Ad Execs, Part I: Christian Haas

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An Airplane Magazine, Through Non-Profit Eyes: Part 1 of 5: Christian Haas

I rarely read the airlines' magazines when flying because I'm generally doing one of the following: reading something I brought along for the flight, sleeping, or working on my computer. For some reason (even though I had the capability of doing any of these preferred activities), the July 2010 issue of Delta's Sky magazine caught my eye on a recent Baltimore-NYC-Boston trip. Well, not just "some reason," but the fact that the cover story was entitled The Mad, Mad World of Advertising. The magazine tied interviews with leading advertising professionals in with an article about the hit show, Mad Men.

I found some great material from those interviewed in the magazine and bring you the following quotes, Through Non-Profit Eyes. The direct quotes are from Sky.

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Christian Haas (@chaas), Group Creative Director & Associate Partner, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Sky: Since joining Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in 2006, Haas has worked on award-winning campaigns for clients such as Sprint, eBay, HP, General Electric and Adobe. Earlier this year, Advertising Age and Creativity recognized Haas as one of the 50 most influential and inspiring creative personalities of the year.

Some of the firm's work:

Haas: A guide for creating a successful viral campaign is as effective as a tutorial on how to win the lottery. Ok, you'll learn the basics like "you don't win if you don't play," but that's about it.

More Donors Blog: The Old Spice Guy caused a stir recently with the viral nature of the campaign. Now that reports indicate a spike in sales for Old Spice, everyone - many non-profits included - want to know how to plan such a campaign. As @geoffliving and I tweeted back-and-forth about last week, trying to mimic the campaign is not the best plan. What non-profits need to know, though, is:

• "You don't win if you don't play." Obviously, you'll never have a successful non-profit viral campaign if you don't have content online.
• Don't anticipate a campaign going viral just because you really, really want it to.
• Have fun.

H: Advertisers need to break through not by pushing yet another ad, but by giving people something they actually would want to watch, interact with and share. That often involves approaching advertising differently, taking risks and not doing things that are proven to work.

MD: I think this is partially true for non-profits, but this is one of the areas where fundraising and advertising differ. Coke wants to beat Pepsi. The average non-profit wants to earn your support. Sometimes the tried-and-true practices will do just find for non-profits - direct mail appeals, newsletters, email campaigns, phone campaigns, etc. But to stand out with new campaigns will also help your cause. So:

• Be original. What makes your organization unique? How can you promote in a way that is unique to your organization and its mission?
• Ask your constituents to get creative on your behalf. Ask for videos and promotional material from your followers and supporters.

Quotable Tweet:

photos courtesy of Sky, Twitter, Advertising Age, Creativity.

MyDunkTank - great online fundraising tool

This post was going to be virtually a straight lift from Mashable.com. I thought the info below was worth sharing. So I figured out a way to add a slight bit of original content and commentary. I think this is worth sharing - I love the idea and the site is very user-friendly. Therefore, MyDunkTank is our new #FollowOfTheWeek.

This idea is easy to see used by traditional "dunk tank" fundraisers, but I would be curious to see if things like college/university senior class gift campaigns and other such campaigns could also apply the idea.

From Mashable.com:

Quick Pitch: Anyone can do a dare to raise money for a cause they support, and their friends and family can vote with their dollars for the dare one has to do.

Genius Idea: There are already plenty of sites like JustGiving out there that help you get donations for a cause by hosting events or just straight up asking for dough, but MyDunkTank makes things more fun and lighthearted by making it into a dare.

It goes like this: You go to the MyDunkTank website and name the charity you want to raise money for and how much you want to raise, then make a short list of dares that you’re willing to do. Tell your friends, family and colleagues about it, and they’ll each vote with donations on which dare they’d like to see you do.

Go through with it after the dare’s been selected, and the money will go to the organization you selected. Founder Blake Jennelle did the very first dare on the site. He dressed up as a cowboy for a whole month to raise money, and documented the whole thing by posting YouTube videos to his Tumblr blog.

There are already several dares and fundraising campaigns in progress at MyDunkTank, and you can track the site on its Twitter account and Facebook page. Do you have any great dare ideas? Let us know in the comments, then go do them for charity!

