by Nedra Weinreich | Aug 7, 2006 | Blog, Entertainment
What do you do when you want to get out the word about the importance of a mundane (but important) topic like child car seats? You look to recent news and find a hook, especially if the news involves a celebrity.
The American Automobile Association and a minor league baseball team called the Newark Bears hosted a “Britney Spears Baby Safety Night.” Back in February, you couldn’t escape the coverage of Britney zooming away from the paparazzi with her infant on her lap in the driver’s seat. Then again in May, she came under fire for having her baby’s car seat facing forward, rather than the safer backward position. On the plus side, a CHP officer is quoted as saying that “she’s done more for child safety-seat awareness than anyone else in California.”
So the Bears and AAA are using the newsworthy celebrity angle in a fun way, providing information on baby car seat safety and a chance to win a free car seat. Those who dress as a baby, bring a baby toy or bring their baby (under age 4) get in free. They even had a “special guest who sings and dances” (see photo above).
Think about the celebrity hooks you could use for your issue. How about a Mel Gibson Interfaith Sobriety Night? Or a Tom Cruise Mental Health Screening? Or a Paris Hilton Abstinence Party?
Technorati Tags: celebrity, public relations, britney, media
by Nedra Weinreich | Jun 14, 2006 | Blog, Entertainment, Storytelling
The other night I watched a movie called Murderball that was sent to me by Participant Productions, a company I have written about in the past. Both the movie and the way it has been promoted are notable.
First, the movie – wow. Picture gladiators in wheelchairs. Mad Max playing rugby. These quadriplegic rugby players do not fit the standard stereotypes of people in wheelchairs. They are anything but fragile, banging into each other and knocking over opposing players’ chairs. Without helmets, no less.
The documentary follows the rivalry of the American and Canadian quad rugby teams and gives us a glimpse into the lives of some of the players. The ways that the men came to be in a wheelchair are as varied as the personalities of the men themselves — by a car crash, childhood meningitis, bar brawl, gunshot. And that’s the point. People in wheelchairs are as different from each other as anyone else and should be treated as individuals. But what brings this group of guys together is what they have done with their situation. They have as much, if not more, testosterone as every other man, and their competitiveness and desire to excel drives them to do what nobody would ever expect. They drink, curse, have sex, harshly discipline their children…this is not a romanticized view of the “brave disabled person.”
And because of this, I think that even more important than mainstream audiences seeing this film is having other quadriplegic people see this film. The most touching scene in the movie was when Mark Zupan, one of the American players, went to a rehab hospital to talk to the people there who had recently become paralyzed. The visit captured the imagination of one of the patients, a young man whose main love was motorcycles, when he was able to try out a competition wheelchair. It helped him see that his enjoyment of life did not have to be over just because he was in a wheelchair, and by the end of the movie he was saving up to buy his own rugby chair. A copy of this DVD should be sent to every rehab hospital in the country to give patients a glimpse of what is possible in their new life.
So, yes, I liked the movie. But I am even more impressed with the way Participant Productions is promoting it (as they seem to do with most of their movies). They have created a campaign called “Get Into the Game” that ties in a disabilities awareness theme with a cause marketing piece. They are distributing free screening kits so that organizations or groups of friends can screen the movie and raise money for the US Paralympic team for wheelchairs for needy athletes. The kits include the DVD, discussion questions and tips for having a successful screening. They have also provided a way for people who get involved with the campaign to create a blog talking about what they did and to become part of a community that is addressing this issue. And they are bringing in bloggers (like me) who write about social change to spread the word as well.
These are all things social marketers could do, related to any movie or TV show that positively portrays the kinds of messages we are promoting in our programs. Besides the communities of people who are affected by the issue, this would be a good opportunity to reach the fans of the show or actors in the movie to educate them and involve them in your strategies. Are there any entertainment programs or movies out there that you can tie into your own campaign?
In the spirit of raising awareness and spreading the word about this movie, I will be passing along my copy of the Murderball DVD for others to watch. So, (and here’s the catch!) the next person to register for Social Marketing University will get the Murderball DVD. Don’t all crowd on at once!
