Most everyone who's met me (and plenty who know me only through my blogs or other media) have learned some basic things about me:

• I’m a breast cancer survivor.
• I developed breast cancer at age 36 because I have the BRCA 2 genetic mutation, which greatly increases the risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.
• Because of my mutation, I chose to get a prophylactic oophorectomy in addition to the double mastectomy that was part of my cancer treatment.

People know these very intimate facts about me because I tell them; because it’s vitally important to educate people about the dangerous BRCA mutations and encourage them to get tested if they have risk factors.

And when I say vitally important, I mean it. The genetic test that detects BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 has saved many, many lives. Women who discover that they have one of these mutations can fend off almost certain cancer with preventative surgeries.

As of this morning, we know that Angelina Jolie took that test. She discovered that she had the BRCA 1 mutation and recently opted for a preventative double mastectomy.

Then she told the world about it in the New York Times.

When I saw her op ed this morning, I immediately contacted Sue Friedman, founder and executive director of FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered, the hereditary breast and ovarian cancer organization where I am a local outreach coordinator.

This is huge.

In one day, Angelina Jolie educated thousands and thousands of people who might never have heard of the BRCA mutation. There’s no doubt that she saved lives.

I can’t tell you how grateful I felt reading her article. Not only did the paparazzi-hounded celeb tell us private details about her mastectomy process, she also covered many other important points.

She let us know that her chances of developing breast cancer—once 87 percent—are now less than five percent.

She told spouses and partners how important they are to the mastectomy transition.

She told us she feels just as feminine as always.

And she let us know that she looks just the same to her children, but for a few small scars. More importantly, her kids’ fears about losing their mom to cancer are greatly diminished.

Finally, Jolie advocated to make the expensive BRCA test—it costs more than $3,000 in the U.S.—more accessible for all women.

FORCE has been fighting for this, too. The organization contributed to the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Myriad, which holds the patent on the BRCA genes. The case was argued before the Supreme Court in April.

FORCE and the ACLU are powerful entities, but as anybody who’s ever been in a supermarket checkout line knows, there’s nothing like the influence of celebrity. Using celebrity to educate people about obscure but important medical information is one of the best kinds of public service that I can think of. I’m proud to say that Brogan’s own Jackie Schultz, whom you probably know as the current Miss Michigan USA is using her visibility in the same way. Jackie has been speaking out about Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, a congenital condition in which females are born without a uterus. Jackie has this condition, along with 75,000 other women in the United States. It wasn’t easy for her to reveal this information about herself. But, like Angelina Jolie, Jackie recognized that her position in the public eye presented an amazing opportunity.

There’s another word for what Jackie and Jolie have done with their personal revelations: Marketing.

Most people think marketing means selling stuff. And of course, we proudly do plenty of that at Brogan.

But marketing—especially the social marketing that is Brogan’s expertise—is also about informing. Advocating. Making a difference. And, in some cases, potentially saving lives.

There are so many reasons I’m grateful to do what I do. Having the ability to educate about the BRCA mutation and advocate for greater accessibility to genetic testing is definitely one of them.

Angelina Jolie’s celebrity gives her that ability, too—in spades. I’m thrilled that she’s used it for this cause and I have very high hopes that her decision to go public is going to affect genetic testing practices and save lives.

Remember that day a couple weeks ago when it snowed in Detroit even though it was almost May? 

The day after that, everyone in our office was told to wake up at 2 a.m. and head to the airport.

You’d think all of this would have made us Broganites a wee bit cranky, but you’d be wrong. First, because our core value is “Cheerful and joyful.” And second, because we were embarking on our annual mystery trip.

We’ve told you about our mystery trips before. Basically, the annual adventure is a big, fat, kiss from Brogan to its staff for all the hard work we put in all year. It’s a chance for us to rest our brains for four days. It’s also an opportunity for us to bond with each other and expand our horizons. Some of the places we’ve hit since the mystery trip tradition began in 1995 are Iceland, New Orleans, London, Washington D.C., Amsterdam, and Miami.

As a mystery trip planning alumna, it was painful not knowing exactly how to pack (I surprised our crew in 2010 for our last tropical destination to Jamaica). For this trip, we were told to show up at that unholy hour with our passports and the only clearly deciphered clue: swimsuits and sunscreen. We had no earthly idea where we were going. This year's trip organizer, Lauren Zuzelski, had sent some clever but confounding clues like “The trip will be magically delicious” and “Limbs point southwest.” But nobody had cracked the code.

Only when it was time to head to security were we handed our tickets to . . . Aruba!

After that, we were so cheerful and joyful that it made the news. 

On our layover in Atlanta, we picked up several of our staff from the Raleigh, North Carolina office. We made it to our all-inclusive Aruban resort in time for a late lunch.

I'm not gonna lie. It was luxurious. Our resort had a private island where we shared the beach with a small flock of flamingos. We spent hours on chaise lounges, napping, chatting, and reading. When we needed a little activity, we drummed up beach volleyball games, hit the pool (and the swim-up bar), played Euchre, or tried our luck at catching one of the roaming native iguanas.

We also got a chance to see Aruba’s gorgeous, uninhabited northern side by taking a jeep tour. Our guide filled us in on the tiny, desert island’s fascinating history while bouncing us along winding, rocky trails. Midway through this trip, we got a chance to swim and snorkel in a stunning natural pool. Like fretting mother hens, our CEO and managing partner, Maria Marcotte and Ellyn Davidson, had to hide their eyes when some of the Broganites decided to use the pool’s rocky surround as a high dive.