Not from Mashable.com:

The home page shows various examples of dares, such as shaving one's head:

A completed campaign page shows how much was raised and what dare(s) the fundraiser will complete:
An active campaign let's you vote with your checkbook and suggest new dares for the fundraiser to complete:
And, as mentioned in the article, founder Blake Jennelle in cowboy gear:

Be Our Guest: Archana Sridhar

Our latest Be Our Guest participant is Archana Sridhar, co-founder of the South Asian Philanthropy Project, a forum to inspire increased giving and volunteering among South Asians in North America.

Archana received her B.A. from Bard College and J.D. from Harvard Law School. She currently serves as Assistant Dean, Graduate Programs at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

With a law school classmate, she launched the South Asian Philanthropy Project in April 2008. She also sits on the editorial board of The Philanthropist, a quarterly journal for the nonprofit sector in Canada.

I am grateful for Archana's willingness to share her expertise with the audience. Enjoy her answers and provide your thoughts on her comments and her question for the group.

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts currently face?

While South Asians are the wealthiest ethnic group in the United States and one of the most economically stable in Canada, there is virtually no data on the giving patterns of this important community. Without data, it is easy to make assumptions (e.g., that South Asians don't give as much as others), or to focus on messages about fundraising that might not resonate. We just don't know enough about what motivates South Asians to get engaged with philanthropy, so we're trying to fix that through our forum.

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

Our goal is to start a conversation about giving in our community - which is quite diverse actually! South Asians give to causes in the US and Canada that impact South Asians as well as to causes that may be broader in terms of national reach or more specific in terms of their local communities. They give to a range of causes abroad in their own homelands and to causes that are more global.

We are raising awareness about generous philanthropists and high-impact nonprofits through our website and blog. We also announce opportunities for jobs, grants, and volunteer positions. We are building a "resources" page with articles, research and commentary about giving by South Asian Americans, Indo-Canadians, and other groups of color. We are profiling individuals who are doing it right with interviews and other features on our website. In the future, we hope to have in-person workshops and events around philanthropy for South Asian participants.

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role?

Since the initiative is so new, it's hard to say where our greatest success has been. There is no other forum on a national/North American level like ours, since South Asians are spread all over the continent. So, I would say our greatest success so far has simply been raising awareness about South Asians in philanthropy and putting people into virtual conversation with each other in a way that other, more local, organizations have been doing in New York, the Bay Area or Chicago.

Where do you see social-media’s best application for fundraising?

Our experience has been that social media is most powerful for building a brand and a network to mobilize charitable support. Support that comes through social media may not be in terms of dollars - especially at first - but the "buzz" factor, media contacts, and relationship-building it can provide is immeasurable.

What book / blog / twitter feed would you suggest fundraisers pay attention to?

Obviously, I would say our site! Beyond that, I love Asian American Giving, The Daily Tell, The Philanthropist, PhilanTopic, and Rosetta Thurman. I would say those are the ones I follow most regularly for my philanthropy sector news.

What question would you find most useful for readers to answer?

How are your readers reaching out to diverse communities to gain their philanthropic support?

Free Non-Profit Webinars - Week of 07/25

A list of upcoming free webinars identified by browsing various sites. If you know of others please email me so I can add them or use the comments section to share the info.

Take Your Fundraising to the Next Level with Custom DonateNow

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
1:00PM Eastern

From: Network for Good

Speak with Confidence, Clarity and Conviction: Use Less Effort to Attract More Donors

Wednesday, July 28, 2010
1:00PM Eastern

From: NonprofitWebinars.com
With: Pamela Ziemann, author of Giving Voice to Your Cause: Speaking Tips for Nonprofit Professionals

Experience This! : Usability for Nonprofits
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
1:00PM Eastern

From: Artez Interactive

Understanding the Engagement Factor: Engagement Strategies in Social Media
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
2:30PM Eastern
From: NonprofitWebinars.com
With: Debra Askanase, Community Organizer 2.0

Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Creating Positions, Networking, and Cultivation
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
3:00PM Eastern

From: VolunteerMatch
With: Jill Friedman Fixler and Beth Steinhorn, authors of Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow

Online Marketing: What's the Right Mix for You?

