no shoes

Disappeared?

2010-07-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

We've moved.... you can catch up with noshoes.... at Barefoot Creative

Storytelling Wins

2010-05-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

When I was in university and had to memorize hundreds of thousands of biological terms (I was in premed before I saw the marketing light), I used a very simple memory device... tell a story with the facts. By creating a story -- wildly unrelated to the facts I was memorizing -- I was able to contain about 95% of my test material. Great strategy for my grade point average.
My daughter, pulling-your-hair frustrated with math, went to her older brother to understand long division. He, being much older and wiser, patiently told her a story about Mr. Denominator and Mrs. Numerator. From a frustrated fifth grader, she completed a degree in nursing where math plays a big part in her training!
So why are marketers still reeling off a list of benefit statements?
When we first met Royal Homes, an innovative, module home builder, their advertising was focused on the technical advantages of modular building. While there are many interesting advantages of modular building, especially in a Canadian climate, the lack of "story" behind the information made their messaging unmemorable. We were able to move their message to a story. The audience began to understand the Royal Homes difference because they could relate to the story.
Storytelling is essential for non-profit organizations. Benefit statements and program descriptions do not inspire, stories do. We all respond to stories -- that's why television dramas and movies capture hours of attention each week. That's why Harlequin is so successful.
Skilled storytellers are more than skilled writers. They have an inherent gift for understanding the story within information. They have an aptitude for understanding the "why" rather than just the who and how.
Invest in a skilled storytelling.... communicate with impact!

Simply Savvy

2010-04-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Savvy marketers understand that the foundations of marketing are critical in preparing an effective communication strategy.
For many this simple list is, well, simple. It's important that we don't lose sight of the very basic elements of marketing.
1. Know who you are talking to. The audience! Understand what they are reading (if they are reading); what they buy; what they like to do in their spare time; what are their values. Resist the thought that "everyone" is your audience. You may have several audience segments, but no one, not even Coke, captures the attention of everyone.
2. Develop all of your messaging for your unique audience or audiences -- no matter what your president or board thinks. Defend your communication by understanding your audience so well that you are able to support your communication strategies.
3. Integrate. I know, you have heard that so many times it's almost tedious. But strong integration means that you clearly understand your overall messaging. Your web site, social media activities, print and space, outdoor media, phone protocols -- everything is integrated. Your overall communication plan is driven by a central message and goal -- all of the silos are brought into that plan.
4. Measure. Build success ratios and evaluative tools into your plan. State the results you anticipate, track the activities and evaluate success by those measurements. Push away from getting trapped in internal politics or processes.
5. Your "brand" is not a logo... or an icon... or a palette of colours -- although all of those contribute to the personality. Your brand is the promise that you make to your audience. If you do not have a clearly identified brand promise you will find it very difficult to build a strong and vital brand. Put less emphasis on the graphics and much more emphasis on the promise. All communication activities need to be assessed within that promise.
6. Understand the technologies your audience uses and how they use them. This is critical. People have been astounded and deflated at their interaction with new technologies. Facebook is the perfect medium for some businesses -- not so much for others. Search Engine Marketing can be an incredibly effective draw to your web site -- or have little or no effect. Twitter, while I personally love it, is new and not yet proven.
7. Build partnerships that work. Use an agency or service provider that's a partner. Help them understand the full scope of your work. Insist they take responsibility to deliver results and open the door for them to do so. When results overachieve the goal celebrate and evaluate. When results underachieve the goal, be honest and evaluate the communication strategies. Learn from the failures and the successes.
8. Understand that there are many organizations just like you are... this is very difficult to do. But to understand your unique brand and differentiation, you must understand that your competition has similar products, services and promises.
9. Respond to fluctuations in the market, adapting your budget. This is difficult. No one -- not even Nike has an unlimited budget. Smart communicators evaluate their budget on the goals. When cutting costs, we need to ruthlessly cut activities that do not perform, placing our investment capital in areas that will increase our growth.
10. Don't tell, sell. So simplistic! Every piece of communication should be driven by your goal. There is a trend, especially in the non-profit sector to educate expect a response. That is naive, at best. Simply telling the story, without a clear opportunity to respond -- the "what you can do" line -- rarely brings results. Make Poverty History had huge impact if we consider the number of people who wore the band. But no more money has gone into fighting poverty from the government level -- in fact, many countries in the recent economic downturn have focused their investment on other issues. People have responded with their voice, but not with their pocketbook (remember, they weren't asked to).
Now go back up the list. How are you performing?
Build a strong and savvy marketing team. You will get results.

Let the games begin...

