The Agitator

By now, all of us are using e-mail messages with calls-to-action to lure our supporters into making donations, contacting public officials, volunteering and so forth. Usually your “ask” is closed on a web page intended to reinforce your action message. Here is a nice set of tips ...  Read more

If you've browsed The Agitator, you might be puzzled by its breadth of topics — blogging, online fundraising, generational issues, direct mail, Latino media, branding, podcasting, planned giving, online videos, relationship marketing, social networking, environmentalism, major donors ...  Read more

Here is a short essay by blogger Max Kalehoff, backed by some serious psychology and anthropology, dealing with the sales mentality. It's relevant to anyone whose job entails selling a cause or organization. I had mixed reactions. What I liked was the author's fundamental nudge to ...  Read more

We've had this vague itch to scratch for days now. But it took this post by B.L. Ochman to put the issue in perspective and spur us to action. Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke absolutely and succinctly nailed the case. Plus, with Al Gore championing Planet Earth, the rest of us need to take up the cause ...  Read more

Starting September 7, a revamped political section of MSNBC.com will offer political reporting, including The Hotline, and public affairs analysis from the National Journal. This is material today only offered on a subscription basis by the NJ. Obviously the NJ wants its reportage to reach a wider ...  Read more

This weekend's quiz comes courtesy of Guy Kawasaki, the original marketing maven and brand evangelist behind Apple's Mac. Guy talks amusingly about the Ten Things to Learn This School Year for those wanting to have a successful career. Even if you're already in the post-graduate ...  Read more

PBS Online has announced that, starting October 1, it is making additional inventory available for online advertising. For all of you direct marketers who successfully rent the mailing lists of public TV stations, this should be good news. For here is another way to get at the more highly-educated ...  Read more

When I think of Epsilon, I think of excellence in direct mail planning, segmentation and analysis. Now maybe I should add creative too. Epsilon has just purchased a design/creative firm called Big Designs. BD has a raft of impressive clients including AOL/Time Warner, NY Times, cable nets like ...  Read more

B.L. Ochman's blog points us to an instructive promotional contest sponsored by Bazooka, the bubble gum folks, on YouTube. Bazooka is encourging kids to submit their own dance video routines to accompany a 50's song called “Choo'n Gum.” Now what could this possibly mean ...  Read more

The Financial Times offers a report on philanthropy in the U.K. Interesting takeaways: Observors see shift from inherited wealth donors to self-made donors; These donors, similar to their U.S. counterparts, are eager to apply business principles to their giving, expecting demonstrable return on ...  Read more