Thursday, July 29, 2010
2:00PM Eastern
From: Ventureneer

Social Media Statistics

FrogLoop pulled some nice information out of NTEN's 2010 Nonprofit Benchmarks Report that is useful for social media benchmarking. I've included some of FrogLoops's highlights and added some additional graphs and slides I thought you might find useful.

According to 1200 nonprofits surveyed:

• Facebook is the number one used commercial social network by nonprofits. 86% said that they have a presence on Facebook, a 16% increase from 2009. However, nonprofits experienced a drop in their average community from 5,391 members in 2009 to 2,440 in 2010.
• 60% of nonprofits are on Twitter as compared to 43% in 2009. Twitter’s average community size (i.e. number of followers) grew the fastest and by 627%. In 2009 nonprofits had an average of 286 followers. In 2010 nonprofits average close to 1800 followers.
• LinkedIn (largely used by education institutions and professional associations) usage remained steady over the last year (32.9% in 2009 and 33.1% this year).
• YouTube usage also remained steady over the last year moving up slightly from 46.5% in 2009 to 48.1% in 2010.
• MySpace suffered a 45% drop in popularity, dropping from 26.1% in 2009 to 14.4% in 2010.
• 50% of nonprofits said they plan to hire social media staff in the next 12 months.
• 20% said that they will increase funding towards social media projects such as hiring consultants, designers, and programmers to ramp up their social media presence.
• The nonprofits that have experienced the most success with social media are the organizations that have 2+ full time social media staff. These staff members spend time listening and engaging communities and are developing metrics to measure their impact.
• However, even with 2+ social media staff, nonprofits still face significant challenges and are requesting additional staff to increase their capacity for doing even more with social media.
• Fundraising is a priority, but few are bringing in significant dollars through the channel. Graphs below.

Though the report does not mention this, it is important to note that just because dollars aren't coming in directly through the social media channel, it doesn't mean that fundraising via social media isn't successful. It can be challenging to measure, but I would argue that the case-building conducted via Facebook, Twitter, etc. can make your direct marketing appeals and fundraising events more successful.

Interesting stats:

Update: Alyssa Milano's Old Spice Guy Challenge

An update to my previous post on the Old Spice Guy, applying the strategy to NPOs and Alyssa Milano's challenge to Proctor & Gamble to give $100K to gulf cleanup efforts:

Alyssa posted this full update, but some highlights are these snippets:

Here’s where we are now… I’ve been speaking with Beth who isn’t from Procter & Gamble but from the PR firm that represents them (I think that’s where she is from. Wherever she is from, she has been wonderful in answering my many questions). Beth has told me about the abundant philanthropic partnerships Procter & Gamble has and donations they’ve made. As Beth proudly tells it: “In the last few months P&G donated 5x your requested donation to the International Bird Rescue Research Center and the Marine Mammal Center and they are about to start that campaign again, which should result in another donation of $500,000.” Beth has also shared that 12,000 bottles of Dawn Liquid Soap has been sent to clean the wildlife. This is awesome. Beyond awesome and it makes me happy (seriously, way to go P&G).

This is all my roundabout way of saying it looks as though my specific challenge for National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf Coast Relief Fund will NOT be met by P&G BUT… the lovely Beth assures me that Proctor and Gamble would like to do something to acknowledge my challenge and will brainstorm some ideas.

Learn more about:

Be Our Guest: Debbie Bresette

Please welcome Debbie Bresette as our latest Be Our Guest participant willing to share her expertise. Debbie is president of the United Way Capital Area in Austin, Texas. She has worked with UWCA since 2003, having served as the interim president and chief professional officer for nine months before becoming president in Dec. 2009.

Among the efforts directed by Debbie during her tenure at UWCA are expansion of the United Way 2-1-1 Texas and a redesign of the Volunteer Center into a civic engagement model now called Hands on Central Texas. Bresette was a 2009 finalist for the Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power and Women of Influence award. Prior to UWCA, Debbie was a founding member of the Family Crisis Center in 1981 and the Executive Director of the non-profit for 22 years. During her tenure, Debbie created emergency shelter and a wide variety of critical services specifically for women and children in four rural counties in Central Texas. Under her leadership, 21 transitional housing units were developed, built and funded along with support services for battered women and their children. This effort increased affordable housing by 10 percent in the community.

