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March 2007 Archives
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March 30, 2007
Cause for Concern
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Research
Today, during our weekly Brown Bag Lunch, I shared from the book Cause for Concern by Stephen M. Adler. I've been reading it off and on for the last couple months, and finally finished it last week. I was slightly bored through most of the pages--but I pressed on--mainly because I wanted to see if there was anything to learn from Adler. After all, he started an agency "nearly 20 years ago with the vision of creating mutually beneficial strategic partnerships between nonprofit organizations and corporations through integrated cause marketing partnerships."
Adler has accomplished a lot through his years of connecting companies and non-profits. From his work with the American Heart Association and Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) to Subway and BMW, Adler is no stranger to the world of cause marketing.
Cause for Concern is a great primer if you're new to the world of cause marketing. It's along the lines of Jocelyne Daw's book Cause Marketing for Nonprofits, but more from the view of the for profit.
Continue reading "Cause for Concern"
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March 28, 2007
John McCain's Staff Hacked His MySpace
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Technology
Like many presidential candidates, Republican John McCain has his own MySpace page. His staff even used the same MySpace design template we use on our Personality™ MySpace page.
But John McCain's staff made some major mistakes, effectively leaving the page open to hacking. They failed to give the required credit and they didn't follow the instructions and used the sample template graphic instead of creating their own. Even worse, they linked to the original source file, a bigtime no-no among techie folk (it's akin to plugging your extension cord into your neighbor's outlet).
When the creator of the MySpace design template realized what was happening, he decided to pull a little prank, changing the sample template graphic on his server so it announced a major reversal in John McCain's politics: "I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage... particularly marriage between passionate females."
Oops. McCain and company end up looking stupid. If you're going to use new technology, you better play by the rules. And if you don't know the rules, you better learn them.
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March 19, 2007
Brown Bag Lunch
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
Each week, the Personality™ team gathers for a "Brown Bag Lunch" (BBL) in our 8th floor offices overlooking Echo Park Lake in the foreground and the downtown skyline of Los Angeles in the background. In addition to enjoying some good Friday laughs together, it's also a time to learn.
Continue reading "Brown Bag Lunch"
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March 16, 2007
Why the (Red) Backlash is Off Color
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Newsweek covers the (Product) Red backlash in Rage Over (Red), but they still don't get it:
Newsweek asks, "And when did shopping become the best way to help poor children in Africa?"
Whoever said shopping was the best way to help poor children in Africa? It's not. It's a way to help, in addition to multiple other efforts, from volunteering to donating to spreading the word.
Continue reading "Why the (Red) Backlash is Off Color"
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Dr. Seuss & the Cat in the Hat Help Kids Read
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
The book The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. Dr. Seuss published the book in 1957 in response to a challenge that children's books were too boring and kids weren't learning how to read. So he wrote a book using only 236 different words--simple enough to help kids learn to read, but enough fun to keep them hooked.
In celebration of 50 years Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises are teaming up with First Book, a non-profit that gives children in low-income families a chance to read and own their first book:
- Random House Children's Books will donate one book to First Book for every birthday card the Cat in the Hat receives, up to 1 million books. You can design and submit a card online or send a handmade one. According to the tally online, they've so far received more than 1.2 million cards.
- Random House will also donate one book to First Book for every Dr. Seuss book purchased between January 9 and May 7, 2007, up to 1 million books (a receipt needs to be mailed to Random House to confirm the purchase).
- Build-A-Bear Workshops are also getting in on the celebration, offering a chance to make your own Cat in the Hat stuffed animal (through March 23) and they'll donate a portion of the proceeds to First Book. (link via Selfish Giving)
Update: Random House has upped its pledge. They'll now donate one book for every birthday card received up to two million books.
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Measures for Cause Marketing
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Whitepapers
The ultimate measure of success for a cause marketing relationship--that is
when a for-profit partners with a non-profit, collectively rallying their distinct
assets for the advancement of a cause--should see three primary victories.
Measures for Cause Marketing (PDF, 116 KB, 3 pages)
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March 14, 2007
Cause Marketing Forum, Say Hello
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
Brian and I are heading to New York for the Cause Marketing Forum in May. We're looking forward to meeting up with some new friends. If you're going, drop us a line--we'd love to connect.
If you haven't already made plans to attend, it's not too late to register.
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Chief Experience Officer
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Experience
Colleen DeCourcy is the former chief creative officer at Organic and entered the big league agency world last July when she joined the ranks at the oldest ad agency in the country, JWT, New York. So what's the big whoop?
DeCourcy was hired on to JWT as the "chief experience officer."
In an Adweek interview, Colleen said her job was described to her as "an [executive creative director] role, working with the other [executive creative directors] to help them tell better brand stories across less-expected channels."
We've said it before: experience is a context for engaging the next generation.
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March 13, 2007
Social vs. Cause Marketing & $75 Off a Seminar
Posted by Brian Zopf | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Social marketing is defined as: "The use of proven marketing principles to influence social behavior." Instead of selling products or services you're 'selling' ideas and attitudes in hopes of changing the way people think and live. It's more than just marketing for non-profits. An anti-childhood obesity campaign--paid for by the state or an activist group--would be an example of social marketing. The goal is to change behavior, and 'measurables' would be drawn accordingly. There may be a hotline people can call for help, seminars requested at local community centers or a web site monitoring hits. The campaign would obviously require funding to run, but the focus is entirely on the betterment of society through education and the shifting of attitudes.
