Years ago our founder had an idea for getting through cold dairy and frozen food aisles without having to dodge other shoppers or get blocked by store employees stocking shelves – just a clear path to get what you need and quickly exit to a warmer area. She visualized it as something that would stand out enough to flag “Make way for a Frostie on Aisle Five!” but not be too loud from a fashion perspective. She unfortunately never found a spare moment to take the idea further.
But the concept is still alive and kicking! Recently fellow Frostie Nicole in New York contacted us with a similar idea. She complained of the need to carry her rechargeable hand warmer in her local grocery stores and evacuate them pronto. After seeing Walmart putting in place measures to help people with autism shop during special “sensory-friendly” hours, she wondered if retailers could similarly be encouraged to help those with Raynaud’s avoid excess exposure to cold temperatures in their stores.
To get the ball rolling, Nicole decided to start with a simple concept that would signal “Frostie on Aisle Five!” similar to our founder’s idea. At first she wanted to use our logo and mascot on an armband, but we advised they wouldn’t easily communicate – the logo was too small, and our mascot Shivers (with his blue feet) unfortunately isn’t well recognized. But we encouraged her to keep thinking on the subject.
Next Nicole made stickers featuring white (and blue) fingers triggered by the cold explained by Raynaud’s with our site URL. On a test run, she got a reaction in the store from a fellow Frostie saying she was happy not to be alone. The positive feedback encouraged Nicole to keep working on the idea. She then took the next step of placing the sticker on a button and had 50 of them made up.
For added educational ammunition, we sent Nicole our Raynaud’s Information cards to have on hand for explaining Raynaud’s to people who inquire what the button is all about and are hoping this turns into a new way to help build awareness of Raynaud’s.
If you’re interested in joining the effort we’ll be happy to send you some buttons and cards to help kick off the “Frostie in Aisle 5” campaign. If the demand gets too great for us to fulfill requests by hand, we’ll create a bundle of the buttons and cards and make them available in our Raynaud’s Store where we’re better equipped to deal with a substantial demand.
Let’s all give Nicole a warm round of applause for her creative efforts!
If you have any additional thoughts or suggestions on how we can explore similar retail opportunities to help promote awareness of Raynaud’s, please share then with us. Write to info@raynauds.org, post them on our Facebook page or share them with us on Instagram, Twitter or Threads.