Debbie has clearly had an impact on the capital area and I thank her and her team for providing the following expertise. Enjoy her answers and provide your thoughts on her comments and her question for the group.

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts currently face?

Many of our donors have told us that they are feeling a strain on their finances, and maybe can't give as much as they'd like to right now. At the same time, our 2-1-1 Texas call center continues to report an increased need for health and human services.

Our challenge is to continue to inform our donors about this increased need and show them that now is the best time to give, when demand for services is so high. A gift to United Way Capital Area is appreciated more than ever as thousands of Central Texans and many nonprofit agencies depend on us to meet community needs.

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

As an organization, United Way Capital Area continues to find innovative ways to reduce operational expenses. We also rely on the expertise of executive professionals in our community who give of their time as volunteers. This has enabled us to renew our commitment to our nonprofit partners. Early this year, we announced an award of $3.4 million in grants to the Central Texas nonprofit community. This funding remains constant even as the economy has brought a dip in donation levels and an increase in the demand for health and human services.

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role?

No significant change or program is implemented without the tireless efforts of hundreds of individuals and groups in the community. I'm especially proud of the work my team at United Way Capital Area has done to create Bank On Central Texas. This is an innovative program that helps unbanked Central Texans keep more of their hard-earned money by opening a checking, savings or debit card account.

Where do you see social-media’s best application for fundraising?

United Way Capital Area puts community first in everything we do. We see our role as that of a catalyst for measurable change in the community. Social media and the application of it is a digital extension of the physical community in which we live.

Just as we rely on the people we meet in our neighborhoods, schools, churches and offices to make our world better, we extend these networks into social media spaces, and seek to empower individuals to affect change in these spaces, too.

UWCA on: Facebook / Twitter / Blogspot / YouTube / LinkedIn / Flickr

What book / blog / twitter feed would you suggest fundraisers pay attention to?

Of course, every nonprofit professional should be reading Beth Kanter's blog and gaining new insights from her latest book (with Allison Fine), The Networked Nonprofit.

I'd also like to mention two of our friends in the nonprofit community, The Capital Area Food Bank and Mobile Loaves and Fishes, as being outstanding examples of nonprofits using social media for fundraising. The CAFB has created an impressive iPhone app, and MLF recently integrated billboard advertising and texting to raise money. (Video from CNN below)

What question would you find most useful for readers to answer?

How do you envision your community five to ten years from now, and what can you do as an individual to make this happen? I think every single one of us wants to feel as if we are making a difference when we give back to our communities, but I urge everyone to also demand to see the change they are making when giving back.

Follow-up: Postal Rate Increase

In a previous post, we reviewed early impressions of the proposed postal rate increase, scheduled for January, 2011. Action must be taken on the proposal by October 4th, meaning it will be approved, rejected or tweaked by that date. I have looked at the proposal in detail and consulted with various other experts on the details. So that you can plan and budget appropriately, please see this synopsis on the primary postage rates (Thank you POSTCOM & DMS for insights and much of the verbiage):

Non-Profit Mail

• Non-Profit automation rate letters have increases ranging from less than 1% to 2.8%, the best of any category.
• Non-Profit flats increases behave similar to the Standard Mail experience noted below with generally lower increases.
• Enhanced Carrier Route mailings also tend to reflect the Standard Mail increases noted below with generally slightly lower increases.

First Class Letters

• Automation rate (bar-coded) letters weighing less than one ounce will see an increase of about 6%
• Heavier automation rate letters (2 ounces to 3.5 ounces) will see increases ranging from 2.9% to 4.5% with heavier pieces seeing the lowest increases.
• Postcard increases range from 4.5% to 6.34 %
• A Reply Rides Free program would credit mailers who include a reply devise in a mailing for the additional ounce charge if the piece weighs between 1 ounce and 1.2 ounces. Various conditions apply.