Continue reading "Social vs. Cause Marketing & $75 Off a Seminar"
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March 9, 2007
Responsible Business
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Whitepapers
A responsible business could be defined as a community with purpose. The purpose is not just to seek profits, but to do something better with those profits. Being a responsible business means providing value to its members. Contrary to popular opinion, the membership of a business is made up of owners, investors, employees, the community and sometimes customers.
Responsible Business (PDF, 84 KB, 2 pages)
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March 8, 2007
Leaving Las Vegas
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
Earlier this week, Personality™ account director Brett Hutchinson completed his move from the East. When Brett joined the team at the beginning of 2006, he was originally located in Ohio. It took a little while selling their home and, before arriving here this week, the Hutchinsons were living in Las Vegas--a planned stopover before their arrival this week into Los Angeles.
Brett wins the award for living the closest to the office--he's about a mile away. We're all thrilled to have Brett here for good! Now if we could just get the office re-model finished ...
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Creative Gut vs. Number Crunching
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Creativity
Jon Steel wrote a great article in the January 22 issue of Adweek titled "The Unprofessionals." He makes the argument for downtime and dismisses the critics who say creativity must be powered by logic. At Personality™, we continually blur the lines between right brain and left brain thinking which causes many internal debates as it relates to which side should win. When the data to support instincts are absent, we run the risk of becoming extinct if we continually suppress our creative gut. Steel expounds in these choice nuggets:
- The quest for professionalism is making creatives "less effective, less interesting, less intelligent, less persuasive and less creative."
- Leonardo Da Vinci said, "It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we discover." In the Information Age logic is king "meanwhile our most valuable asset--intuition--being imprecise, unquantifiable and therefore unprofessional, must be hidden from view, locked away in the creative department like the retarded child of a medieval monarch."
Continue reading "Creative Gut vs. Number Crunching"
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March 6, 2007
Get Married and Do Good
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
In a cause marketing world weddings are about more than two people's love for each other. Weddings are also about two people's love for the rest of the world. The I Do Foundation gives brides and grooms the option of turning components of their wedding into charitable donations:
- The gift registry that gives back: A percentage of each item purchased from the registry through major retailers like Target and Linens & Things can be donated to the charity of the bride and groom's choice.
- Charity Registry: Ask guests to donate to needy charities instead of the bride and groom.
- Wedding favors for charity: Instead of wedding favors the bride and groom can make a donation to the charity of their choice and put out place cards explaining the donation.
- Charitable invitations: 10% of the invitation purchase can go to charity.
The I Do Foundation has an audacious and inspired goal to change the way weddings are done:
It is our vision that, in time, charitable giving will become an integral part of the culture of weddings and other life events. By incorporating a charitable focus into life celebrations, we help families establish a pattern of giving that will last a lifetime.
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March 5, 2007
Quit Picking on (Red)
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Cause Marketing
It's too easy to pick on (Product) Red for being a marketing gimmick attempting to help a good cause. From Buy (Less) Crap to a recent article by AdAge's Mya Frazier, it's obvious the critics have been waiting to pounce on this one. Not so fast.
I realize that one of the jobs (at least it used to be I think) of the media is to hold society accountable, but I hate it when the media starts an attack with a weak argument. I understand that over $100 million has gone into launching Red, including product development, ads, creative, media buys, etc. And I realize that just $18 million has actually gone to fight the cause that Red is about.
But there is a question the critics are not answering. Would the $18 million given back to the cause have happened without the Red model? I don't think so. Furthermore, what has been the impact in terms of awareness brought to the world of cause marketing, and how many other causes will benefit from Red's mainstream lead in the marketplace?
The other problem with the argument against Red, especially from the Buy (Less) Crap world, is that the next generation of consumers are not giving money unless reciprocity is at play. With increasing personal debt loads and a craving for more crud, consumerism is not going away any time soon. I'm all for fighting consumerism, but let's at least let causes win and trick our selfishness into doing good.
If you're giving money directly to help causes, keep it up. If you're not, please keep buying products and services that do!
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Buy (Less) Crap
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Not everybody likes Bono's (Product) Red campaign where a portion of the proceeds from Apple iPods, Motorola Razrs, Gap T-shirts and more go to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. Buy (Less) Crap is counter-campaign encouraging people to buy less and give more with the slogan, "Shopping is not a solution." Instead they encourage people to donate directly to charities.
"When donations are based on percentages of profit and the accounting methods are not transparent, you can spend $100 on a (RED) product with the notion that you're helping to save lives in Africa--but there is no assurance that any of that $100 will actually reach the cause. Not one (RED) cent," says Ben Davis, founder of Words Pictures Ideas, one of the organizations behind Buy (Less) Crap.
Their criticism of cause marketing showcases an important factor: transparency. Saying you're helping people isn't enough. You need to actually help people and you need to be transparent about how it happens. It's a good lesson for cause marketers.
And while Buy (Less) Crap does have a good message, they forget the concept that cause marketing is about helping everybody win. It's not simply buying something for the sake of buying something. It's helping a charity while still buying the chicken noodle soup you need. Not everybody needs an iPod, but if you're going to buy one anyway, why not help charity while you're at it? That's the goal and the hope of cause marketing.
(link via Selfish Giving)
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March 2, 2007
Our Wives Still Like Us
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
Today we said goodbye to Amanda Paganini, senior designer here at Personality™. Amanda joined the team July 5 of last year. The news of her departure kind of stunned us all, as did the opportunity when it fell on her lap. The opportunity for Amanda to move on this quickly in her short career is a testimony to her strength as a designer. We will miss Amanda's creativity around here, especially her off-the-wall ideas and ever-changing style (she's on hair color number two in just seven months).
With Amanda and Kari no longer here, we're down to all guys on the team. Uh oh. Now what?
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