Nearly 300 industry folk will rally together next Friday for a charity bash to support well-known programmatic consultant and industry recruiter Dan Sheppard - following a sudden diagnosis.
Brit-born Sheppard, who is 32, arrived in Sydney in 2011 and joined Xpand Group in 2013. He was this month diagnosed with bowel cancer and given six months to live, but his friends have set up a crowdfunding page to help him “kick cancer in the nuts and get a very important message to go viral”.
In just one week industry heavyweights such as Google, AOL, eBay, Havas, Gumtree, OMD and Yahoo7 have jumped into support the football tournament to be held at Sydney's Wentworth Park from 11.30am – with kick-off at noon.
There will be a BBQ, donation box as well as a stall with T-shirts and wristbands. Nearly 15 teams, comprised of media agencies, publishers and ad tech firms will take to the pitch to help raise awareness of bowel cancer. All are welcome, but please RSVP here.
Nearly $15,000 has been raised online and the funds are being used to investigate any form of treatment not covered by Medicare or private health. It's also being used to source specialists to find the cause as well as fight it. Sheppard wants to know what went wrong and share the news and create awareness in this type of cancer that is normally more prevalent in people aged 50 and above.
Speaking to AdNews, Sheppard says: “In terms of the footy match, I'm so overwhelmed by the huge support. I really feel it's important for me to drive awareness on this cancer.
“I'm lucky I work in an industry which can help publicise it and make that message go far and wide. I didn't have a clue I had cancer until two weeks ago, but apparently I've had it for years, undetected.”
The main sponsors of the event are digital marketing company Quantcast and digital, technology, media and marketing recruitment business Xpand, with supporting sponsors and supporters from Krux, The TradeDesk, SpotX, Regital, Mi9, Domain, Amnet, Yango, Google, Victoria Park Cellars and Inlakesh – Living foods.
Football teams are made up of staff from ESPN, Quantcast, Xpand, Yahoo7, Pubmatic, Xaxis, AOL, OMD, Havas, Vivaki, Gumtree, eBay, Rombii and Gumtree powered by Xpand.
Programmatic media trading specialist at Xpand, Nick Squires, says: “We want to say a massive thank you to everyone so far for the support and generosity in getting behind our dear friend and colleague Dan Sheppard.
“We’ve been blown away by the response and kindness coming from all corners of the industry. Times such as these bring out the pure good in people. We’re really looking forward to the event next week it’s going to be great. Let the games begin.”
All are welcome to attend the event and people are encouraged to bring along the whole team. RSVP here.
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