by Nedra Weinreich | May 26, 2006 | Blog, Social Marketing
Can a PSA deter would be suicide bombers in Iraq? I’m dubious, if they are trying to win them over by showing them the human consequences of their actions. That approach will only confirm for the jihadists the effectivenesss of bombs in accomplishing what they set out to do. Better than appealing to their great love of humanity might be to approach them via their religious values, perhaps by having respected Muslim leaders speak out against the practice and provide quotes from the Koran that support their position. I fear that the TV ad described in the article will connect with many Iraqis, but not the ones they need to reach.
by Nedra Weinreich | May 24, 2006 | Blog, Social Marketing
The truth campaign to mobilize youth against the tobacco industry has a new website out with the very kid-friendly name of whudafxup. Okay, parents might not like it, but that only increases its appeal to the teens the campaign is trying to reach. The newly changed website features a character named Derrick, who has wacky hair and glasses, kind of like youth favorite Napoleon Dynamite. The website is cleverly done and worth poking around.
by Nedra Weinreich | May 23, 2006 | Blog, Cause Marketing
From Britt Bravo, some information about the upcoming NetSquared Conference:
On May 30-31st in San Jose, CA the NetSquared Conference will convene early adopters, technologists, corporations, philanthropists, and nonprofit and non-governmental leaders to discuss and take concrete steps towards using social web tools like blogging, vlogging, tagging and podcasting for social change.
You can participate in the conference remotely in 3 ways:
1. Participate in the NetSquared chatroom where speakers like Mike Linksvayer of Creative Commons, Scott Heiferman of Meetup.com and Robyn Deupree of Bloglines will be sharing info. and answering questions.
http://www.netsquared.org/remote#chat
2. Chat it up in the Conference Hallway chat room. We’re using Gabbly.com for both chats which is super easy and user-friendly.
http://www.netsquared.org/hallway
3. Post a question to be asked at a conference session, or write a blog post to start the conversation online. Just peruse the conference sessions (link below) and click on a theme and session topic that interests you. At the bottom of the session description you can add your question or blog post.
http://www.netsquared.org/conference/conference-sessions
Also, we will have folks recording the conference for you on our
blog: http://www.netsquared.org/blog
podcast: http://www.odeo.com/channel/41065/view
and vlog: http://www.netsquared.org/tags/vlog/
so you don’t have to miss a moment!
For more information contact net2@techsoup.org
The remote conference (live chat with speakers from the conference) has a couple of potentially interesting sessions for health-oriented social marketers including:
5/30 9 am (PDT) Judith Feder on “Health care and web 2.0 patient communities”
5/31 12 noon Enoch Choi of Palo Alto Medical Foundation on “Tech Tools in Medicine: Personal Health Records, Mobile Devices, Blogging,Podcasting, Health Search & Tagging @ Google Co-op”
Other sessions focus on additional ways to use technology for change, whatever the issue you are working on. I’m looking forward to seeing the reports from the sessions.
by Nedra Weinreich | May 23, 2006 | Blog, Cause Marketing, Entertainment
It’s near impossible to miss all the hype about American Idol, what with the final showdown happening tonight and tomorrow. While I am not an avid viewer, I’ve seen it a few times and might even watch tonight, along with at least 31 million others. An article in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal discussed the rampant product placement in the show, which does not seem to diminish the number of viewers tuning in. By the 2004 season, viewers were exposed to a total of 3,200 product placement occurrences, according to Nielsen Media Research — everything from the Coke cups sitting in front of each judge to the Ford commercials featuring the Idol contestants and other plugs.
This article, plus a passing reference I heard that mentioned that the second runner up who was voted off last week, Elliott Yamin, is diabetic and 90% deaf in one ear, sparked some more thoughts about social marketing product placement on TV. Apparently, Yamin wears an insulin pump and has talked about his diabetes on the show. What an amazing opportunity to get out information about diabetes and hearing loss — as well as providing a positive role model who is managing his health effectively. With a 30-second ad on Wednesday’s show going for about $1.3 million, it’s too bad that Yamin is not in the final two where he could talk more about things like diabetes prevention or management to get the value of that kind of reach.
