by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 6, 2007 | Blog, Cause Marketing, Communication
My favorite Israeli blogger Jameel shared a letter and certificate that his young daughter received after cutting off her long hair and donating it to an organization called Zichron Menachem – The Israeli Association for the Support and Assistance of Children with Cancer and their Families. The organization provides wigs to children undergoing chemotherapy who have lost their hair (similar to Locks of Love here in the US).
Soon after she sent in her donation, she received this letter back (translated from the Hebrew):
Dear [name],
Yes, yes, I mean you. You, who faithfully grew your hair for a long time and then cut it short (and sometimes, even shorter than you would have liked), just so your hair would meet the criteria of Zichron Menachem, just so you could donate it to sick children. You just wanted to aid children that were in a bad way.
When their hair started to fall out, in a bad way.
That is the first actual sign which proves to them that they are sick — with the terrible disease known as cancer, and breaks them emotionally.
And not only that, but when they suddenly see large faces looking back at them in the mirror. Too large. Missing too much. And at that critical moment, what is missing has a tremendous impact.
That is the point where they meet your hair. Your noble act returns their faces to them. Their self respect. Their self-confidence that everything “will be ok” and “I’m still myself despite everything.”
Your valiance is noble!
I want to thank you for your partnership with Zichron Menachem — for helping make a very difficult time, a bit easier. And I want you to know that how successful your effort is, every time I see a bashful smile from those mirrors, trying to love what they see. And they succeed.
There are other ways to contribute to Zichron Menachem. Visit our internet site: zichron.org
Sincerely,
Efrat Luxenberg
Public Relations
efrat@zichron.org
What kid (or adult, for that matter) wouldn’t be beaming after reading that letter? Who wouldn’t be pulling out the ruler to see how long it might be until her hair grew enough to send in another donation?
The letter is so effective for several reasons. It lets donors emotionally experience the impact of their donation with vivid details and a compelling story. It shows that the organization understands the sacrifice the donor made with their investment of time and effort in growing the hair, and then the potentially traumatic step of cutting it off. And a little flattery will get you pretty far, when it is sincere and well-deserved.
Kudos to Zichron Menachem for its marketing savvy, and yasher koach (loosely translated as “more power to you” or “way to go!”) to Jameel’s daughter for deciding on her own to participate in this worthy program.
Technorati Tags: nonprofit, marketing, fundraising, hair, israel
by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 6, 2007 | Blog, Miscellaneous
My colleague Melissa Havard just sent me this note that I’m posting with her permission, in case any you who work for or with nonprofits is able to take advantage of this great opportunity:
Please let me know if you work with any non profits who might be interested in getting some amazing exposure. Feel free to forward to colleagues. NOTE: this is not a “Pay for the production costs scam”…it’s for real.
Profiles in Caring (501c3) is a half hour professionally produced television program highlighting amazing non profits who make profound differences in the lives of others. Their focus is on the mid to small non profit organization, that make great impact with minimum staff and dollars. The stories are mini documentaries, with a personal “behind the scenes” emphasis that reveals the essence of the organization and the people involved.
THEY ARE REQUESTING SUBMISSIONS FOR FALL PROGRAMMING. It’s a simple application process online, period. I’m encouraging my friends and colleagues to help get the word out! They are interested in US and International organizations.
PIC currently broadcasts nationally and internationally on the following outlets:
American Life TV
The Altitude Network
America One TV
Voice of America
Comcast on Demand
KJZZ TV Salt Lake City
KHIZ TV Los Angeles
WHBG TV Harrisburg
The STARFISH Network (dish TV)
There are several benefits to filling out an application for submission. If selected,
(1) Profiles in Caring pays ALL production costs. There may be minor travel (coach) expense for cameraman’s travel , but if that presents a problem, sometimes even this minimal charge is covered. *PIC is structured/funded so that the service they provide is producing the program with little or no cost to organization selected. No bait and switch. This is a really great, cool organization.
(2) The programming can lead to increased visibility and donations.
(3) The non profit can keep the 30 minute documentary and use without restriction however they want (fundraising, b roll for news /media, video streaming on web, cross promotion and branding, board presentations)
(4) PIC simply asks for a link on website site, either prior to or when video is aired.
(5) In addition to producing the video, there is an Ambassadors in Caring 10K grant available for qualified and selected applicants. Profiles awards (4) of these each year.
Profiles in Caring is a non-religious, not-for-profit enterprise, an initiative of DreamWeaver Medical Foundation, a 501(3)(c) organization.
For more information, contact Melissa Havard, Melissa@casablancaconsulting.com.
