TV Or Internet Video?

September 30, 2006

How you like your “moving pictures” served up is mostly a matter of generation.

For example, according to Forrester Research, GenXers (age 13-26) spend 12.2 hours a week on the internet and 10.6 hours watching TV. At the other end of the spectrum, Seniors (age 62+) spend 3.8 hours a week on the internet and 14.4 hours watching TV.

To be sure, everybody watches a lot of television. But that said, the latest data from comScore Media Metrix says that 3 of every 5 internet users are watching online videos, typically twice a day. In all 7.2 billion videos were streamed across the internet this past July. The top three online video sources (a bit of a surprise here) were MySpace, then Yahoo, then YouTube.

I'm an old-timer who spent many unrewarded hours trying to convince nonprofits to try direct reponse TV ads back in the days when cable TV was the next hot medium. The only fundraisers who ever really mastered the medium were (and still are) the child relief agencies like Worldvision, Save the Children and Christian Children's Fund. For most nonprofits, even today, getting some PSA time counts as a big score.

So it is with some trepidation that I pass along this DRTV Guide, courtesy of DMNews. As The Essential Guide to Direct Response Television illustrates, folks are selling stuff quite successfully on TV, thank you. I suspect they're doing even better these days because they can “close” the deal online (rather than just with 800 numbers).

The advice in the Guide comes from successful DRTV pros. And guess what? If you're a GenX or GenY fundraiser who thinks online video is the next big thing (and my old gut thinks you're right), there are even lessons in the Guide for you. Because some laws of direct marketing are timeless, because the underlying human nature is immutable.

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Your Most Important Hire

September 29, 2006

If you're serious about raising money and selling your agenda today, the most important individual on your marketing team is your webmaster.

And if you're serious about raising money and selling your agenda five or more years out (and hopefully that's not too far beyond your planning horizon), make sure this individual has their own personal key to the restroom!

“Bah, humbug!” you say. In a moment I'll make the case.

But first I should explain that I'm using “webmaster” as shorthand to describe the person, by whatever title, who is dedicated to knowledgeably driving your organization's overall use of online (and other digital) technology and tactics for marketing purposes.

“Dedicated” means it's their primary day-to-day responsibility. “Knowledgeably” means they're savvy enough technically to appreciate what the best tools out there are and what they can really do to advance your fundraising and communications objectives, but not so geeky that they can't engage around marketing issues. Now such people — with the right blend of technical and marketing smarts — are really tough to find. If you've got one, you're damn lucky!

Now, why are they so important?

Continue reading “Your Most Important Hire”

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Political + Video Junkie = The People Choose

September 28, 2006

Thanks to Joshua Levy at Personal Democracy Forum for this introduction to The People Choose.

Think of TPC as a YouTube dedicated strictly to political campaign videos and ads.

The site is organized by state and race, and is formatted so that you can view videos and ads for competing candidates side-by-side. And, of course, TPC wants your political video.

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Green, Greed, Greenwashing … Or Good?

September 27, 2006

A robust debate is occurring within the enviro community regarding the green epiphany of Wal-Mart, the second-largest corporation (after ExxonMobil) in the world in terms of revenue.

David Roberts at environmental hub Grist, wonderfully refers to Wal-Mart as “every green's favorite source of cognitive dissonance.” He has editorialized very thoughtfully on Wal-Mart's apparent conversion and is presiding over a running online dialogue on the pages of Grist that all enviros — and other nonprofit strategists — should follow and think about.

On the one hand, Environmental Defense (with whom I consult) has gone so far as to set up satellite offices in Benton, Arkansas to be on-the-scene at Wal-Mart headquarters, while WWF has ten staffers assigned to the Wal-Mart case. Their attitude — one I'd term “cautious engagement” — is typified by the comments of ED President Fred Krupp in this recent USA Today article:

“Wal-Mart has as much or more potential than any other company to change the way the world does business,” says Krupp. “And we intend to be right there.”

In his view, Wal-Mart is “off to a promising start” but will be judged by “the results of its efforts.”

BTW, this article provides an excellent overview of Wal-Mart's enviro initiatives, as well as the views of skeptics, like WakeUpWalMart:

“We don't know whether Wal-Mart's environmental changes are real or a Machiavellian attempt to green-wash a declining public image,” says Chris Kofinis, communications director. “But its long record of irresponsible behavior forces one to be skeptical.”

