Need A New Tagline?

July 18, 2008

I’m sure most of you aren’t sitting around planning to change your tagline. Believe me, it’s one of the most challenging and contentious processes any nonprofit can undertake … usually bringing out the worst in committee decision-making!

But if you must plow down this path, definitely read the Getting Attention Tagline Report prepared by Nancy Schwartz. If you’re not contemplating it now, save this report for that fearsome occasion.

You’ll get excellent analysis of scores of existing nonprofit taglines … which ones work and which ones don’t … and why. And clear direction as to how to approach the task and what pitfalls to avoid if you’re planning a change.

Well done, Nancy. You deserve a raise!

Tom

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under You Deserve a Raise, branding, communications, creativity | 1 Comment 

Zaproot - Online Enviro Video News

July 17, 2008

By now, you know I’m trying to push nonprofits toward more use of online video.

To follow what’s happening with online video in the commercial marketing world, and get plenty of stimulating food for thought, make sure you sign up to get Ad Age’s regular new web video report. Great stuff!

Like Zaproot, styled as "Green Reports, With Bite" — a sassy online video news service covering environmental issues. Love it! Betcha can’t stop watching … if you’re an enviro.

Tom

 

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, communications, new media, online video | 2 Comments 

How To Make An Online Video

July 15, 2008

On a day when ComScore is reporting Americans watched 12 billion online videos in May, up 45% over the previous year, Marketing Sherpa offers this superb post on how to make low-budget online videos. Everything from planning and creative issues to equipment to editing software. I printed it out myself!

But you must read by July 15!

142 million American internet users watched on average 85 videos in the month … that’s 74% of all US internet users. The average video was 2.7 miinutes. YouTube accounted for 34% of all views.

Is your nonprofit there yet?!

Tom

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, communications, online advocacy, online fundraising, online video | 1 Comment 

How To Say Nothing In 500 Words

July 14, 2008

This is a "chain post" for lack of a better term.

I went from this Seth Godin post, to this Doshdosh post, to this essay.

Skip right to the essay for some great advice on how to sharpen your writing.

Preview of top three tips …

  • Avoid the obvious content.
  • Take the less usual side.
  • Slip out of abstraction.

Enjoyable reading … unless you’re already in Ernest Hemingway’s league.

Tom

 

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Pushing the Creative Envelope, communications, copywriting, creativity | Leave a Comment 

Thank You For Stealing

July 1, 2008

 

The maxim very successful fundraisers live by was set forth by George Bernard Shaw 80 years ago: "The mediocre borrow, genius steals."

In short, when you see a winning concept, campaign, technique, whatever, just steal it. Adapt it. Run with it.
Which brings me to today’s plea: All of us need to be sending more samples of good and great campaign or one-off efforts to SOFII the marvelous fundraising attic (aka: swipe file) where you can find all kinds of useful, informative and stealable stuff.
SOFFI just posted its June additions yesterday. For example:
§ActionAid’s controversial Bollocks to Poverty campaign.
§ Inspirational direct mail from a seven-year-old schoolgirl.
§ How Giving Scotland turned a crisis into a triumph.
§ A simple but brilliant idea for involving business people in the fight against heart disease.
§ Croatia’s campaign for mobility and independence for blind people.
§ A small organisation’s low-cost solution to recognising donors.
§ Hannah’s make and bake cake and biscuit sale.
§ The launch of a high level monthly giving product designed to upgrade donors in their thousands.
§ How a beautiful flower, the Edelweiss, became an involvement device and a symbol of hope for a hospice in Romania.
§ Make–A-Wish and upgrade your donors.

§ Twenty years before Barack Obama, the tale of an African American’s bid for the White House. Common Cause takes on the excesses of the American legislature. [Hey, this is copy I wrote 20+ years ago, long before "mid-level donor programs" were even a glimmer in whatever consultants’ eyes and it’s still good, he says, in all modesty :) ]

Seriously, so much great thinking, great creative and great innovation occurs every day in our trade, but we need to be far more energetic in sharing it with the rest of our world.

So please, vow to take 15 minutes, find one or two samples and get it up on SOFII’s site.

Thank you for stealing.