2010-04-23T06:33:00.001-07:00

I had a client a few years ago that told me when he arrived at work every day, the first thing he did (after he started his computer), was stretch his hands in front of him, clasp his hands and say: “Let the game begin.”
Jane McGonigal, director of research at the Institute of the Future, believes that gaming is the platform for world change.... as a marketer with 50% of my work focused on the non-profit market, that’s interesting to me.
This week boys, girls, young men and women, old men and women will spend 3 billion hours playing online games. The average child spends 21 hours a week playing video games – that’s about the same time as they spend in school.
She suggests that gaming is a place where we can set the bar to perform at our own level, making an environment where we are rewarded for our performance, where markers of performance are raised as we become more proficient at our game. In the game we are the best version of ourselves.
But, for the most part, we don't believe we are good at life. The realities of life make us frustrated and depressed. So we play games.
Games also provide a social environment where we collaborate for success, playing together for the higher good – so to speak. World of Warcraft is just one example. Millions of people come into the alternative reality and when they come there are hundreds of other characters that are willing to trust you straight away. You are challenged with a mission that’s matched with your skill level. You are inspired to collaborate and cooperate to increase your level of achievement. Ultimately you get immersed in an alternative world in which you can succeed in ways that you can’t in your real life.
Studies also show that games increase our optimism. We like people better after we play a game with them. We learn trust them. Games build bonds.
She calls gaming “Blissful productivity.” Urgent optimism... extreme self motivation – to act immediately to tackle an opportunity and the opportunity to win.
McGonigal has designed several change motivated games. The most recent is EVOKE – a hub of gamers who attack a new mission each week, working together to solve world problems. At midnight every Wednesday night EVOKE sends out a new mission and the participants work together to find solutions to the problem.
McGonigal's research inspired ideas that are still spinning in my own mind.
Barefoot worked with MEDA to create www.MEDATrust.org: a microfinance site that is built on some of the principles of gaming. The foundational idea of the site is to engage participants, not to develop a passive giving structure that simply requires financial participation. At MEDATrust, donors are able to engage more deeply, getting involved in the issues.
I think MEDATrust is at the cusp of interesting site development. But it is only a very small step towards donor engagement. There are several challenges that need to be overcome:
1. Investment dollars in development. Direct mail is easy. For every dollar I put out in cultivating my house list I will receive from $4 to $20. In acquiring more donors, I am able to set target dollars to mark my success. Boards understand those numbers.
2. Understanding the mass. Mafia Wars on Facebook earns more than $100 million annually because people spend bits of money to increase their digital economy in order to beat their friends. iTunes changes the way music is purchased. For just $0.99 I can buy the song I like. It’s so much cheaper than $20 for the album. But studies show that we actually spend more on music because it’s so easy to spend $0.99. Non-profits are still hanging on to the major donors, resisting investment into the mass to build a stronger, more stable donor platform.
3. Access to resource and the time it takes to make it relevant. We have not yet come to the place where web development has been forced to be intelligent. We are still using digital platforms to dump all of the information we have – because we can. We are coming to the end of that era. Successful web sites will position the organization for growth in engaging, donor centric ways. It will not be an unlimited and inert brochure.
Barefoot is building for the future, working to understand the generation that believes games are the essence of reality.

How dead is Direct Mail

2010-04-14T04:48:00.000-07:00

For the past 15 years I have heard the strained whispers of: Direct Mail is positioned for a mighty down turn -- it will be dead in 5 years.
That begs the question: how disruptive is digital to other methods of marketing? One organization just dropped their direct mail strategy because it didn't work anymore...the marketing group determined that no one responds to direct mail today. They walked away from a $6 million revenue source. Another organization still uses the courier font from the 60's, believing that the font increases response. That idea may have had validity in the early days of direct response, but it's really not as effective in today's marketplace. Two extremes.
Every day I hear the whispers dreading the day direct mail dies.
But it continues to live.
I wonder if we are not a little naive in our understanding of marketing.
Perhaps our penchant to "scientifically" segment donors has challenged our marketing minds. Too often we assume that people only respond to one level of marketing. Yet we move with fluidity between our computers our TV's and our favourite magazines. Our intrigue and love of new media drives much of this.
Social media is, without a question, a strong influence in many people. But, with the exception of a few industries, social media has not been the revenue stream most people hoped it would be. The web, while certainly growing, is still often fed through traditional channels. Print, TV, radio, word of mouth nudges us towards the web site. We can stir the pot a bit by SEM, SEO, web banners and social media -- but growing revenue still requires an intelligent mix of media.
Digital is one of the most challenging marketing tools. First of all, it requires rich content. For the first time you can show off your entire product line, corporate vision and staff in one place. While amazing and often effective, it requires a new determination to maintain brand integrity. Secondly, it requires an organizational focus on purpose. The web can, and often does, become a dumping ground of information that is left without active positioning. Thirdly, in many organization the web is developed by multiple stakeholders. Too that sends mixed messages. Finally, the web requires a constant flow of new information. Today's digital savvy web users are not content with week old information. If you want your site well used, invest in content.
The web, while it does not require printing or placement, is not free. The cost of the web is the human resource -- the mind that makes it an amazing source of information, sales and revenue.
Direct mail is far from dead.... but it does require a smart marketing mix and creative approach.

Meet Lindsey and Brian

2010-04-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Sylvia Plath wrote: "I wanted change and excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket."
Personally I love change... it's a time of new beginnings, new ideas, new opportunities. Barefoot Creative lives with change -- mostly due to new babies and maternity leaves. Ordinary things that often spin off to change many things.
We are very pleased to introduce Lindsey Spencer and Brian Cotie. Lindsey is joining our team as an account manager. She is well equipped to give clients a great experience at Barefoot! Brian is a writer and brings a lot of interesting perspectives to our writing team.

Tut! Tut! Tiger....

2010-04-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

OK.... it's a pretty big challenge.
Nike has paid Tiger Woods a lot of money to stay in the game. But when the big boys of the game slap his fingers in public Nike gets antsy. Can the great one fall?
Well he fell -- what's happening now is spin.
But the spin took a very interesting angle as Woods stepped onto the green this week. The Masters are big. Woods coming back, wife in tow, is bigger. Even people who don't follow golf have followed the story.
The advertising agency approached it somewhat head on. But they made a mistake.
The ad -- you can watch it on Anything Hollywood, unless they pulled it off. (When I went straight to You Tube it told me that it was taken off by the person who put it on.)
37% of viewers were skeptical and saw the ad for what it was: an ad. But 44% were simply confused. Will they buy Nike? I'm pretty sure they will. Will question Nike's campaign tactics? I think so.
What did you learn?
Maybe putting a sulky adult Tiger Woods on air for 30 seconds and listening to his father lecture him was not the most astute approach.
Our lesson.
Managing spokespersons who go astray is very hard. You're really caught between a contract and a hard place.

I'm really, really not famous....

2010-04-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

This little quote popped up today:
Ad agencies are great… if you’re already famous

The advertising and marketing world is typically focused on the big guys and for good reason. They have the most to spend, and their dollars are highly coveted by agencies vying for their business. The problem is that most of us aren’t multinationals and few of us have budgets like theirs to devote to marketing our companies.

You can find this quote in Eric Karjaluoto's book: Speak Human.

The problem with really reductive statements like this is.... well, they are reductive.