Standard Mail

• The increase for Standard Mail automation rate letters will vary based on whether the mailing takes advantage of the drop ship discounts. Drop ship mailings (usually larger mailings) will see increases ranging from 5.5% to 6.2% while mailings that don't use the drop ship discounts (usually smaller mailings) will see increases of 4.3% to 4.8%.
• For Standard Mail Flat size pieces you will have to check the individual rate category into which your mailing falls. The increases range from less than 1% to double digit increases.
• Enhanced Carrier Route mailings also have a wide range of increases, although some of the more commonly used categories see increases of 3% to 6%.

Old Spice Guy - What's it mean for NPOs?

(*Warning: Obligatory blog posting on the Old Spice Guy follows... if you have reached your "overload point" on OSG, please click here. There are currently over 462K results when you do a Google search for blogs mentioning "Old Spice Guy")

I will assume that you know about the tidal wave of marketing force that hit the internet last week with Old Spice Guy (a.k.a. Isaiah Mustafa) moving the campaign from fun television commercials to a strong web presence to video Twitter replies and a viral marketing storm that some have dubbed "the best viral campaign ever."

Really? Best ever? Hmm... depends on what the goals are, but I'll get to that in a bit. This post is to look at the campaign Through Non-Profit Eyes and offer a few pros, cons and NPO takeaways from The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

The pros:

• From Old Spice's point-of-view, they have over 650,000 Facebook fans and 87,000 Twitter followers, most of whom have joined as a result of this campaign. (Old Spice had ~8,000 Twitter followers & 563,000 Facebook fans pre-campaign)
• The campaign itself was fun.
• It was different - replying to tweets w/video had not been done on such a mass scale and with such speedy production.
• The response from the general public has been overwhelmingly positive.

The cons:

• How many containers of Old Spice body wash have or will be sold due to this campaign?
• Why did it end so soon? (after 48 hours)

Regarding ending soon... note Coca-Cola's slide on social media campaigns. Coke has had great success in the social media world:

The takeaways, Through Non-Profit Eyes:

• When it comes to having something go viral, having fun is more important than trying really hard. Case in point:

Those people are having more fun than I’ve ever seen anyone have in a shoot like this. That’s part of why it’s doing so well. It’s genuinely infectious. - Iain Tait, the global interactive creative director for Wieden + Kennedy, the agency behind the campaign

• Be willing to take the risk of being different. This is a tricky one for NPOs... most take themselves way too seriously. The challenge is striking the balance between your mission and having fun. It is probably easier to find a humorous campaign around deodorant body wash than building water wells in Africa. But it can be done (as illustrated by the Humane Society). It can also fail miserably.
• Use celebrities when you can... but don't let them overtake the campaign. In reality, people became a fan of Mustafa more than they did Old Spice. That is being lost in many of the "OSG is the holy grail of a social campaign" stories. A non-profit campaign can benefit from the exposure and attention a celebrity can provide, but make sure the focus is still on the campaign. Two notes: 1) "Celebrity" can have various definitions - we cannot all have The Edge behind our efforts or Brad Pitt raising money for us. A celebrity can be your CEO or a local television or radio personality... not necessarily an international paparazzi target. As a side note... Alyssa Milano, who recently won a DoSomething award for her philanthropic work, took advantage - brilliantly! - of her engagement with the OSG campaign. OSG had originally responded to one of Milano's tweets. To which she made a video response including a request to OSG for $100,000 to help with gulf clean-up efforts. The video is at the end of this post. Frankly, it would be hard to imagine Old Spice and parent company Proctor & Gamble not ponying up the $100K, because that would end their campaign's success on a down note. Milano has serious Twitter power - they shouldn't fight that.
• Give up some of the bureaucratic control that dominates most non-profits. Part of the beauty of the OSG campaign was that the ads - particularly the video replies - were made quickly. That meant the executives had to surrender control and trust those at the ground level of the campaign. This is probably even more challenging at non-profits who often insist on endless levels of red tape.
• Old Spice listened. Think about your NPO's campaigns - how often have you used the information or comments you've received from your constituents to continue the campaign? I'm guessing not very often. The NPO world has an unfortunate history of just pushing our information out, rather than listening.
• Speed & simplicity matters. For the campaign to go viral, it was critical that it was fast (as mentioned above) and simple. Keeping an NPO's campaign simple often runs against instincts. Often, those that know the most about an NPO are the ones working on its campaigns... therefore, stating the most basic information seems elementary. Remember, your audience doesn't know everything you do and it is okay to focus on the basics.