Many of the enviro activists commenting on Wal-Mart in Gristmill are much farther out on the hostility scale. These folks are emotionally, intellectually, philosophically, even spiritually anti-corporate. And Wal-Mart is their lightening rod.

How this high profile case of corporate conversion plays out has huge implications, and not just for the environment. Here's why …

Continue reading “Green, Greed, Greenwashing … Or Good?”

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Struggle Over ACLU’s Soul Escalates to Call for Ouster of Leadership

September 26, 2006

Today's edition of The New York Times reports that a long-seething battle within the American Civil Liberties Union has finally erupted in a very public way. Veteran Times staffer, Stephanie Strom, who has reported on controversies involving ACLU leadership policies and decisions over the past two years, this morning covers the launch of a movement of supporters seeking to oust the ACLU's current leaders.

Save the ACLU is calling upon “responsible members of the national board and the entire ACLU family to recognize and remedy this crisis before it is too late.” Those demanding action comprise of a group of longtime ACLU members, donors, supporters and activists, including former executive staff and members of the national or affiliate boards.

The group has also issued a call for other supporters and Members of the ACLU to sign up and join them.

The crisis? According to Save the ACLU, America’s preeminent civil liberties organization is in grave danger because its leaders have violated the very “core civil liberties principles that it insists everyone else observe.” “[B]reaches of principle that include the ACLU’s approval of grant agreements that restrict speech and associational rights; efforts by management to impose gag rules on staff and to subject staff to email surveillance; a proposal to bar ACLU board members from publicly criticizing the ACLU; and informal campaigns to purge the ACLU of its internal critics.”

Among the 30 people signing the request for the national board to take action are Ira Glasser, the national ACLU Executive Director of the ACLU from 1978-2001; David Goldberger, who served as the ACLU’s chief counsel in the famous Skokie case where the ACLU defended the right of American Nazis to march; Jay Miller, a former Executive Director of both the Illinois and Northern California ACLU affiliates; Norman Siegle, former Executive Director of the ACLU; and a number of donors and former board members.

For nearly 30 years I worked as the ACLU's fundraising and membership consultant, and believe me this is a particularly wrenching chapter in the history of an organization that is no stranger to feisty internal debate. But ACLU isn't the only group where the leadership has been accused of violating an organization's first principles.

Beyond the the battle itself the issues and questions raised are important for all movements, causes, and charities. Read on for more.

Continue reading “Struggle Over ACLU's Soul Escalates to Call for Ouster of Leadership”

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Change From The Inside … Impossible?

September 26, 2006

As usual, Seth Godin, revolutionary that he is, offers a provocative insight when he argues that serious change to the status quo, in any institutional setting, needs to come from the outside. Provocative? Yes. True? I'm not convinced.

Here in part is what he says:

Inside most fields, we see pitched battles between a few people who want serious change to reinvigorate the genre they love–and the masses, who won't tolerate change of any kind …

History has shown us that the answer is crystal clear: if you want change, you've got to leave. Change comes, almost always, from the outside. The people who reinvented music, food, technology and politics have always gone outside the existing dominant channels to create something new and vital and important.

Seth rarely applies his thinking explicitly to the political and cause world, at least on his blog. When I consider that world, I can think of many cases where crucial, even radical, change has come from the inside. Some examples:

Continue reading “Change From The Inside … Impossible?”

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Best Political Videos

September 24, 2006

Political videos are proliferating these days. The election cycle of course plays a part, but we're just seeing the very leading edge of what will become a huge form of citizen expression on sites like YouTube and the myriad clones set up by major portals like Yahoo, Google, AOL and, yes, even Al Gore's CurrentTV.

Here's a batch of the new “best of the week” feature from Politics Online, one of our favorite sources. This selection is actually pretty mainstream, as compared, say, to the amateur video reporting that caught Senator Allen (VA) in his infamous racist comment on the campaign.

Fox News Alert: Chavez Calls President Bush “The Devil”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling U.S. President George W. Bush 'the devil.'
Watch the YouTube Video

Pope Stops Short of Issuing Apology to Muslims
Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that he has 'deep respect' for Islam, but he did not offer an apology demanded by some Muslim leaders offended by the pontiff's remarks in Germany last week.
Watch the Washington Post Video

Daily Show: Clinton and The Global Initiative
Jon Stewart interviews special guest Bill Clinton on the Daily Show about the Global Initiative. There are four segments of conference - Global Warming, Alleviation of Poverty, Global Health Challenges, and Religious and Racial Reconciliation. The Initiative will include few speeches, more conversations and action oriented dialogue.
Watch the YouTube Video

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Numbers To Note

September 23, 2006

Here are some important numbers that have crossed our laptops in the past few days.

