A Houstonian’s one-man campaign to call attention to a disfiguring neurological disorder is not only gaining ground but also winning recognition. On Feb. 17, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, Reggie Bibbs’ marketing campaign will vie against advertising professionals at the 45th Annual ADDY Awards presented by the Houston Advertising Federation.
The inspiration for Reggie’s unique campaign came after years of public frustration.
“I have neurofibromatosis. It’s a disorder that causes tumors to grow along my nervous system,” stated Bibbs. “In my case, it’s fairly disfiguring. When I would go out in public, people would stare or, worse, walk away. So I came up with an idea for a t-shirt and the rest, as they say, is history.”
With the help of a friend at a local advertising agency, Reggie Bibbs created a t-shirt that would invite people to come up and talk to Reggie about his disorder. “I figured the more they knew about my disease, the more they would understand me,” added Bibbs.
Reggie Bibbs was born with Neurofibromatosis. Doctors noticed a tiny tumor on his eye, and then on his heel. Later, they found a small tumor on the roof of his mouth. Reggie’s mother thought nothing of it. But when she tried to put his shoes on, she noticed it was more difficult to put his left shoe on than his right shoe. “I’d cry when she’d try, ” he said.
NF is not a rare disorder, it is the most common neurological disorder caused by a single cell. Neurofibromatosis is a genetically-determined disorder that affects more than 100,000 Americans; this makes NF more prevalent than Cystic Fibrosis, heredity Muscular Dystrophy, Huntington’s Disease and Tay Sachs combined. The mortality rate for people with NF is higher than that of the healthy population because of the increased potential of malignant transformation of diseased tissues and the development of neurofibrosarcoma.
“When Reggie called me with the idea for a t-shirt that read, “Just Ask!” I literally had tears in my eyes,” said long-time friend Lou Congelio, president of STANANDLOU Advertising. “The idea was so simple and so powerful that I immediately offered him a position in the company,” Congelio added.
The t-shirt features on the front an abstract outline of Reggie’s face and, on the back, large type that simply says, “JUST ASK!”. Also included on the back is the url for Reggie’s website, www.reggiebibbs.com.
“We figured he would need a business card to go with the shirt with an explanation of what NF was. Then everything kind of snowballed from there,” said Lou Congelio. “Then we figured a website would be the quickest, most efficient way to get out the information about NF so we designed one of those.”
The project quickly grew to include links to Flickr.com to show Reggie’s photographs, a link to YouTube to show his TV commercials, and most importantly, a link to his blog where Reggie adds daily posts. Soon the website will have an online store so that he can start earning a living while raising awareness of NF.
“I am really excited about the Addy Award nomination. Winning would be a great honor, not just for me, but for everyone else who has NF. People with NF and other disfiguring conditions find it difficult to do everyday tasks, and this site increases public understanding of the hurdles that we have to overcome,” said Bibbs.
“If we win, I will accept the award on behalf of Ronnie, my brother who had NF and cancer. He died in September of 2006, and I miss him a lot,” said Bibbs.
Reggie’s t-shirt, business card and website was recognized and nominated out of 850 entries submitted by 60 different ad agencies, design firms and consultants.
To learn more about NF, visit the Houston Advertising Federation Addy Award nominated website (www.reggiebibbs.com)
