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Tag Archives: 413Assign3
How to Raise $$$$
Holly Stewart, fundraising master came into our class. She rocked my world.Senior Giving CommitteeI am on the SR giving committee, a group which is trying to get students to donate back to Elon and increase our endowment in order to make Elon better. I… Continue Reading
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Marketing Social Causes
Why are we looking at this?The past few class periods we have focused on social cause marketing. Holly Stewart, an expert in the field came to class and gave us insights into the industry. The goal of all this discussion is to provide us with a base fo… Continue Reading
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Purposeful Marketing with ABAN
A really cool part of my Integrated Marketing Communications class is the service learning aspect. Our community partner is A Ban Against Neglect (ABAN), a non-profit organization in Accra, Ghana with a two-fold mission: “empower street girls while cleaning up the environment.”
While studying abroad in Ghana, founders Callie and Becca encountered some social issues that really shook their bones: plastic pollution of satchet bags, and young girls, many of which are mothers, and babies sleeping in the streets amongst the pollution. Satchet bags are small plastic bags that hold the only clean drinking water for the community. The counter both of these problems, Callie and Becca developed ABAN and the ABAN school, which provides the street girls with “shelter, seamstress training, Business, English, Math and Life Skills Education, and the means to save, matching their individual savings up on graduation”. ABAN finances these endeavors through grants, but they hope to become sustainable from the products they sell, which are made by the street girls. This is where the satchet bags come into play: the girls make bags and small pouches out of the bags and cover them with handmade batik fabric to make the final for-sale products.
Holly Stewart, a renowned brand strategist, came to talk to the class last week, and shared with us her insights regarding purposeful marketing and social cause. Her definition of a non-profit really resonated—a brand selling a cause, goodwill, and products to benefit their mission. The non-profit must sell an experience that induces emotions in order to be successful, the seed for the necessary heartache to hope factor. Holly emphasized that heartstrings need to really be pulled in order to make an impact, but not so much so that the viewer is depressed into inactivity. The best example of an emotional ad gone wrong is SPCA’s Sarah McLachlan commercial. While initially successful, viewers tend to ignore the commercial or change the channel when it comes on because it is too emotional. Thus, the message is lost and the commercial has become useless. How do you think one of ABAN’s videos compares?
Based on my research and Holly’s shared insights, I have noticed some useful trends that can be applied to my class’s work with ABAN:
1. Sell the Story and Appreciate the Customer
This really ties into Holly’s heartache to hope factor. Successful non-profit organizations present their mission in a way that inspires us to help. They also show us how we can help their cause, and how any help we put in goes a long way for them. These organizations are still businesses and must maintain good business practices, which means they must make the customer feel wanted and needed while working towards their goal.
2. Co-Branding is NOT Always Successful
A number of non-profits have found success in tying their name to a popular brand, such as Sephora and Operation Smile and The Wounded Warrior Project and Under Armour. A large part of the success with these co-branding projects is that they relate. If a cause ties itself to a brand that completely unrelates to its mission, it really calls into question the integrity of the brand. Susan G. Komen’s “pink washing” is the perfect example of co-branding gone wrong.
3. Communication is key!
Communication with the customer is such a huge aspect of the success in non-profits. The communication can’t stop with conveying the mission- it needs to continue to where the help is going, how much impact said help is having on the cause, etc. I am one of many who are cautious of what organizations I donate to, solely because I have no idea where my money is going.
I will definitely be remembering these points for our strategy plan for ABAN. But these are not the only trends that will lead to a successful strategy plan. What trends have you found?
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Tunes of the Heart String
How do organizations that provide less than ideal products, vastly rely on donations, and start from pretty much nothing sustain themselves in the type of world market we have now? I’ll tell you how…they stay RELEVANT. They strike a chord within the people they target their cause towards. They say what you want to hear.
Holly Stewart made a presentation to my Integrated Marketing Communications class last week. She spoke on the successes and failures of various non-profit or for-profit organizations with a social cause. She made three highly impactful statements describing how to be successful marketing these types of organizations.
1) Sell the story. Sell The Story. SELL THE STORY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVKy2vO9Xg
Tom’s Shoes. Invisible Children. Salvation Army. All these organizations rely on their heartwarming or heart wrenching stories to call the public to action. The Boys and Girls Club of America have archives of stories to tell you about children who need food, education, and shelter. They can provide this and once they have our support they can remain sustainable.
