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April 2007 Archives
April 30, 2007
4 Hours Volunteering = 1 Free Concert
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Riding the bus from the train station to my office (yes, there is public transit in Los Angeles--and yes, some people actually use it) I spotted a poster that caught my eye. The poster read, "4 Hours 1 Ticket, Boost Mobile RockCorps." When I got into the office I went to the web site and was excited by what I found.
Boost Mobile has put together a literal movement through a cause marketing initiative, that organizes hundreds and soon to be thousands of largely young adults (which by the way, is their business's target market) in order to partner with local non-profits that are serving in their communities. In exchange for signing up and serving for four hours, each person gets one ticket to a major concert with huge headline performers. You can't get into this concert unless you've been one of the volunteers on the street sweating and getting dirty.
Obviously the humanitarian implications for this thing are huge and really exciting. But perhaps the less obvious point is how brilliant this is from a business standpoint. Boost Mobile's customers are media-hungry, music-loving young adults who are hungry to do something more with their lives, to experience more than what they get over their mobile phones. Thus a brilliant cause marketing initiative is born.
This isn't just a cause marketing campaign, this is a brand strategy which infuses cause marketing. It's a look at the future, and it's coming to a neighborhood near you.
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First Book
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Featured Nonprofit
When it comes to helping kids learn to read and improving reading scores, one thing helps: Access to books. And that means children from low-income families are in trouble. In middle income neighborhoods there are 13 books for every kid, but in low-income neighborhoods it's one age-appropriate book for 300 children. Ouch. So it's no wonder the gap in reading scores between low-income and high-income families is 40 points (check out the source for the stats, plus even more eye-opening facts).
Enter First Book. They're a non-profit working to provide kids in low-income families with books. They want every kid to read and own their own book.
And it works. First Book has distributed more than 46 million new books and the children with the books are showing an increased interest in reading.
First Book is also no stranger to new strategies. They've embraced cause marketing, teaming up with Random House and Dr. Seuss, Cheerios and Eric Carle and Borders, among others. They've also embraced technology, using Flickr to share photos and they recently celebrated their one-year blogging anniversary.
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Busy People, Mothers, Women Volunteer More
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Research
Blogger Tony Morgan shares some stats on volunteerism from the April issue of Men's Health:
- Women are more likely than men to volunteer.
- 32% of women serve in some volunteer capacity compared to 25% of men.
- Working mothers are the most active as volunteers.
- Busy people are more likely to volunteer.
Apparently being too busy isn't an excuse not to volunteer.
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April 27, 2007
Trees Are Amazing
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Personality News
Today is Arbor Day. And in honor of Arbor Day we sent a little tree planting kit last week. (By the way, we send stuff like that out every once and a while. If you'd like to receive future mailings, e-mail Brian)
Anyway, the following were some stats that we included about how cool trees are, enjoy:
- Trees Produce Oxygen: A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year.
- Trees Collect Carbon: To produce its food a tree absorbs and locks away carbon dioxide in the wood, roots and leaves.
- Trees Increase Property Value: Houses surrounded by trees sell for 18-25% more than houses with no trees.
- Trees Reduce Energy Costs: Trees planted in the right place around buildings can cut air-conditioning costs up to 50%, thanks to the cooling power of shade.
- Trees Keep Things Cool: The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
Stats courtesy of Steve Nix and The National Arbor Day Foundation.
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April 26, 2007
American Idol Gives Back
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Cause Marketing
Just in case you live under a rock or don't like pop culture and missed it, American Idol reportedly raised $30 million dollars over two nights (last night and Tuesday night) for a mix of non-profits here in the states and in Africa.
My wife and I haven't really watched this season of American Idol, but we tuned in last night to watch and was really excited and moved by what I saw. Granted there are a lot of opinions dancing out there--everything from slams to praises.
Continue reading "American Idol Gives Back"
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April 23, 2007
What Business Can Learn from a Tree
Posted by Shawn Stewart | Filed under: Philosophy
It's a wonder what you can learn about life and business when you take the time to sit in a park. I recently did just that and had an epiphany that took me back to 8th grade science. We all remember this simple little lesson: "Human beings breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Trees take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen."
OK, so you're probably wondering what's the epiphany?
It's all about the give and take relationship! The tree and our lungs both give out and it comes back as something that nurtures and sustains our very existence and perpetuates our relationship.