That’s the thing about a Brogan mystery trip. It feels like a family vacation. Our only “official” get-togethers in Aruba were a Friday night dinner and our jeep tour, yet we chose to spend most of our other hours together. On our trip’s last night, we almost sent one of the hotel’s sleepier restaurants into crisis mode when all 29 of us showed up for dinner. The evening lasted for hours, but nobody was in a hurry to leave.

Brogan regularly receives “great place to work” recognition. There’s no doubt that our mystery trip perk is one reason why. But the real reason Brogan is a happy workplace is because we love to work together. If we didn’t have so much fun at our jobs every day, these getaways wouldn’t be nearly as special. We go together to places unknown, whether we’re talking about travel or new frontiers in the marketing world. And that's why none of us were surprised when we spent part of our Aruban weekend hatching plans for an exciting new Brogan project while we were there.

We’re here at Brogan, not because of the mystery trips, but because we love our work. We do it cheerfully, joyfully and yes, occasionally on a beach with mojitos in hand.

A great marketing to women campaign that is #awesome, #inspiring, and #brilliant is the #mygirls campaign for Adidas. This global campaign aimed at girls 14-23, with a concentration on 17 year olds, uses social media as the anchor to engage and rally girls all over the world with their passion for sports. Nike was always the vanguard for marketing to women since the 1980’s but, Adidas is about to give Nike a run for its money. Using the hashtag #mygirls, this campaign engages its audience on Twitter and Instagram. The microsite is a hub for girls to follow other girls around the world like Jordanian boxers or Brazilian divers. A visual feast of connectivity, it shares its fans pictures and tweets. It inspires, gives advice and contest opportunities, and connects its audience to trend-setting gear and wear.  A guerilla aspect of the campaign is putting pop up gyms in various cities to invite girls to explore and try their hand at different sports like fencing and cricket. This campaign is a homerun for all girls with a passion for sports, whether they sport Adidas or not. And the goodwill Adidas will get from going beyond the sell to engagement should get them more fans and sales all over the world. My new current favorite marketing to women campaign is #mygirls.  Do you think this creative connects to girls?

Want to see more, check out my first post in my series 20 examples of marketing to women that connects.

When the Kindle first debuted, it did so with a memorable campaign that featured a woman and used stop motion to tell a story. The idea was to breakthrough in a creative way, as the product at the time was creative and breakthrough. It was inspired by previous YouTube stop motion viral videos online and inspired more YouTube stop motion videos afterwards. Without going into too much detail on the product benefits, the campaign created a name for the brand with this memorable concept. But now in efforts to keep up with Apple, the new Kindle Fire advertising is being more competitive and more demonstrative—taking a cue from the Apple brand playbook. Now, while the voiceover and copy are emotional in the Kindle Fire spot it is more about how great the product is and how many apps it has. I wish, Kindle would have stayed with a fresh approach and just added some more product benefits without going to the tired “anthem” format. Apple is continuing to do simple television demonstrations with their products in a clever way that seem to resonate with men, women of all ages. And with ads like the one featuring Zoe Deschanel talking to her new bestie, Siri, apple continues to spurn spin offs in the viral world of YouTube like this duet with Siri. So which do you think is the most effective way to engage women with a tech product?  A great concept, great demonstration or a great anthem?

Want to see more, check out my first post in my series 20 examples of marketing to women that connects.

I expected cigarette smoke, beer and the sickly, sweet tang of girlie cocktails. And, desperation steeped in sweat.

Instead, Las Vegas smelled like rosemary and lavender with a hint of sweet orange. JW Marriott calls it “subtle sophistication,” part of a growing trend in brand marketing that engages multiple senses to influence consumer behavior.  

The last leg in a 10-day trip out west, Las Vegas was our least anticipated destination. We’d hiked through canyons in Utah’s national parks, the Virgin River and climbed thousands of feet along switchbacks, breathing crisp, clean, exhilarating air.

So, when we entered the colossal resort/spa/casino, I held my nose.

My husband detected “subtle sophistication” on the elevator ride to our floor. “Do you smell that?” Sure enough. Rosemary and something sweetish. The not so subtle images of herbs and oranges that peppered the hotel’s marketing materials confirmed the ingredients of its version of branded sophistication.

Called sensory brand marketing, hotel behemoth’s like JW Marriott are among the early pioneers to capitalize on scent, sound, texture, and even taste to enhance the overall consumer experience. Hospitals are also employing scents to improve the patient and visitor satisfaction. The MRI unit at Florida Hospital Celebration Health, for example, is perfumed with an ocean scent and the waiting room on the Savannah Floor smells like grass.

Scent is a particularly powerful influencer because humans are hard-wired to respond emotionally to what they smell. The brain's olfactory bulb, which detects odors, fast-tracks signals to the limbic system, which links emotion to memories. It’s why the scent of popcorn takes us directly to a theater, coconut reminds us of a sun drenched, sandy beach and cigar smoke makes us remember Uncle Bob.

According to the Scent Marketing Institute, 75% of all the emotions we experience daily are prompted by scent.  Positive, congruent scents make shoppers linger a bit longer and help condition them for purchase.

Shoppers at Nike were 80% more likely to purchase in a room perfumed with a floral scent than consumers in an unscented room. What’s more, they were willing to pay more for the same shoes. In another study, slot machine receipts increased by 53% in the scented area of a casino (Brand Sense,  Martin Lindstrom, Free Press ,2005).

With brands competing among some 5,000 ads served daily to consumers, it’s no wonder a third of Fortune 500 companies are considering other channels to our wallets. What does your favorite brand smell like?