2) You cannot target everyone
One of Holly’s slides had a cartoon that pretty much described how many people try to tackle the world with a campaign. This is similar to a lion going into a herd of zebra, if it tries to get everyone you won’t get anyone. You must those people who will be most affected by your cause and most likely support. You must also take into account which target could actually do something to help your cause. (of course little girls would like to help the girl scouts of America, , but they probably are not their best target market)
3) There WILL be a plateau
You must implement a plan where you forecast a plateau in passion and growth. Every successful nonprofit has a point where the grow substantially and maintain excitement for the cause. Every successful nonprofit experiences a plateau, but they all have a sustainable system that can overcome this.
Where is ABAN going?
I see plenty of potential in the business model that ABAN has inserted. They understand the power of the story and know that expansion through geographical and digital passages is essential to success. I am particularly excited about the growing man power that ABAN has. With more employees, it can maintain a higher capacity, reach a wider market, and therefore make a bigger impact for empowering women in Ghana. This has been one of their biggest concerns, and has made great strides in bettering it.
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Tunes of the Heart String
How do organizations that provide less than ideal products, vastly rely on donations, and start from pretty much nothing sustain themselves in the type of world market we have now? I’ll tell you how…they stay RELEVANT. They strike a chord within the people they target their cause towards. They say what you want to hear.
Holly Stewart made a presentation to my Integrated Marketing Communications class last week. She spoke on the successes and failures of various non-profit or for-profit organizations with a social cause. She made three highly impactful statements describing how to be successful marketing these types of organizations.
1) Sell the story. Sell The Story. SELL THE STORY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVKy2vO9Xg
Tom’s Shoes. Invisible Children. Salvation Army. All these organizations rely on their heartwarming or heart wrenching stories to call the public to action. The Boys and Girls Club of America have archives of stories to tell you about children who need food, education, and shelter. They can provide this and once they have our support they can remain sustainable.
2) You cannot target everyone
One of Holly’s slides had a cartoon that pretty much described how many people try to tackle the world with a campaign. This is similar to a lion going into a herd of zebra, if it tries to get everyone you won’t get anyone. You must those people who will be most affected by your cause and most likely support. You must also take into account which target could actually do something to help your cause. (of course little girls would like to help the girl scouts of America, , but they probably are not their best target market)
3) There WILL be a plateau
You must implement a plan where you forecast a plateau in passion and growth. Every successful nonprofit has a point where the grow substantially and maintain excitement for the cause. Every successful nonprofit experiences a plateau, but they all have a sustainable system that can overcome this.
Where is ABAN going?
I see plenty of potential in the business model that ABAN has inserted. They understand the power of the story and know that expansion through geographical and digital passages is essential to success. I am particularly excited about the growing man power that ABAN has. With more employees, it can maintain a higher capacity, reach a wider market, and therefore make a bigger impact for empowering women in Ghana. This has been one of their biggest concerns, and has made great strides in bettering it.
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Keys to Non-Profit Marketing with ABAN
What Is… ABAN?ABAN is an organization dedicated to solving two problems with one unified solution. The mission is to take girls off the street while solving Ghana’s litter problem. In short, ABAN sends street girls through a program… Continue Reading
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Beaton’s Blog 2013-02-26 18:09:00
Storytelling isn’t just for kids anymoreAs I sat down to write this blog, I tried to explain to my group of friends what we have learned about so far in class and what my assignment was for this blog. When I explained the nature of the assignment and t… Continue Reading
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Big Dreams
One Little Dream Can Go BIG: ABAN
Wow, what a moving idea to go abroad for a semester to Ghana and come back with a business model and win the Carolina Challenge for $16,000 to create a non-profit organization. The mission of ABAN organization is quite simple:
“A holistic approach to empower women and preserve the environment in Ghana”
Why can’t we all think of a plan, a mission, a statement, like that? After watching the ABAN youtube clip and hearing Callie Brauel speak, it is clear to me WHY she decided to make the life altering and decisions she and the two others founders did. ABAN is an organization that provides these street women and their babies with a two-year program to heal their body through improved health, development of mind through education and nurturing of spirit through support networks. These women not only are provided with the skills for a successful lifestyle, but they also take responsibility for their own growth and value. They do so by participating in ACE, Aban Community and Employment, a business that up-cycles plastic litter into colorful bags and accessories.