Barefoot Creative is an advertising agency. We are not famous. While we do work with some "famous" clients -- even the most lucrative budgets are spread over a huge revenue need. No matter how generous the budget, there are always limits.

Perhaps, for just a moment, we can lose the "poor me I'm a small company and I can't put an ad on the Super Bowl game" and consider the purpose of advertising -- increased revenue, product launches, sales, acquisition of new customers. Big budgets have to work hard to accomplish a big task -- little budgets often accomplish the very same percentages, the actual dollar amounts are just smaller.

Depending on the client, the audience, the goal of the particular campaign we choose different tools, different spaces and different scopes. Smart, small companies choose advertising agencies because they understand that the agency is not about buying time, placing media or hype. They are about advertising.

Your advertising agency is there to increase your organizational revenue. The team is trained to make that happen. Too often small businesses have little experience in understanding the cost effectiveness of advertising. When you choose the advertising agency that understands your business they are able to help you apply strategies that will be effective, making your advertising budget work for you.

Like I said..... I'm really, really not famous. And many of our customers are mid-sized, even small organizations. BUT they are growing!

Technology: Friend or Foe?

2010-03-19T08:47:00.001-07:00

Have you recently invested in an online platform that has dynamic applications ensuring a rich user experience?
If you've seen Fun with Dick and Jane think about the 3 minute sales pitch that Dick uses. Chalked full of buzz words, he may be selling air.
Because Barefoot engages highly interactive strategies for online marketing, we are always looking for innovations. We hear the sales pitch and think -- WOW, there's something there. But after digging a little deeper we discover, well, air.
I looked up web providers who were selling a "dynamic" experience. You may have heard that word bandied about. I discovered that for $500 I could purchase a dynamic web site. Some of you reading this probably wish you had purchased that software because you paid a lot more for your dynamic experience.
Of course, those dynamic web sites were simple templates with some ability to content manage, usually online. (One does wonder how else one would manage an online tool, but I may too old to understand the complexities of the online world).
I am also intrigued by the many social media applications -- especially in fund raising. As if social media will suddenly revolutionize the hard work of raising funds. Engaging social media is simply today's version of my mother who volunteered for the Cancer Society and went door to door to gather money for a worthy cause. With social media we can open doors that are further afield, but it's still a volunteer activity that will render low results (with the exception of high profile, media supported emergencies).
Technology doesn't change foundational marketing intelligence.

Middle Donors

2010-03-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

If you're a non-profit and raise money from private donors, we would like your help in understanding middle donors.
About 45-50% of our clients are working in non-profit sectors -- many dependent on private donations. Growing revenues in an adverse economy is a challenge. Middle donors are an often neglected donor group that has high loyalty, consistent giving and, over their lifetime, significant contributions.
One of our clients took an extremely bold leap a couple of years ago. They stripped the middle donors out of their regular monthly fund raising mailings. Considering that this group gave substantial funds, this was very brave!
But it made sense.
We created a unique stream for them. The mailings always contained a strong profile of need. But we extended the format so we could explain more clearly and with more detail. We increased the offers and always included a reach offer. The giving multiplied by many times. These donors gave less frequently, but they gave much higher gifts.
On April 1 we are starting a middle donor research project. If you choose to participate, you will get a complete copy of the research and a personal research paper that focuses on your donor segment. We will also deliver the results in a private meeting with, well, me. We will need an interview with your lead development person and the e-addresses of a segment of your middle donors.
So if you'd like to participate in the middle donor research study contact Larry... larry@barefootcreative.com or 519-571-5058 x 206.......... results will be distributed in August!

Design Intelligence

2010-03-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Kev and I were chatting about the influence of design in marketing. He has great insights into design intelligence. Like most great insights, it's stuff that is floating in the back ground of our minds but too often we don't let it come to the forefront and really impact our work.
He sees design intelligence for marketing as one of the most critical components for impacting and motivating choice. But too often marketing teams don't use design intelligence. Some designs are totally consumed by layout. That's the technical skill behind great design: white space, typography, use of colour, clean lines, careful attention to grids. While great layout makes the piece pretty -- it's doesn't push the edges towards brand personality, marketing principals and offer insight.
On the other extreme are the marketing teams who sacrifice design intelligence for fine art. Fine art is focused on the visual experience -- not the message. The message is often subtle or determined by the viewer. It belongs on living room walls and museums.
Great marketing motivates and inspires action.
Design intelligence starts with understanding the overall goal, the underlying challenge, the audience, human motivations and, maybe most of all, takes the designer out of the picture.
As we were chatting, we were musing about a piece that we did for a client many years ago. Both of us hated it. While the offer was intact and the design intelligence was strong in understanding the overall brand and the motivations of the direct audience -- our visual minds were really turned off.
It was the second highest performing acquisition piece that year.
That taught us a lesson. Our overall goal was to communicate to the audience. Frankly, neither of us were the audience. While neither Kev or I would be motivated by this piece -- we were not the people the client wanted to motivated. The biggest mistake marketers make is to allow our own preferences to interfere with truly understanding the audience.
One more story.... when my son was about 2 years old my husband and I worked in a kid's program. One of the features of the program was a dorky beanie that had a helicopter blade on the top. On the way home I was nattering about the lack of sophistication of the premium when Chris piped up from his car seat: "I can hardly wait until I can get one of those hats!" The designer of the program was bang on in assessing the level of sophistication of the audience.
Design intelligence refuses to be tainted by personal taste. It is objective, rational and results oriented.
Barefoot Creative is looking for a designer as I write. Without a question we are looking for a designer with design intelligence!

Talent?