The OSG's sign-off video:

Milano's pitch:



Silverfish Hand Catch!

Twustrated again...

Just a reminder of why a nonprofit (or anyone, organization or business) cannot put all of their virtual campaign eggs in one Twitter basket... or Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

As has been the case a lot lately, Twitter is having numerous API issues.

Now is Really Gone - Chapter Draft

In case you have not already seen this, Geoff Livingston posted a link to a draft chapter for his sequel to the book Now is Gone. Welcome to the Fifth Estate will be a part of Now is Really Gone, slated to be released this fall in 2011. I share it with you for your information and so that you can provide Geoff any useful feedback. The chapter is embedded below, via SlideShare.

Welcome to the Fifth Estate

View more documents from Geoff Livingston.

Free Non-Profit Webinars - Week of 07/18

A list of upcoming free webinars identified by browsing the interwebs :) If you know of others please email me so I can add them or use the comments section to share the info.

Increase Your Success By Focused Spending
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
2:00PM Eastern
From: Ventureneer

Tips and Tools for Technology Planning
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
2:00PM Eastern

From: TechSoup

Meeting Information: Introducing EmailNow
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
1:00PM Eastern
From: Network For Good

Accountability 101: Basic Nonprofit Financial Documents
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
1:00PM Eastern

NonprofitWebinars.com

With: Jenn Lammers, The Philanthropy Hub

Planning for the Holidays ... It's Not Too Early!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
2:00PM Eastern
From: Canada Helps / MyCharityConnects

Effective Marketing Communications on a Shoestring
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
2:30PM Eastern

From: NonprofitWebinars.com

Strategic Planning: Building Your Roadmap for the Future

Thursday, July 22, 2010
12:00PM Eastern

From: Ventureneer

Alternative Giving: Building a giving program…Without gifts!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
1:00PM Eastern

From: Artez Interactive

With: Mark Sutton & Lauren Bunce

Business Planning for Nonprofits and Libraries
Thursday, July 22, 2010

2:00PM Eastern

From: TechSoup

Successful Volunteer Interview Strategies
Thursday, July 22, 2010
2:00PM Eastern
From: Volunteer Match

Building Relationships with Foundations: A Determining Factor in Organizational Success
Thursday, July 22, 2010
3:00PM Eastern
From: CharityNetUSA

BlueSwarm highlighted by TechCrunch

BlueSwarm was recently highlighted by TechCrunch with the piece primarily focused on BlueSwarm's success with political fundraising and recent efforts to raise angel fund dollars. Let's take a look at BlueSwarm and TechCrunch's piece, Through Non-Profit Eyes. First, a snippet of the original piece:

Since its launch, BlueSwarm has raised more than $172 million for fundraising campaigns, with the vast majority of those funds directed towards political election campaigns.

The startup, which is a platform that leverages social media tools to attract and track donations, has wooed many politicians, including several gubernatorial candidates like Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, Wisconsin’s Tom Barrett and California’s Meg Whitman. Whitman, who has already invested a decent portion of her personal fortune into her campaign, has also amassed more than $20 million through BlueSwarm.

The company says the platform is currently being used in 50% of US Senate races and 30% of gubernatorial races, in addition to many local races. However, despite the high volume of transactions, the amount of revenues is still fairly low because BlueSwarm only takes a 2.9% cut.

Some screenshots from the BlueSwarm website:

A look at the BlueSwarm Facebook app:

And mobile app for the iPhone:

A look at some of the dashboard tools within the software:

And a video from TechCrunch & BlueSwarm:

What are your thoughts on this software's implications for non-political fundraising? It appears to have great potential for use for annual giving efforts in the academia, environmental, health and cultural segments. My questions would include how well BlueSwarm can "talk" with the oft-antiquated databases of fundraising operations? What questions do you have?