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 | Feb 6, 2006 | Behavior Change, Blog, Entertainment, Storytelling
In an editorial on Sunday in the LA Times, Maria DiBattista asks whether movies can change people’s minds about social issues, using “Brokeback Mountain” as an example:
Movies can envision the need for social change, but it is unclear that they can help bring it about. They are better at pointing the way to a different, happier, more fulfilling life. Not the least interesting thing about the hopeless love dramatized in “Brokeback Mountain,” which garnered eight Oscar nominations last week, is how many social hopes it has inspired. Ang Lee, after winning the award as best director at the Golden Globes, hailed “the power of movies to change the way we’re thinking,” although he later thought it advisable to wait to “see how it plays out.”
…Movies can take on the great social problems of their time, but they may be the least effective — or appropriate — medium for solving them. Did “Gentleman’s Agreement” mark the beginning of the end of anti-Semitism in America? Did “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” make it easier for interracial couples to marry? Did “Wall Street” help unseat the captains of industry and discredit their doctrine of “greed is good”? Name any “problem film” — whether it deals with discrimination (racial, ethnic, sexual or religious), social reform (of schools, prisons, legislatures) or corporate corruption (national or global) — and you will come up with the same unimpressive results. The more designs a movie has on us, the less willing we are to change our minds, much less our social and business practices.
I have to disagree with her premise. I think that movies — whether feature films or TV movies — have the potential to change attitudes and beliefs, and ultimately to bring about individual and social change. In many cases, a movie may be the first exposure an individual has to a particular topic, raising the awareness that a problem exists. Think “Erin Brockovich” (environmental hazards), “Hotel Rwanda” (genocide), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (mental institutions) or the recent “Human Trafficking” on Lifetime, which I’ve discussed over on Craig Lefebvre’s blog.
When health issues are portrayed and humanized in a movie, viewers are left with a richer understanding of what it must be like for a person with that condition and the people who take care of them. Movies like “A Beautiful Mind” (schizophrenia), “My Left Foot” (cerebral palsy), “Philadelphia” (AIDS), “Children of a Lesser God” (deafness), “Rain Man” (autism) and “Lorenzo’s Oil” (adrenoleukodystrophy – ALD) are all examples of stories with sympathetic characters that bring us into their world. Awareness is the first step to understanding, which may then lead to a desire to do something and make a difference — or at least be more sensitive to people with these conditions.
Organizations addressing the crisis in Darfur actively promoted the viewing of the film “Hotel Rwanda” precisely to get people involved in confronting the current genocide. The miniseries “Human Trafficking” is part of Lifetime’s strategy to raise awareness of this issue with their audience and get them to take action. Movies can be the catalyst for individual and social change.
Micki Krimmel makes the point on the WorldChanging blog that
To a surprisingly great degree, the real power of films to affect social change is determined by the marketing…
Hollywood marketers should take a cue from social action groups, and not just by copying their grassroots marketing model. There are clearly large groups of people out there who care about social causes and are just waiting for a movie they can get behind. If people believe in something, they’ll market it for you.
The irony is that when the Hollywood marketers get hold of a film with the potential to spark social change, they minimize the controversial or issue-based aspects of the movie to make it more palatable to a broad audience. This then waters down the appeal of the film to the people who would be most likely to take the issue and run with it if they had been mobilized as part of the marketing strategy.
Movies can be powerful. They let us live someone else’s life for 2 hours. They can help us understand the world from another’s viewpoint. They can show us things we would never see in our own lifetimes. When a movie comes out that addresses the issues you care about, use the opportunity to galvanize others and harness the power of film to change hearts and minds.
UPDATE:
I just came across this website – Participate.net – that is associated with Participant Productions, where Micki Krimmel (linked above) works. Participant Productions is a film company started by Jeff Skoll of eBay, which produces movies specifically intended to bring about social change. Their recent films include Syriana, North Country, and Good Night and Good Luck. Participate.net explicitly seeks to link the social action component described above with each movie. Whether or not you fall on the same side as them politically, this is a very interesting model with great potential for social marketing.
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. 