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| Photo Source: ABAN media kit_March 2012.pdf |
The Story of it all…
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| Photo Source: http://blog.adgiants.com/2012/05/29/brand-story/ |
Thinking about the presentation of Holly Stewart and how this ties into ABAN’s mission and their vision there was one piece that stuck to me like glue. Holly spoke about the “story” of the brand.
She quoted the phrase “ timelessness and timeliness”
This spoke loud and clear to me and especially in light of ABAN. ABAN is a holistic view and a strategy to help women that could be empowered and expand across the globe. The speaker from ABAN spoke about their 6 month, year, 5 year, and onward plans of action. One of their plans is for their two-year program to grow larger into different parts of the country and throughout Africa. This is so inspirational. This is their story and how timelessness this business model and idea of helping women in these serious and devastating situations truly is. The timeliness factor of that quote and of the story of ABAN is right now. It has never been more apparent. Today, our generation is more than anything aware of the global concerns. Things may not be in our backyard or around the corner, but we are more aware than we have ever been before. ABAN’s mission shows this need for us to act and help the dire situation at hand.
When I think of the story of ABAN and the growth the organization has experience it is exhilarating. A group of students had a passion and saw a need and reacted. This change is now a program that wants to end the cycle of poverty and empower women to restore their lives, the communities they are a part of, and the environment we all live in. The story of this organization has grown as they became recognized as a non-profit organization in January 2011 and that next fall were able to exceed $35,000 in sales of their products. The way the organization has grown to incorporate ACE, Aban Community Employment Program, which creates the up-cycling littered plastic bags into handmade products is exceptional. ABAN is looking to continue to grow and in seek of new ways to do this. After Holly Stewart’s presentation, I began to think more about non-profits and where they are headed…
A Business and Non-profit Fighting For One Cause?
Think about how many times you see donate a $1 for a foundation at a check out line, or round up at the cash register for a cause. It happens all the time. This is a new era we are in. Look around you, the pink ribbon on yogurt, (RED) on Dell computers, American Heart Association with cereal, the list is never ending. Why is this??
The trend to link between businesses and a cause is sky-rocketing. Looking at the good purpose study by Edelman, there are clear messages as to why this is happening.
“When quality and price are the same, Social Purpose is the most important”
Wow, that is a change statement from where the economy was back in 2010 with a change of 100% in Japan, 79% in China, and more. The public has become more critical and involved with brands and social causes than ever before. The new age of technology and constantly being connected has led people to pursue their social causes in new outlets like retail, food, activities and more. This is the idea of cause marketing and how important it has truly become.
What’s the Next BIG Thing?
This is an example of a cause campaign that may seem far-fetched but just shows where the world of non-profits and cause marketing is headed. In 2012, SPCA in New Zealand and MINI decided to pair up to help and teach rescue dogs how to drive cars.
This is a clear example of how marketing trends is shaping into any way for companies to be new and extreme. This campaign to drive dog adoptions was to show as stated in the article, “RESCUE DOGS TAKE TO THE WHEEL TO DRIVE ADOPTIONS”
Source: Rescue Dogs Take to the Wheel to Drive Adoptions
“Driving a car actively demonstrates to potential rescue dog adopters that you can teach an old dog new tricks. The dogs have achieved amazing things in eight short weeks of training, which really shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets,” says Christine Kalin, SPCA Auckland CEO
MINI has paired up with SPCA in the past and this new innovative way just shows how the pairing between businesses and non-profits is that much common. Did it work? I think as crazy and different as this is, this is a new and exciting way to show dogs in a different light. This also could of benefited MINI in New Zealand and there help to the local community of Auckland and the future of their presence in the community. The Driving Dogs campaign was successful and aired on Good Morning America as well as other forms of media like exploding across YouTube and other forms of Internet. This communication opened the doors for SPCA to enrich their organization’s presence and also show MINI is a positive light.
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Social Cause Marketing: Insights and Trends
As the semester continues and I begin to delve deeper into my work for ABAN, I’ve really started to take notice of specific non-profit/cause-related marketing trends and insights that I think are extremely noteworthy, keeping ABAN’s specific objectives… Continue Reading
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Charitable Partnerships (Updated)
Words of Wisdom When Choosing a Co-Brand PartnerHolly Stewart, an outstanding Marketing and PR Strategist with expertise in non-profit, cause-focused marketing, shared her wisdom with my marketing class last week.”Non-profits believe their cause is alr… Continue Reading
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