The Agitator

Yesterday I reminisced about the “old days” when a small handful of “big brand” media delivered the news that fueled the fire in the belly of donors to many causes. Through their coverage, those same media — NY Times, PBS, CNN, NPR — also provided the credibility ...  Read more

Every year we give a plug to Nancy Schwartz’ nonprofit tagline competition. Gets hundreds of entries … might top 1,000 this year. Sometimes The Agitator even agrees on the winners! Here’s the place to enter this year. And there are more categories, so you can enter taglines for ...  Read more

I’m hugely impressed with Nancy Schwartz’ analysis of the Komen For The Cure’s (Komen) disastrous cause marketing partnership with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Nancy does a terrific job of both dissecting the bad idea itself and then commenting on Komen’s communications ...  Read more

eMarketing & Commerce reports on a study of Facebook fans and their brand loyalty, as  published in the March Harvard Business Review. In this case, the study examined the behavior and attitudes of customers of Houston’s Dessert Gallery cafe chain who became the company’s ...  Read more

Awhile back I saw this LA Times article about a new website/organization (is there a difference these days?) launched by Chris Hughes, one of Facebook’s co-founders and online organizing whiz for the Obama campaign. But as I read about the site — Jumo, promoted as a venue for ...  Read more

Here’s just a plain old "good news" post. The Salvation Army has done a terrific job of remaining relevant and vital in changing times. A great case study in organizational renewal, particularly as nonprofits begin to think more and more about competition from "fresh ...  Read more

Here from Harris Interactive, in order, are the "Top 10" nonprofit  brands consumers say they would most likely donate to: Susan G Komen for the Cure American Cancer Society St. Jude’s Research Hospital Goodwill Industries Salvation Army Cleveland Clinic Heifer Project ...  Read more

I just really enjoyed these two articles … so bear with me … I’m sharing them. Both relate to memorable, durable marketing. Easy lifting for Monday. The first reports on a survey conducted for Forbes on the most memorable fictional brand spokespeople (often spokescreatures!) ...  Read more

For five centuries, from the Phoenicians to the global exploration of the 15th century Spaniards the conventional wisdom of navigation rested on the belief that the Earth was flat. Venture farther than the known oceans and you would fall off the edge of the Earth into the mouths of dragons, the ...  Read more

Two interesting articles about Boomers came my way in the last couple of days. Maybe some insights here for fundraising messages. The first, from Brandweek, discusses the new advertising campaign of AARP. It’s hard to imagine any outfit with a bigger stake in understanding Boomers and their ...  Read more