Contestants on American Idol develop legions of rabid fans, and Yamin is no exception. In fact, some of his fans have started a fundraising campaign with proceeds going to the American Diabetes Association. The ADA should have jumped on this increase in awareness about diabetes to get their messages out to Yamin fans (or as one fan blog calls them “Yaminions”), but I could find nothing on their website about him.
How else might social marketers work with American Idol to add their “products” to the long list of other products being promoted on the show? In the show’s interviews and mini-documentaries about the contestants, might they highlight positive behaviors they engage in like eating healthy food, working out, wearing their seat belts, flossing their teeth, wearing a hat in the sun, etc? Give each contestant an apple after their performance? Show the people who are voted off using positive coping strategies to deal with the stress? I would like to think that the producers of American Idol might be amenable to working in some sort of positive health or social issues to the show, given that they are not wanting for money-producing sponsors. Hmmm, there’s a thought for next season.
By the way, HitWise predicts that Taylor Hicks will win, based on the volume of online search results on his name versus competitor Katherine McPhee. Guess we’ll see Wednesday night.
by Nedra Weinreich | May 22, 2006 | Blog, Entertainment, Social Marketing
The FEMA for Kidz Rap:
Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,
But we’ve got a few tips, so you can be prepared
For floods, tornadoes, or even a ‘quake,
You’ve got to be ready – so your heart don’t break.
Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency.
People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we’re ready all the time, ’cause disasters don’t rest.
Oy.
It also comes with a handy audio performance of the rap so that you too can kick it at school assemblies and bar mitzvahs.
via Atlas Shrugs
by Nedra Weinreich | May 22, 2006 | Blog, Marketing
Eric Mattson at MarketingMonger takes the reins this week as the host of the Carnival of Marketing. While you’re there, check out some of the podcasts he’s posted as part of his quest to conduct 1,000 interviews with marketers and other interesting people. I’m scheduled to be interviewed in June and will let you know when that podcast is available.
I especially liked the post by Jack Yoest reminding us that something as low-tech and relatively inexpensive as a printed calendar can be a very effective marketing tool. He runs the numbers for us:
Assume a cost of $3.00 per calendar. For every 100 calendars sent to a client:
An estimated 50% of the calendars will be hung up on the end-users’ wall.
A calendar is viewed five times per day per person.
A calendar is viewed by 1.5 persons per day.
A calendar is hung in an office open 5 days per week,
50 weeks per year.
I’ll the math, if you don’t mind.
100 X .5 X 5 X 1.5 X 5 X 50 = 93,750
If you would allow me a +/- 10% variance, the campaign could have 100,000 impressions for $300. (Marketers always round up.) Or .003 cents per impression. Cost would be a penny for three viewings. Cheap eyeballs.
Calendars have the potential for both raising awareness and reinforcing those daily behaviors that we’re often trying to promote in social marketing. With attractive graphics portraying your issue each month (or why not one of those chunky daily calendars?), you can portray the benefits of adopting your healthy or socially beneficial behaviors. You can provide monthly or daily tips to keep your audience motivated, help them remember to do what they are supposed to do, or help them think about the issue in a new way. Even if they get so used to seeing the calendar that they start tuning it out, they will get a new infusion of your message when they have to turn the page each month. And when they are ready to take action, they’ll know exactly where to find your organization’s contact information. A client of mine combined their annual report with a 12-month calendar that started from the back page of the publication, killing the proverbial two birds (which is ironic given that they are an environmental organization!). Now’s the time to start thinking about how you will get your message out in 2007 — start collecting ideas, tips and days/weeks/months on which relevant observances are held (e.g., May is Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month, this is Schizophrenia Awareness Week, and Thursday May 25 will be National Missing Children’s Day).
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. 
