A Day to Remember: Recycle Your Mercury Thermostat Day

Chase’s Calendar of Events might be a mystery to most people, but I can offer assurances that you’ve heard the content of its “events” for years. It is a compendium of special events, worldwide holidays and festivals, famous birthdays and a great deal more. As one public expert put it, it’s all about the wacky days that we hear about throughout the year.

The days included in this bible of holidays have been variously described as fun, frivolous and desperately needed by social service organizations to gain attention.

This month, if you’re in the car and the DJ on the radio announces that it’s National Horseradish Month or National Hot Dog Month, you’re bound to smile. It also prompts the question: Are these real? (They are.) But there’s a more serious side if we hear that it’s Worldwide Bereaved Parents Awareness Month, Minority Mental Health Awareness Month and Bioterrorism/Disaster Education and Awareness Month. Chase’s promotion of these subjects serves as a useful reminder that there are serious and worthwhile topics that we should consider.

What the creators of these months or events hope for is that it is interesting and intriguing enough that the media — both traditional and digital — will use their entry for further exposure, and in some instances, lead to action that initiates change.

We certainly thought that when we created Recycle Your Mercury Thermostat Day, Oct. 24. We chose the date because it coincides with the founding of TRC. I love the idea that some radio personality or newspaper person would mention the day we created, and a homeowner or business person might hear of our existence and think, “We do have an old-fashioned thermostat. Maybe I should get it checked out and recycled.” It’s not a perfect answer but a reasonable marketing message, especially if you don’t have a million-dollar budget. This guerrilla marketing approach to gain the attention of the media seemed appealing.

And if you’re in the HVAC business, it seems fairly obvious that you can tie in the Recycle Your Mercury Thermostat day with some type of promotion. Our first inclusion will be the 2019 edition, which goes on sale September 2018.

By appearing in Chase’s Calendar, you gain access to the influence of the calendar. If you doubt the shelf power of Chase’s Calendar, I suggest you call up your public library, ask for the reference desk, and say, “Do you have a copy of Chase’s Calendar of Events?” I’ll bet they do, and as one journalist told me, it’s the backbone as a reference tool when you can’t think about what to write.

Because I’m a fiscally minded person, the honey in this approach is that the listing is free if you pass muster. (Yes, you must apply. and it’s not automatic acceptance.)

And when October rolls around, if you hear or read about Recycle Your Mercury Thermostat Day, then we at TRC know that we’ve done our job.