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Uncategorized, advocacy, cause marketing, charities, communications, copywriting, creativity, direct mail, direct marketing, drtv, email marketing, fun | Leave a Comment 

Celebrity Power

June 23, 2008

Of course not every nonprofit has access to a celebrity to help raise its profie … or fundraise.

But if you do, should you jump at the chance?

This article from the NY Times provides some excellent insights into the world of celebrity marketing. Does it work? You bet your Rihanna umbrella … your Patrick Demsey cologne … your Nicole Kidman perfume it does!

Here’s why.

First and foremost, sheer awareness … capturing attention:

“As consumers, we see over 3,156 images a day. We’re just not conscious of them,” says Marshal Cohen, from consumer research firm NPD Group. “Our subconscious records maybe 150, and only 30 or so reach our conscious behavior. If I have a celebrity as part of that message, I just accelerated the potential for my product to reach the conscious of the consumer.”

Second, emotional connecton trumps rationality:

Even savvy, skeptical consumers who understand that stars are paid to support a product may still rely on an endorsement and buy the brand anyway, says Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University.

“We’ve used our cognitive capacity to build a sophisticated informational and technological environment,” he says. But overloaded with information and stimulation, shoppers’ brains revert to a more primitive, raw association of celebrity and product, Mr. Cialdini explains.

So, should we all jump on the phone to Nicole Kidman’s agent? You wish!

Assuming you can access a celebrity, there are obvious issues of "fit" (Is there any actual compatibility between your nonprofit mission, your target audience and the celebrity, or relevance that connects the two "brands"?) and "durability" (What is the desired lifespan of this relationship and how might the affair turn sour?) that need to be assessed.

Is celebrity marketing limited to the "killer" brands of the nonprofit universe, like UNICEF and Amnesty International?

No, not at all.

Celebrities are defined by the pond in which they swim. If your nonprofit has a local or regional focus, there are still likely to be plenty of high profile personalities — outstanding athletes, media celebs, artists & performers — who just might help your nonprofit break through the clutter and help deliver your message.

And don’t forget … every star was born somewhere. It might just be your nonprofit’s hometown!

Happy celebrity hunting.

Tom

P.S. Don’t get your hopes up, Kidman was born in Australia. Rihanna in Barbados. But Patrick Dempsey … Lewiston, Maine!

 

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, branding, cause marketing, celebrities, communications, fundraising | Leave a Comment 

Where Younger Voters Get Their Information

June 17, 2008

Last week, as the primary phase of the presidential campaigns ended and the run up to the November elections began in earnest, Ad Age and Digital Hollywood held their co-produced extravaganza Advertising 2.0 in New York City.

Among the panelists was Kristi Vandenbosch head of Tequila, the global marketing services network, who put together a video reel to emphasize the dramatic change in politics. Her message and the message of the video is that social media and user-generated content have fundamentally changed the political landscape. Where once the ‘brand" (read ‘candidate’) was controlled by campaigns, control has now shifted to the "consumer" (read ‘voter’).

Ms. Vandenbosch told Ad Age, "The pieces I collected in the video were examples from an informal poll I conducted asking people under 35 where they got their election information. Rather than traditional news outlets, they provided these as samples. They were more likely to trust commentary –even satirical commentary –from their peers than either news or — especially — the candidates’ advertising." I’m not sure the reason for the shift is that clear or simple, but judge for yourself.

You can watch the Ad Age video by clicking here.

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under General Post, advocacy, branding, communications, creativity, demographic trends, new media, online video | Leave a Comment 

This Brave Nation

June 9, 2008

Dear Reader,

Permit me a personal moment. Like you, I often wonder why I do what I do. And because I’ve done it for so long, I sometimes wonder whether it all was worth it. Well, make no mistake. It was and is. Especially when the reasons are so graphically and emotionally recorded on film. Let me explain.

Last night I watched — online — the second episode in a remarkable series co-produced by The Nation magazine and Brave New Foundation. The site where you’ll find all this is This Brave Nation. At a time when nearly everyone’s blaming the internet for sapping civic spirit and the desire to learn, rather than play games, on the part of today’s young folks, here is a remarkable counter argument.