Technorati Tags: nonprofit, television, media
by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 5, 2007 | Blog, Resources
Here are this week’s odds and ends:
- When CBS’s New York office was bombarded with tens of thousands of pounds of nuts sent to them by fans upset about its cancellation of the TV series Jericho a couple of weeks ago, the network redeemed itself by donating the peanuts to City Harvest, a hunger relief program and State Island Project Homefront, an organization that sends care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there are still 6,388 pounds of nuts sent to the LA office that are unaccounted for. Guess the staff there is nuts for nuts. Kudos also to NutsOnline, the company that is coordinating the nutty assault, for collecting donations and giving a percentage of the nut orders of over $13,500 so far for the Greensburg, Kansas Rebuilding Fund. Jericho is set in Kansas, and during the same week the season finale aired, a tornado hit Greensburg and destroyed 95% of the town. Lots of good is coming out of the series cancellation; hopefully the show’s fans will end up having a reason to be happy as well.
- Dutch smokers who are thinking about quitting can send an approximation of their smoker’s cough to their friends via email with a note announcing their intention to quit (and nonsmokers can send a hint-hint note to their friends who smoke). A clever way to use social pressure to get it to stick in this promotion for Pfizer’s smoking cessation medicine Champix. The site is in Dutch, but the language is similar enough to English that I was able to figure out what the words meant (een paffer = a smoker (puffer), and among the cough qualities you could choose from were “droog” (dry) or “slijmerig” (slimy?)).
- Staying in the same part of the world, Danish PhD student Malene Charlotte Larsen lists 25 different perspectives that people take on online social networking, such as the consumer perspective, the youth perspective, the friendship perspective, the identity perspective, the body and sex perspective and more. It’s a very interesting way to look at the how people could see the same tool from different angles. (via Alison Byrne Fields)
- Ad Age is looking at who is blogging and has a great graphic summary of blogosphere demographics (pdf). Some interesting stats include that 19% of kids age 12-17 have created blogs and 38% read them; 54% of bloggers are younger than 30; and 59% of blog readers floss their teeth daily (a social marketing opportunity to reach the other 41%!). Bloggers are also more racially diverse that the general online population, where 60% of bloggers are white (vs. 74% of all internet users).
- Roger von Oech shares what designers can do when they put their talent toward solving life and death problems rather than luxury cars, soda cans and cell phones. An exhibit called Design for the Other 90% at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum displays inventions like a circular jerry can that holds 20 gallons of water and rolls so easily that a child can pull it behind her, and the Lifestraw, which contains a drinking filter that kills bacteria as water is sucked through it. Think of what amazing strides we could make if the world’s best designers gave some thought to addressing the needs of the poorest instead of the richest.
- Supply and no demand… Algeria has 10 million condoms to give away to its citizens, but nobody wants them. The government is working with imams to preach about the HIV virus and the risks of unprotected sex, but a combination of misconceptions and negative attitudes is keeping people from choosing to use condoms. Any Algerian social marketers out there?
- According to MarketingVox, a new “exergaming” gym will offer over 20 videogames and other equipment to get kids moving while having fun. If I were looking for a franchise to open, this would be it — what a great concept.
- Speaking of exercise, I was flabbergasted when I figured out that this product was for real. Are people really paying $60 for a “ropeless jump rope” (two handles with little attached balls that twirl around when you swing them)? Apparently people who have problems jumping over a real rope have not figured out that you can swing your arms around and jump up and down for free (Look! I can even do it backwards and on one foot!). Do they really need to hold something that makes a fake swishing sound to keep their rhythm? Am I missing something here?
- And finally, in how many ways is the situation shown in this video just wrong? It’s the Lindsay Lohanization process. No need to wonder why some young women have body image problems and look for the meaning of life in shopping, partying and drugs. The news bulletin that goes across the screen toward the end of the clip is priceless.
Photo Credit: beatnikside
Technorati Tags: american cancer society, second life, jericho, pfizer, social networking, blogging, graphics, design, condoms, hiv, gaming, lindsay lohan, marketing
by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 3, 2007 | Blog, Marketing
This afternoon I attended a bridal shower for my daughter’s beloved kindergarten teacher, thrown by the moms of the class. In addition to the requisite food and games, one mom led what I found to be a moving and meaningful activity. She had brought a clear glass vase with a “lucky bamboo” plant inside. She gave each person a smooth dark stone and passed around a silver permanent marker. We were instructed to write a single word on the stone, which would serve as a piece of advice or “word of wisdom” for her coming marriage. Each person then explained why she wrote that word, and put the stone into the vase so the word could be seen through the glass. As the roots of the bamboo plant grow and wrap around the stones, so too will her marriage be putting down its roots with those concepts as its foundation.
Some of the words people wrote included “love,” “cherish,” “communication,” “laugh,” “blessings,” “compromise” and “fun.” One person broke the rules and wrote two words — “sex” and “food” — reflecting the advice her own mom had given her when she got married, that all it takes to make a man happy is to walk into the room naked carrying a sandwich (wasn’t that a Seinfeld episode?). My word was her name, “Shannon,” with the wish that she always remember who she is and not lose her sense of identity when she gets married.
This exercise got me thinking about the idea of finding one word that summarizes my most important piece of advice for marketers (social or otherwise). After thinking for a while, I decided that my one word mantra would be “LISTEN.” Listen to your customers, your target audience, the people you are trying to reach. Ask them about their needs, their wants, what’s important to them. Find out what their lives are like, what they are thinking, feeling and doing. If you don’t listen to them, you will have a hard time designing a marketing strategy that will resonate with their lives.
