• by Les Luchter , 3 hours ago

Reading the numbers “867-5309” may not strike a bell, but reading the following might: “Eight six seven five three ohh nine.”

That iconic phone number immortalized in Tommy Tutone’s 1981 hit "867-5309/Jenny” has now been turned into a cancer helpline by the nonprofit Cancer Support Community (CSC).

“The number everyone knows by heart is now the number for Cancer Support,” read CSC promotional materials.

CSC’s helpline has already been receiving over 20,000 calls annually, via support from CSC locations, and partner healthcare sites like Gilda’s Club locations.

Now, through the new number of CSC-867-5309, the hotline is being anchored in the “public consciousness,” CEO Sally Werner said in a statement, “ensuring that when someone is impacted by cancer, Cancer Support Community and Gilda’s Clubs are the first place they turn to.”

That could well be an answer to the famous song’s first line: “Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?”

“If that little piece of pop culture can now help someone remember Cancer Support Community’s and Gilda's Club's Helpline and connect them to real people, real community, and real support, that’s incredibly meaningful to us,” Tommy Tutone lead singer Tommy Heath said in a statement.

Rich Levy, chief creative officer of marketing agency Kick Health, which has partnered with CSC on the campaign, pointed to strategically leveraging cultural nostalgia and pop culture relevance to drive awareness and action. By pairing an “iconic earworm…with a number everyone already knows, we’re helping shorten the distance from diagnosis to support,” he said.

To get the word out, campaign resources available for CSC locations and partner healthcare sites nationwide include radio ads (in one :60 spot, which includes the original song in the background, “Jenny” herself says that “people call my number all the time….but it’s time this number did some good…and luckily you already know the number by heart”) and sharable Instagram ads (e.g., “The number you can’t hear without singing is now the number for cancer support.”)

“In the 1980s, Tommy Tutone made ‘Jenny/867-5309’ impossible to forget,” added Lisa E. Ireland, CSC’s executive vice president, external relations. “Now, we're channeling that same iconic number to help people remember that cancer support is just a call away.”