my point:

The Z is inconveniently placed behind another building that is for new Canadian services for the YMCA. The Z also has issues with its signage. It has a great big sign where I have placed a yellow rectangle on the map. The sign has an abstract logo that is hard to read and no indicators that the Z is behind the other building. When going along Hespeler Road from off the express way you cannot see the Z sign until you are almost past it. This is due to the fact that there is one tree (red circle) that needs to be trimmed so it is out of the way.


The Z is difficult to find due to its poor back lot location and ineffective signage.

The Canadian Cancer Society has a product called the Thing-a-ma-boob to raise awareness about the importance of frequent mammograms. The Thing-a-ma-boob looks like a beaded key chain. Each bead represents the lump size that on average is found during different types of examinations. The smallest bead is for women who get regular mammograms. The second is for  women at their first mammogram. The third is the most common found by a healthcare professional during a physical exam. And the fourth and largest is the lump found during a self breast examination.

The Thing-a-ma-boob is to actual size and gives a very good visual to people who may not be aware of the facts. I myself had no idea a lump could group so big without finding it during a self breast exam. I had thought to do  a self breast exam was all that was really needed to keep on top of my breast care.

The packaging is designed so that once a woman receives the Thing-a-ma-boob and understands the message she should then pass it onto a friend. There is a place for each person to sign that they have seen the Thing-a-ma-boob and recieves the information.

I think the Thing-a-ma-boob is a very innovative way to get women talking about a subject they don't want to talk about. Breast cancer is a serious illness that can be survived if found soon enough making the Thing-a-ma-boob a very useful prevention marketing tool.

                                              This picture was taken from http://thingamaboob.ca/ November 19, 2011


To learn more about the Thing-a-ma-boob please go to the Canadian Cancer Society website:

http://thingamaboob.ca/