This Brave Nation, in the words of The Nation editors, "brings together the most intellligent, passionate and creative voices of one generation with the activists, journalists and artists of the next to dialogue on loves, lives, politics and history."

Here at The Agitator we write a lot about techniques, trends, accountability and other important stuff for non-profit CEOs, comms people and fundraisers. But, at the end of the day our intention is only to offer the insight and advice necessary to support missions and content. And, regardless of whether you’re a die-hard leftie like me or some other form of zealot (you’re forgiven in advance), here’s a classic example.

Print married with film. Film and print married with the internet. Internet married with text, audio and video. Text, audio and video married with ACTION.You don’t need a user’s manual to get the beauty of all this integration. Beginning on June 1 the first episode of a five part video series — eventually to be produced in a DVD boxed set — aired.

Regardless of your ideology — or maybe especially because of your ideology — I urge you to watch ‘em all. Last night’s episode was a moving interchange between singer-songwriter-activist Bonnie Raitt and union organizer-humanitarian-feminist par excellence Delores Huerta.

For the next generation — today’s 18 to 35 year olds– it’s important to understand the roots and motivation of modern social change and why the agitators and sparkplugs behind that change do what they do. You’ll find it here, especially in the conversation between Bonnie Raitt and Delores Huerta. Not only is their colloquy of how they got into the movements and what drove them emotionally moving; their explanations will surely attract the next generation.

 

And to make sure there’s an opportunity, This Brave Nation is sponsoring a contest to name today’s future movement leaders — limited only by age. Past 30 you’re out of luck. Featured in these five episodes are Carl Pope longtime leader of the Sierra Club, Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center, of course Delores Huerta and Bonnie Raitt, activist and folk singer Pete Seeger, along with environmental justice organizer Majora Carter, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero along with teenage peace activist Ava Lowery, and activist/politician Tom Hayden along with Nation columnist Naomi Klein.

Whoever at The Nation or Brave New Films came up with this concept, so beautifully executed, to inspire us all, you deserve a raise!!!!

Roger

Posted by rcraver | Filed Under Don't Miss these Posts, You Deserve a Raise, communications, demographic trends, innovation, issue fundraising, latinos, online advocacy | 1 Comment 

Seniors online

June 3, 2008

Last week was devoted to the up and coming world of social networking and the younger demographic active in that area.

But here’s some equal time for seniors, who are typically online 44 minutes a day.

From a report prepared by Focalyst and Dynamic Logic, here’s a profile of what seniors age 62+ are doing online these days:

  • Search engines: 59 percent
  • Contact family and friends: 59 percent
  • Gather information: 47 percent
  • News/current events/weather: 43 percent
  • Travel planning/reservations: 41 percent
  • Health and health-related information: 38 percent
  • Exchange photos with family/friends: 33 percent
  • Finance/online banking: 24 percent
  • Paying bills: 23 percent
  • Single/multiple-player games: 21 percent
  • Investment/transactions: 17 percent
  • Education/training: 13 percent

Note that financial stuff hangs around one-in-four senior netizens. If they’re not doing online banking or paying bills online, they’re not likely to be making online donations either.

But still, nearly half gather information online, and more than four-in-ten follow news and current events online … important from a cause fundraising standpoint … trust me, if they have a online subscription to the NY Times, they’re donors!

Tom

 

 

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under General Post, communications, issue fundraising, media usage, online advocacy, online fundraising | Leave a Comment 

Logos On The Left, Please

May 2, 2008

I wish I had more time to read research on brain functioning. I just love this stuff!

Here’s a piece on how the brain processes images, and what the implications are for effective design of ads, etc.

Turns out that images are processed mostly by the right frontal lobe, which gets its input from the left eye.The left frontal lobe specializes in numbers and text, perceived more through the right eye.

Based on its studies of brain hard wiring, NeuroFocus, a "neuromarketing research" firm, has devised a set of marketing best practices. Among the lessons … logos andimages on the left, numbers on the right.

What do you think? Do you buy this stuff? For a trip to the mental edge, visit the NeuroFocus website.

Sort of makes focus groups seem so old-fashioned!

Tom

Posted by tbelford | Filed Under Hot Research, communications | 1 Comment 

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