2010-02-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

If you listened to Age of Persuasion last week, you got a glimpse of two marketing styles -- Ogilvy, which has perfected a system and DDB, which relies on the guts. Both effective and strategic agencies. Just different styles.
My own experience tells me that great marketing relies on three T's: Technique, Time, Talent.
I had a little personal experience on Saturday that reinforced these three "T's".
I took a painting lesson.
Now, to make sure you don't misunderstand my story: I do not have, have never had, continue not to have any training, experience or talent. But I had an idea.
So I took my idea to an expert and asked her to help me do it..... Donna (my expert friend and amazing artist) bravely took on the task.
I presented my story board for 4 large paintings I wanted to do. I even sketched them in a book aptly titled: "Sketch Book." Just so that you're still with me, pencil sketches in a book titled "Sketch Book" are not necessarily sketches.
But to Donna's credit, she caught the idea.
So over the next 2 hours I expected to learn the technique and accomplish a painting.
At one point, during a quick colour lesson, Donna did mutter under her breath that some people studied this for years. I think she was suggesting that my desire to accomplish it in an hour was unrealistic.
Mostly what I accomplished was producing a brown, four letter word, colour product. I produced a lot of it and in varying shades. I also used about $35 of acrylics to produce it (she didn't let me buy brushes yet).
In that two hours I learned -- or learned again -- what I often say about desk top publishing programs, self-made marketers and quick fixes to difficult communication problems: Technique + Time + Talent = Great Marketing.
1. There is a technique (like Ogilvy learned) that works. Donna had mastered the technique. Confident strokes of red, yellow, white, and blue created this amazing tree -- on her canvas. It had depth, shadows, contours, light. Mine was just -- well, thick slashes of that four letter word colour. Rules, test cases, algorithms, demographic research, focus groups (++++++) contribute to a technical knowledge base that informs marketing strategies and increases effectiveness.
2. Then there is time. Time usually indicates experience. Donna has been drawing, painting, illustrating and creating for about 40 years. She spent four years of dedicated educational time in fine arts, experimenting, playing with colour, learning about light, discovering new ideas. I watched for about 10 minutes and tried my hand. And, I admit, patience isn't my greatest attribute. But 15 slashes on a canvas don't constitute "time." In marketing, the experienced marketer learns what works and what doesn't. I know that a clear, concise, focused product offer increases sales -- even though I like complex creativity. If the client is evaluating the marketing strategy on revenue earned, I need to lay down the obscure creativity and sell. There is no replacement for the intelligence of time.
3. Finally, there is talent. Donna sees the images, the colour, the shadows in her head. Her brain and her wrist and her fingers are connected in a way that the brush strokes create art. My brain does not have that connection. I did manage to create an interesting splatter paint on the floor (although Donna washed most of it off because it tended toward looking like that four letter compound). Great marketers know the technique and have mastered it. They have experienced success and failure and understand the difference and the reasons. Plus they have a gut for it. They have an intuitive sense of understanding the nature of inspiring and motivating action. They are able to take all of the things they have learned and know and make it work.
Many people I know are arm chair advertising experts. They just "know" when a commercial works. Interestingly, many of them are wrong. You see, they've used the things they "like" to define marketing that works. They haven't learned the techniques or seen the results to evaluate the effectiveness or have the innate talent.
I'm not going to be an artist in 6, 3 hour lessons. Not even Donna can make that happen. But I have more than 15 years of marketing technique, experience and, I think, some talent!

While no one can confirm....

2010-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

How often have I read that in regards to social marketing?
How many businesses have increased their profit margins significantly by their investment into Facebook? Why is it that Fortune 500 companies are slow to adopt social networking tools?
It's hard to understand the full impact of social networking -- just like it's hard to estimate the impact of the influence of friends on purchase choices.
So let's admit it.
In an age when tracking is the most critical component of choosing marketing media effective advertising still requires guts.
That's why we need to imagine.
Imagine the difference when you use all the tools in the most effective way for your business. The brand leaders are already doing it. They are acknowledging that the world as the Admen of the 60's knew it is changing.
Walmart and P&G is talking about producing a movie as a part of their marketing package. Smart retailers are adding web empowered kiosks within their stores so that customers can shop better right in the store, choosing a digital assistant rather than a teen in a red polo shirt. Others are using digital screens throughout the stores for real time sales information, putting to bed the muffled PA service.
I spoke with a client this morning. They need a web site. When I asked what they wanted their clients to do on their web site the silence bounced off of the padded chairs. No idea.
So we began to prod.
It turns out that their clients have really amazing engagement intersections that we discovered after imaging a web site that was a little more innovative. But we had to stop and ask the question.
They came to us because they need a web site -- everyone needs a web site. You can purchase a web site for $500. BUT if you want an effective, marketing focused, engagement oriented web site you have to stop and think before you enter the copy from your most recent brochure into the appropriate content managed boxes.
We live in exciting times... the world is changing. We get to influence that change.

The Rise of Mobile...

2010-02-05T07:25:00.001-08:00

The Gartner report on Technology predicts:

By 2014, mobile and Internet technology will help over 3 billion of the world's adults to electronically transact. Emerging economies will see increase in mobile and Internet adoption through 2014. Worldwide mobile penetration rate will get to 90%.

Mal Warwick suggests that the three trends posing the greatest challenges to non-profits (and I suggest all organizations and companies) are:
1. The proliferation of new communications tools and technologies
2. Understanding online and offline networks.
3. Multi-channel marketing demanding seamless donor and customer-centered programs.

I read a lot about new technology. The iPad launched last week (not so sure that is new technology, but it certainly caused a buzz). I am very interested in new trends, new opportunities and just where my audiences are.

But I hesitate to throw conventional wisdom aside.

To be a truly strong marketer I have to understand people. I have to be able to read the test cases and spreadsheets. I need to understand the very foundations of human instinct. That’s why I read Shelley’s Frankenstein, Huxley’s Brave New World, Atwood’s The Year of the Flood and Coupland’s Generation A.

The new tools require new ways of applying our knowledge of people.