Continue reading "What Business Can Learn from a Tree"
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April 18, 2007
DATA
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Featured Nonprofit
"Money is not a good enough reason to die," U2 frontman Bono told Larry King in 2002. The rock star crisscrossed the country appearing everywhere from Oprah to churches to the Whitehouse making his case to stop the AIDS crisis in Africa.
That year Bono founded DATA along with Bobby Shriver and others from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign. DATA is a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the problems plaguing Africa. The name is a double acronym for stopping the crisis of Debt, AIDS and unfair Trade in Africa and in the process bring Democracy, Accountability and Transparency to Africa. The goal is to bring lasting change to Africa as an equality and justice issue, not simply throwing charity at the problem.
"We don’t argue compassion," Bono told Time magazine in 2002. "We put it in the most crass terms possible; we argue it as a financial and security issue for America."
DATA makes their case by partnering with other organizations and lobbying governments to address these issues. DATA doesn't specifically fund projects, but is instead focused on advocacy and awareness, hoping to divert money and resources toward what projects that work.
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April 17, 2007
The Personality of an Organization
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Brand & Identity
From the way you communicate and what you wear, to the way you live life and make friends, every person is unique. And just like you and I have a unique personality, we believe that every organization also has a unique personality.
From the color of a logo and the retail experience, to its impact on the environment and the way they help humanity, we interact with organizations much the same way we do with people.
Continue reading "The Personality of an Organization"
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April 16, 2007
Personality™ Principles
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
During our Springtacular in March, I introduced the team to our Personality™ Principles. Borrowing a page from Ritz Carlton's legendary service values, we adapted some of them for ourselves and added many of our own. The result are 13 guiding principles that we will allow to organically take root in our heads and hearts. More than just big ideals, these principles will help guide us individually and collectively as we continue to help discover, develop and tell stories that propel causes and profit businesses.
Continue reading "Personality™ Principles"
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April 12, 2007
Google Earth Fights Genocide
Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks | Filed under: Cause Marketing
While it's not technically cause marketing, Google's partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to bring light to the crisis in Darfur is great example of a business and non-profit working together so everybody wins.
Google's satellite imagery software Google Earth is offering an educational feature to show the destruction of villages and displacement of millions in the Darfur region of Sudan.
It's hard to call it cause marketing because no one is selling a product (Google Earth is free), but the idea is still the same. Google gets good publicity and respect in the eyes of the public. The U.S. Holocaust Museum gets plenty of awareness to their cause of fighting genocide and the halo effect of working with a respectable business.
Everybody wins.
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April 11, 2007
Turner on Research
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Research
I recently stumbled upon a bold quote from broadcast behemoth Ted Turner. In a speech he gave at Harvard sometime ago (I was unable to track down the date/occasion), in typical Turner temper, he said:
"There's never a reason for a study if your idea is conceptually sound. You have to have confidence in your own ideas. I never did a market study on CNN. I do my own marketing analysis."
This disturbingly refreshing thought comes at a particularly exhilarating time for Personality™. In the last six months alone we've invested nearly $250,000 into honing our craft, tweaking our service offerings and testing our processes. For Ted Turner, $250k is pocket change. For us, $250k is a big deal.
Throughout this time, we've really been wrestling with the idea of research and analysis as it applies to our own processes. The question that continues to haunt us is at what point do we need scientific backing for some of the assumptions we are asserting.
Our gut says it works. Our clients say it is working. The anecdotal evidences we are encountering along the way are affirming. I believe we're conceptually sound and growing more and more confident every day. What gives?
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April 10, 2007
Springtacular 2007
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Personality News
At the end of March the Personality™ team went off-site for a one day "Springtacular." We do something similar in the fall when we go away for a more extended period of time. These twice-a-year moments are very helpful for re-setting perspectives and getting priorities synced up. Above all, these moments provide opportunity for the team to connect, share some laughs and be reminded of how much we like what we do.
Continue reading "Springtacular 2007"
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April 9, 2007
Ad Agency Model is Broken, Duh
Posted by Brad Abare | Filed under: Philosophy
It's no secret that the ad agency model is broken. You can pick up any issue or back issue of Advertising Age or Adweek and read about the demise of the business. In that process of discovery you would also learn about emerging boutique agencies that are becoming industry darlings as they attempt to specialize, not generalize like their soon-to-be extinct dinosaur predecessors.
Alas, this model is still broken. At issue is a fundamental conflict of interest that exists between a typical ad agency and their client. When an agency must give away ideas in order to sell services that will keep themselves in business, we have a problem. A perfect example of this is seen in the 2000 movie What Women Want starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.
Continue reading "Ad Agency Model is Broken, Duh"
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