First, politics and cyberspace. Through our research umbilical cord, the folks at Pew Internet Project, comes the news that on a typical day in August 2006, 26 million Americans turned to the internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections. That number translates into one out of five adult internet users, and is two-and-a-half times the number at a comparable point before the 2002 mid-terms. For college grads — the folks who give $$ to causes and candidates — the number is 55%. Pew imputes this to higher penetration of broadband, and more varied and interesting political content from sources like YouTube … NOT, surprisingly, to higher levels of interest in voting this year. Full info here.

Second, speaking of broadband, here's a report from eMarketer indicating that two-thirds of all U.S. households now access the Internet, and fully 67% of these I-homes access via broadband connections. At the same time, this report for AOL Latino indicates that 55% of the U.S. Hispanic population is online, with 77% of this online audience using broadband access. The study observes: “Hispanics use social networking tools to communicate with friends and family. Sixty-eight percent use instant messaging; 63 percent share photos online; 52 percent read or post to blogs; 43 percent visit social networking sites; and 40 percent use VoIP or other Internet-based phone service.” That's state-of-the art communicating! If we were running a nonprofit ourselves, we'd sure be experimenting with delivering our message online to this politically ascendant community.

Finally, what about e-messaging? If we were seeking to get our message through online to Latinos or anyone else, we'd want to know that our e-messaging was getting delivered. So we'd be concerned about this study from Mindshare Interactive Campaigns indicating that 24% of the email messages from 28 tested nonprofits and political groups did not make it to the mailboxes of the people who requested them. BTW, a non-delivery percentage comparable to experience in the commercial e-marketing world.

In fact, Agitator is so concerned about this that we've arranged a special blog Post for next Monday, featuring interviews with the top tech guys at bigtime e-marketing firms GetActive and Convio. Effective email marketing is now an essential arrow in the quiver of nonprofit fundraisers and advocates. Make sure to read Monday's Agitator Post on this issue.

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Branson To Bush: Eat My Exhaust!

September 22, 2006

President Bush's team proudly announces $3 billion a year in technology subsidies to fight global warming. At least he's beginning to act faintly like a believer that global warming is real … forcing even farther into political Siberia Neanderthals like Senator Inhofe.

The Bush Administration's timing was most likely intended to steal the thunder from the Clinton Foundation shindig and the newly dynamic climate crusader Al Gore, who has masterfully laid out the full response that is needed to combat the threat.

Little were they expecting to be upstaged by Virgin's Richard Branson, who pledged all the profits from his transportation businesses to the fight against global warming … a gift valued at $3 billion over the next ten years.

Branson reminds me a lot of my hero Ted Turner. Both are masters of “doing good and doing well” — a skill and motivation I strongly admire.

Turner, an old boss of mine, would do little things like offer free unedited time on CNN (in its “chicken noodle network” days), as well as free satellite uplink stations, to each and every world leader to say whatever they wanted to say to a world audience. Why? Because he truly believed a better world would come from people around the planet all hearing from each other directly; but also because political regulators in most of these countries made the decision as to which, if any, “foreign” broadcasters like CNN would be permitted to operate within their countries.

Branson, who makes about half his fortune from polluting airlines and railroads, gets to say: “Fly Virgin Air guilt free, your fare is helping fight global warming.” Airlines and railroads aren't going away soon, so I say: “Meantime, take the money.”

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Great Gig At WWF

September 21, 2006

Great job opening for a cause marketer …

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global conservation organization, seeks a Director of Donor Marketing to lead overall strategy and development of marketing programs that drive fundraising; provide direction, oversight and implementation of marketing communication to multiple audiences; manage development marketing/volunteer engagement vehicle, and special events. A minimum of ten years experience with a Bachelor's degree required. Experience overseeing marketing and fundraising for an organization with more than $100M in annual revenue preferred.

AA/EOE Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. To apply, please visit here or send cover letter and resume by fax to (202) 293-9211 #27014

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