Strong, Silent Types

2010-02-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

Barefoot Creative has a unique position -- we serve both the non-profit community and for-profit business. Both groups are struggling to understand the power of brand.
Oh we understand the brand message through the eyes of Apple, Nike and Toyota. The new iPad and Toyota were top stories all last week. But what about the brand equity of smaller organizations.
The disaster in Haiti has already raised over $500 million in the US alone. The fractured international development community is battling for news coverage and donor dollars. Brand is a huge player in disaster relief. Red Cross has raised more than 2/3 of the money. But they are not the largest player in Haiti. Partners in Health, an organization out of Boston, has a strong physical presence in Haiti. Yet they have only raised a tenth of the money Red Cross has raised. Partners in Health has even received accolades for their work from Stanford Innovation Review -- a leader in non-profit knowledge -- whose policy succinctly states they will not recommend any non-profit. They are strong.... and silent.
The brand equity of the Red Cross (Red Crescent) is so high that people simply give because, from their perspective, the Red Cross is the leader responding to disasters. People trust the Red Cross to use the funds effectively (even though recent reports suggest the Tsunami funds were not all well allocated).
Brand is the underlying strength of companies and organizations. In the media, the strong, silent types rarely make it to the front page.

Stop: Don't Give Money!

2010-01-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

Stanford Social Innovation Review's blog caught my attention with this title: "Don't Give Money to Haiti Now" http://www.ssireview.org/opinion/entry/dont_give_money_to_haiti_now/#comments
The argument is fair.
The tragedy of Haiti requires long term strategies, not quick, gut wrenching responses. Plus, the money that is pouring in now is much more than the immediate need.
The challenge for charities working in Haiti is NOW is the right time to raise money. There is a two to three week window when all eyes are focused on Haiti. Cameras, journalists and executive directors are there now, assessing the situation, snapping photos, getting national coverage.
So they live with the ever present challenge of raising funds. Donors are generous in response to emergencies. In situations like Haiti -- where the natural disaster is beyond imagination -- donors are quick to respond.
In 2006 -- just after the Tsunami -- Keith Epstein published an excellent article on the psychology of crisis giving http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/crisis_mentality/
He says: "The deluge of generosity following headline calamities, as well as the underwhelming response to quieter sufferings, have their roots in human evolution and the kind of mind that it produced."
Humans carry out a complex dance between the heart and the mind. I have read a myriad of articles in the last week that have reiterated the idea that now is not the right time to send money to Haiti. I agree. The long term sustainability of the funding going to Haiti -- to truly make an impact -- needs to be used with deliberation.
BUT I respond to the child who has lost everything.
And so do hundreds of thousands of donors. In the case of Haiti, mega millions. They see the images in the news. They read about it in the paper. They hear the stories on the radio. Everyone is talking about Haiti. Many families have been affected personally. In my own community, a nurse who was on a two week volunteer trip was killed in the quake. In a real way the earthquake touched Kitchener/Waterloo.
The response to the quake shows our humanity. We give because we are moved by the horrific and sudden turn of events. In just 30 seconds the world changed.
While the giving will be most intensive in the first month, we are undermining the strength of human compassion to assume it will disappear. In the first month the gifts flow quickly and freely. Donors who rarely give to charities will give generously. Donors who give to charities frequently will give just a little more.
We are also undermining the strategic thinking and planning of our charitable sector when we assume they will simply waste our money on the immediate need. They will do exactly what donors expect them to do.... they will use the gifts given to ensure that children are fed, the sick receive medical care and immediate measures are taken to provide a safe place to live and safe drinking water. They will continue working in Haiti, working together to help rebuild the city and the surrounding communities.
While the burst of generosity follows quickly on the heels of the disaster, organizations in the midst of the response are already building strategies for long term assistance and effective rebuilding.
Give generously!

2010 Vocabulary

2010-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

In 2009 the buzz was all about Twitter.
2010? Social Media just won't go away. Mobile purchase power is just beginning to play a part in the economy of sales -- especially for small purchases. Red Cross raised over $20 million in a few days through mobile donations for Haiti. It's quick, convenient and easy. Blackberry built a special ap for donating to Haiti. A few major charities got into the action.
In 2010 Ad Age suggests we add these phrases to our vocabulary:
Spurned Media: Just like it sounds, earned media that goes horribly negative, invades otherwise pristine search results or bleeds into traditional media. Bad customer service is a top driver of "spurned media."
Brand Tease: A consumer who "friends" or "fans" a brand, only to never return for a second date. Brands feed the cycle by forgetting to court the consumer with engaging, interesting or sustaining content or value.
Conversational Divide: The huge gap between what marketers preach about social media "conversations" and the brand's actual customer service or call centre operations. Stems from cost vs. profit centre tension.
Mobilenecking: The alarming tendency to have our necks tilted down or shifted sideways -- ever glued to our mobile device. Closely related to term "Eyevoidance," where no one looks at anyone anymore.
Wiki Wart: A bad piece of news or an embarrassing brand episode (e.g., an activist protest or a social media campaign that backfired) that just won't go away in a brand's Wikipedia description.
Oedipost Complex: The curious neurosis that compels folks to sleep with their BlackBerry or iPhone. The afflicted can't stop checking -- even in late hours -- for responses to tweets or blog and Facebook posts.

My Tribe

2010-01-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

Seth Godin started a new language (well, slightly re-positioned an old).
In his most recent blog he says:

Brand management is so 1999.

Brand management was top down, internally focused, political and money based. It involved an MBA managing the brand, the ads, the shelf space, etc. The MBA argued with product development and manufacturing to get decent stuff, and with the CFO to get more cash to spend on ads.

Tribe management is a whole different way of looking at the world.