Now it’s your turn to play the game with me. What would be the one word of advice you would write on a stone for a new marketer? Or what would be your one word of wisdom for success in life? Take your pick and leave it in the comments.
Photo Credit: _McConnell_
Technorati Tags: marketing
by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 2, 2007 | Blog, Social Media
In my latest post to the HHS Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog this week, I talk about the need to focus on building awareness about the issue before trying to get people to take action. We can’t jump from practically zero awareness of pandemic flu and its implications all the way to full community preparedness in a short amount of time. I talk about how we can use the Stages of Change model to think through the types of messages and marketing approaches to reach people where they are in the behavior change process. I hope you’ll read the post and leave a comment to add your ideas to this innovative idea-generation platform for the HHS.
by Nedra Weinreich | May 30, 2007 | Blog, Marketing, Personal
A couple of times today I felt that brief wave of sadness and longing in the pit of my stomach that signals a nostalgic episode. Something will trip a bunch of connected neurons and suddenly I’ll be transported back in time, feeling for a split second like my then-self.
Nostalgia can be triggered by all the senses. Sometimes it’s a smell wafting by (like the same cologne worn by the guy in the next dorm room in freshman year of college). Sometimes it’s a song (“Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds always puts me back into my best friend’s blue Chevy Malibu on a hot June day just on the cusp of high school graduation). A color can get me (the deep crushed purple of my favorite velour shirt in 6th grade). Or a taste can do it (candy necklaces bought for a nickel from the ice cream man). Even a touch (the rose petal softness of any baby’s tummy can take me back to the wonder of being a new mom).
Today the first thing that set off my nostalgia was an review of the Police reunion concert in the Wall Street Journal with an accompanying picture of drummer Stewart Copeland. I had a major crush on him in junior high, and even though he has glasses now and is 25 years older, looking at that picture transported me back into the awkward 13 year old with the full-page LA Times ad for the Police concert at the Forum taped to my wall (I didn’t actually go myself, but if I recall, the opening act was Oingo Boingo). I don’t think the nostalgic pull was that I actually wanted to relive those junior high years (ugh! – would anyone willingly go through junior high again?). Maybe it’s more that the picture reminded me of the good feelings I experienced when I looked at his picture back then.
The other thing that gave me the nostalgic twinge was Wil Wheaton‘s column recounting his own wistful feelings when revisiting the soundstage where they filmed Star Trek: The Next Generation. He certainly has much more of a connection with the show than I (he was Ensign Wesley Crusher, but now is a writer/blogger/geek-about-town), but being the sci-fi fangirl that I am, I’ve seen every TNG episode at least a few times. As anyone who watches a good show over a long time knows, you develop an emotional connection with the characters. This show was exceptionally well-written and acted, and the deep emotions that fans felt for the show result in a nostalgic desire to reimmerse themselves in that world, as evidenced by Trekkie conventions, USS Enterprise role play sims in Second Life and Vegas reenactments.
What does all of this have to do with marketing? Marketers have been using nostalgia as a way of pitching their products for as long as people have been talking about “the good old days.” Look at how things like fashion and music keep coming around in cycles, fueled by generations buying the things they loved for their own children. I was just talking with a friend today about how I owned all the Schoolhouse Rock videos for my kids, having grown up singing about the Constitution and adverbs on Saturday mornings. The new VW Beetle is successful specifically because of nostalgia for the old Bugs. Commercials for cars, soda, and financial services are borrowing licks from 70s rock. Cultural icons like Dennis Hopper, Kermit the Frog and Bob Dylan flack for retirement planning, hybrid cars and women’s underwear.
Emotions imprinted during childhood and the teenage years are especially powerful, and by associating our products with those nostalgic memories, we can piggyback on them. First you need to know who your target audience is — 20 year olds will be nostalgic about very different things than 40 year olds, and regional, ethnic and social class differences may exist as well. You could do focus groups where you ask them to name the music, tastes, smells, celebrities, TV shows, etc that they remember fondly and the specific memories associated with them. Focus on the senses, because those are the key to tapping into those nostalgic emotions. You will find that certain things get most everyone nodding wistfully; when that happens, you’ll know you’re onto something.
How do you connect your product with that nostalgia? Depending on which senses are involved, you may have to be creative. You can use music, celebrity spokespeople (if they used to be hot but have not been for a while, you may even have a better chance of getting their participation), particular graphic styles or fonts, clothes and hairstyles, food or scented giveaways, plays on old catchphrases, or other approaches. You do need to be careful, though, when you are messing around with things that people hold dear to their hearts. If they perceive you as tampering with their cherished icons or that the people associated with them have “sold out,” you may generate a backlash.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch the the Krofft Superstars DVD I bought for my kids. Yeah, yeah, right…for my kids.
Photo Credit: Sylph*
Technorati Tags: marketing, nostalgia, police, stewart copeland, wil wheaton, star trek
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