Deloitte recently released the results of their 2009 study: Tribalization of business (picking up on Godin's insights).
I was fascinated by some of their insights. Here's a few:
1. "Organizations are continuing to struggle with harnessing social media's full potential".... they actually know what its full potential is? Facebook launched in 2004. How much will it be used in 2012? Twitter was all aflutter in 2009. What will it look like in December 2010? "Full potential" is such an interesting phrase. I'm still grappling with what it means.
2. The study suggested that the obstacles from high performing social media can be "easily remedied through partnering and new management practises." The concept is a little reductive, I think. Social Media is the digital equivalent to great customer service, word of mouth and customer satisfaction. Sound business practise and customer service strategies are the real foundation of social media success.
3. They claim this study evaluates the "true potential of online communities." I love the word "true potential" -- as if online communities have the same potential for all products, services and organizations.
4. The final recommendation is to: "Think tribe -- not market segment; think network -- not channel; Think customer-centricity -- not company-centricity."
To those of you who are my tribe... may we re-position our marketing strategies around social media.

unspeakable devastation

2010-01-14T19:00:00.002-08:00

In a moment, a blinking of an eye, the world changed.
Haiti is torn apart -- the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Without warning the earth erupted.
We are scrambling to get reports to donors and opportunities to donate and contribute to the intense need. There is little we can say. We can just pause and pray....

unspeakable devastation

2010-01-14T19:00:00.001-08:00

My list for top stories of 2009

2009-12-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

Marketing is psychology with a purpose. Our job is to understand the ebbs and flow of human behaviour. That's why I have a Facebook and Twitter account, scan BBC and New York Times and CTV news, browse WIRED, Fast Company, Stanford Philanthropy, Media Post, and meander through Google....
So, on the eve of 2009, I wandered through a few sites to understand the past from the perspective of the masses....
1. Michael Jackson died. (although Twitter beat MJ in top searches for 2009)
2. The economy collapsed, teased us into thinking it was reviving and slumped back into recession.
3. Social networking has marketers in a flurry. Facebook overtakes My Space (officially) and Twitter captures the imagination if not the dollars.
4. Obama won the Nobel Prize (for not being President Bush, according to the CBC)
5. A British teenager painted a 60 foot penis on the roof of his parent's million pound mansion (they didn't notice for a year).... one of the most searched stories on BBC for 2009
6. Warren Buffet gave each of his children $1 billion in shares for their charitable foundations. (Great story, by the way)
7. The Swine Flu changed the way we greet one another (a kiss instead of a handshake), cough (into the elbow) and wash (stocks in Purell soared: Imagine a Touchable World)
8. Dan Brown struck again convincing millions of North Americans to search for the Lost Symbol (either in hard cover or as an e-book format in one the many new e-reader formats... I read Coupland's Generation A on my Blackberry... it seemed fitting.)
9. The auto industry in North America sat up and took note of the competition -- seeing as most of the cars on North American roads were foreign.
10. Susan Boyle dreamed a dream and transformed Simon Cowell into the fairy godmother.
What I was most intrigued at is that when I visited CBC, BBC, AP, Google and a whole host of other news outlets, none of them included the natural disasters that traumatized thousands of families: floods, earthquakes, tsunami, food insecurity, hurricanes. Nor did they mention major conflicts: wars in Afghanistan, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen...
As a marketing professional, I am a student of human behaviour -- I take my lead from my audience, not my personal opinion....
Here's to 2009: Celebrate well.....

Content, Content, Content

2009-12-29T06:28:00.000-08:00

SEM
Search Engine Marketing is one of the ways you can profile your web site. Basically, it is like an outer envelope in a direct mail piece (forgive me, web guru's, I know that sounds reductive, but it's a pretty perfect analogy). The fun of it is that the outer envelope can have many different shapes, sizes and tag lines.
But the success of SEM is dependent on some pretty simple principles.
First of all, you need to clearly define your campaign goal. Are you looking for sheer number of clicks, length of time spent on the site, reduced bounce rates, number of page views?
Secondly, you need to have a good idea of what people are searching for. It's smart to start an SEM campaign with multiple threads, because that helps you unravel patterns. Then you're able to use real world knowledge to set your campaign. Because the web is real time, the first few weeks of the campaign should be well monitored, giving you the opportunity to change things on the fly.
Thirdly, brand recognition boosts results. Coinciding campaigns, media presence and buzz all increase web activity. SEM is a part of the mix -- not the foundation of a marketing plan.
Finally, and I think the most impacting, the content on your site determines ultimate success.
Some SEM specialists trick people to the site. So they use ad words that can be loosely attributed to web content and are highly searched. Which means the ad comes up frequently, has a high click rate -- but, unfortunately, often has a very high bounce rate. When the viewer clicks on the ad and goes to the site and sees that the content is not really what they were looking for -- its takes about 1 second before they click away.
This Christmas we launched a number of SEM tests.
Two profiled new Christmas symbolic gift product lines. Both were versions of the "goat, chicken" offers from international development agencies. Both were really new in the space -- so they were unfamiliar to the mass market. While both had simple offers, they also were more complicated than the buying 5 chickens. Neither were well supported by media, communications or additional marketing activity. Both were evaluated by the number of sales generated. While the final numbers have not been completely evaluated, neither received stellar results.
There were a couple of reasons. Very few people were searching for these specific products. They didn't know to search for them. Secondly, they were not hot products for Christmas. They did not have mass appeal. Both sites had sufficient content, but people were not that interested in buying the product.
We also launched a campaign for a custom home builder. The site was already performing well -- with an average viewer staying on the site for 6 minutes and viewing 10 - 16 pages. We thought that the rate would plummet with the SEM campaign -- simply because the site would draw more visitors.
But no.... the length of each visit remained high. The number of unique visitors increased dramatically and the number of page visits continued to be high.
The site is fat with content. The ads profiled that content. When the visitors arrived at the site, they were not disappointed. So they stayed.
We set the initial campaign fairly low -- wanting to assess the strength of the various campaigns. It looks like we will have to up the spend a bit, because the click rate is so healthy.
SEM that is not supported by a site that has great content is like sending people a direct mail with a great teaser and when they open the envelope it's empty.

Reach an audience of 1 million....

2009-12-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

That's the Face Book promise.

But will you.

I have been thinking a lot about new media these days. Everyday I receive "news" (hard to discern between news and advertising some times) that if I am not actively exploring "new" media, I will be compromising my company. Well, my business plan is not designed to meet millions -- that would do us in. But I am always open to learn and explore new ideas.

But as I track results for clients on Face Book, Twitter and blogs. And as we watch the direct results from SEO and SEM I discover one critical truth: it's all about strategy.

My observation (for what it's worth), is that a lot of people are playing with social medial. After all, it doesn't cost anything. Except time. Every day more people start following me on Twitter. I'm pretty sure no one actually reads or follows my random tweets, but they are following me. And, yes, there are millions of people on social network, but how many are actually “reached” (still hard to track and ascertain an engaged audience). Of all of the results that we see, very few are actually coming from social media (interestingly). There are some challenges with using Face Book as an organizational marketing tactic. First of all, it's incredibly crowded, so getting attention is difficult. Secondly, it's a personal social networking space, so people are sharing pictures of babies and vacations. Products that intersect with that space should be playing in it. Thirdly, there are a lot of accounts that are duplicate. If you call up World Vision, it's hard to tell which pages are valid. Finally, maintaining social media sites are incredibly time consuming.

ON THE OTHER HAND

One should not discount the value straight away. I think our job is getting harder and harder. Strategic thinking is the most important factor in marketing well. Every organization, no matter what the size, should be investing time and money into their marketing strategies. There are many things that are very important to consider. This past few weeks I have been giving about an hour a day to linked in, my blog, twitter – I ignore facebook because it irritates me and is full of junk (although I peruse it occasionally to see what my hundreds of friends are doing.)

I am neither prophetic or exceptionally visionary, but I think the future of social media is a diversified group of social media sites that have specific uses – liked linked in for business. Compassion for sponsorship... there are a lot of reasons that we use social media – but the pilfering through the information to get what we want (need) is just so hard. I have twitter set up on my desktop with Tweet Deck. I have to say that the plethora of information is daunting (although I did receive that very nice little guitar utube link on it this morning that made me laugh).

The digital world is shifting and changing every day.

Google slips in and out the news. They are creating an i-phone competitor that will not be linked to a cell phone provider – hmmm – that is really interesting. They also just launched the direct payment that can be used by anyone to collect payment through the cell phone (hmmm, no bank? No little pay machine – all you need is your cell phone. You neighbourhood young teen can use it as payment for shovelling snow.) Google has already launched real time data (so when we drive, we can now use google maps to check for accidents when we drive and the traffic updates on the maps is immediate!)

I am trying to foresee the world without TV and advertising as we know it. I know that it is changing, but it needs to financially viable. I quickly moved to e-books.... I think the kindle is dead in the water, but think about the applications for magazines (ads that you click on). Think about the development of content that is real time and clickable.... we have a great future in creative is we can continue to build and grow and develop and imagination beyond the printed page.

BUT social media is only a small piece of that development!

Tiger and Temptation

2009-12-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

I started this blog a few minutes ago.... then I thought, get a life, that's so easy. Tiger Woods gossip even hit CBC!
Then I found this http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/141/do-something-b-list-star-a-list-do-gooder.html and I thought, wait a minute, celeb endorsement is a reality in much of our work.
Nancy puts a neat spin on choosing the B level celeb. She has great insight into making the endorsement work for the celebrity and the organization -- key to a successful win-win relationship.
We know that celebrities draw attention to products and non-profit causes. They also are hard to manage, quirky and moody. Choosing a celebrity that resonates with your cause or product is critical. Documenting that relationship in writing is equally important. For-profits have that down pat. Non-profits often come to the table with hat-in-hand hoping for the graciousness of the celebrity.
Non-profits have to remember that they are giving back to the celebrity.
First of all, they give them personality, integrity and compassion. The celebrity seen doing humane and compassionate acts increases their own humanity and their relationship with their fans.
Fans are intrigued when the glitter comes off and the celebrity travels into areas of need as a real person. For a moment the fan feels a strong emotional link to the celebrity.
The non-profit also introduces the celebrity to real people -- people they don't meet in their normal life. When working with the non-profit organization they have the opportunity to give back in ways they are unable to do in their "day job."
But, as we have seen in the media over the past few days, celebrity endorsement is risky.The risk to product endorsement is blatant as companies are dropping Tiger like he has H1N1.When your celebrity makes a very public mistake the clean up is costly.

Product offers

2009-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

As I started this email, I was going to glibly say that companies with hard core products -- like RIM, COKE and NIKE -- have little trouble articulating their product offers.
But then I stopped.
That's a trap service companies, non-profits and government organizations easily fall into.
Defining your product is one of the most difficult tasks you have. Even when you have a distinct product, you are tempted to walk away from the benefit statements and lapse into your competitor's territory.
We just challenged Ashley, one of our team writers, to develop SEM campaigns for Barefoot. OK, she works for us. She has daily contact with clients. She sits through a project meeting overview weekly. She told me that it was difficult to define what Barefoot does.
So I need to take a quick look in the mirror.
What do we do?
Defining our product is a challenge we face every day. Successfully defining our product will lead us to greater success.
In 1947 Bob Pierce came face to face with the desperate need of orphan children. He thought, "If every American family would adopt one child their needs would be met -- for just pennies a day." Child sponsorship was born out of the need, spurred by an idea, developed into a product.
Our challenge is to understand our services, funding needs and to create a product that makes sense to the needs we are trying to fill and to our audience.
Last week one of my client's admin team spent the morning creating a personalized card because one donor wanted to send pigs overseas. The program of the organization did not include an agricultural or micorfinance program in that region. The staff team was simply meeting the needs of the specific donor. That's like a RIM sales member going to Telus and selling them a Palm. Yes, World Vision's sheep and goats and pigs are tremendously successful -- but that is the product they are selling. Simply copying the product does little for your own program. While the Palm Treo and BB Curve have overlapping purposes -- they are clearly different products. AND the marketing teams are always looking for differentiation to set their product apart.
While borrowing ideas is the strength of all communications and marketing -- borrowing without understanding your product or without clear differentiation empowers your competitors.
Every day I challenge myself to think about the product I am marketing.

passion

2009-12-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Per Stenbeck, International Fundraising Director, UNICEF, Generva asks: "So what are the qualities that distinguish a star fundraiser from a mediocre one?"

He goes on to argue that the difference is passion.

He cites three world renown leaders:

‘Passionate people are the only advocates which always persuade.
The simplest man with passion will be more persuasive
than the most eloquent without’
François de La Rochefoucauld, French philosopher

‘Nothing great in the world has
ever been accomplished without passion.’
Hegel, German philosopher

‘Without passion you don’t have
energy, without energy you have nothing.’
Donald Trump

We are moved by emotion and inspired by passion. Passionate appeals to our donors may spark controversy. For where there is passion, there is the ability to love and hate. Many times our most successful appeals also are the ones that draw the most critical feedback from donors.

I think about that a lot when I receive client feedback. Often we are given notes, phone messages or letters clients have sent critiquing a communication piece. Before I respond to the client I ask two questions: How successful was this appeal in comparison to other appeals this year? How many negative responses did you get?

We are quick to let 2 or 3 negative comments influence our communication strategies when 10% of our donors responded with a gift. The attempt to please all donors eliminates our passion. It also reduces our ability to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. Finally, it decreases our brand effectiveness.

Lack of passion creates a bland and homogeneous organization.

Stenbeck encourages fundraisers to:

• Be ready. Make sure to take the opportunity when it arises.
• Be bold.In fundraising you must take risks and aim high.If you want the Pope to endorse your campaign then go for it.Coca Cola will never get that.You just
might.And I am just trying.
• Be passionate. Passionate fundraisers ignite passion also in donors.Passionate
donors give more,lapse less and they are ready to support you,not only with
money but also if you so wish with their voice and their actions.A passionate
donor is a loyal donor,a true friend for life.

I say "Amen" (!)

2 billion emails sent today

2009-12-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

I was meeting with a client about their marketing materials. It struck me as unusual that they didn't have a corporate web address -- as essential as stationary in my mind. The thinking behind the lack of a corporate web address was all about efficiency.
Then today, when I looked at a recent report from the Chief Marketing Officer Council, I read that the average individual receives 12 - 15 email messages each day.
Yes, my jaw fell into an open mouth slack position.
I've just now completed my morning jaunt through unanswered email. When I receive 10 - 12 emails at the start of the day I call the IT team to see if our email is down.
Tracking the effectiveness of mail -- digital and traditional -- is at the core of any marketing plan. We are still seeing higher overall results for traditional mail. Somehow it seems a bit easier to delete an email than toss a letter. Traditional mail has more opportunity to tempt me into opening it (I got a compass in the mail this morning!)
Here's are some stats that you might find interesting:
- Traditional junk mail accounts for over 100 billion pieces of mail each year, and 44% of this unsolicited, primarily promotional mail ends up in a landfill...unopened
- Email waste is also staggering. There is more than 200 billion email messages sent each day, yet 97% of all email sent is actually spam, according to an April, 2009 report released by Microsoft
- Cisco reports "customized" spam that is based on personal information stolen from the web has quadrupled over the last 12 months (2009)
- The average email open rate across 16 industries during Q2 of 2009 now stands at 22.2%, and has increased for the fourth quarter in a row
- About 3.3% of opt-in emails for subscribers in the US and Canada were sent to "junk" or "bulk" email bins, while 17.4% did not get delivered at all
- Forrester reports that by 2014, email marketing spend will rise to $2 billion - almost double the projected spend of $1.2 billion for 2009
- The average individual is expected to receive 25 messages a day in five years, double 10 or 12 emails received now
I have to write an e-blast....

twit for tweet

2009-11-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

Well, they name itself lends itself to endless playfulness.
The media and marketing blog, tweets and e-postings have been musing about the most recent reports of Forbes executives. It seems that over 70% have dormant twitter accounts with their name on it. Hard to believe?
I don't think so. Most Forbes CEO's are too busy building Fortune 500 companies and they don't have time to get on the narcissistic mini blogger. At risk of being blatantly antithesis to the emerging social netting leader, some of us have work to do and don't have the time or the will to listen to a thousand voices talking to themselves at the same time.
Just to set the records straight, I get the idea that the ideal behind Twitter is a dialogue, but my own experience is nothing at all like a dialogue. It is a bit like my father's side of the family where all 45 uncles, aunts,and cousins sat in a large room carrying 97 conversations. With that history, I consider myself fairly adept at chaotic communication. But imaging a focused, type A CEO caring - perhaps I'm not that imaginative.
While I read mega article that urge me to get on the Twitter train or my marketing will suffer - I haven't seen much evidence of the effectiveness. Now it is free. But at risk of being old and dated, I'll just say that you get what u
You pay for.
Cynicism aside. I truly believe Twitter has the potential to work. I love the challenge of creating meaningful messages in 140 characters. But most of what I see on Twitter is gibberish leads to http://. I also really like the idea of short blurbs of information. Kind of like watching the sports highlights so I can follow the conversation of my hockey obsessed colleagues (do you realize it takes several hours to watch a game -- and only a minute to score?). But Twitter seems to following the Facebook evaluator - the more followers (friends) I have the more likely I am to succeed. I can see that for Obama (but let's face it - none is going to let him give a tweet) but Gayle? Frankly my dear, I just don't give a damn.

Thank you AFP

2009-11-05T11:59:00.001-08:00

Non-profit marketing is changing. We presented a brand seminar: Uniquely Me at a seminar sponsored by the Association of Professional Fundraisers. It was a great opportunity to share ideas with many different organizations.
In the past year, more than 10,000 new charities and non-profits have been registered in Canada! Today there are more than 150,000 organizations competing for the donor's attention.
To cut through the noise and have your message heard, it's critical that your brand is strong, consistent and different. Organizations who choose to strength and monitor their brand will experience a greater level of donor loyalty, acquisition and public attention. They will also be protecting themselves against adverse messaging and PR.

Uniquely Me

2009-10-29T08:54:00.001-07:00

Is brand advertising dead?
Jonathan Baskin, in his book: Branding is for Cows thinks it is. Here's a snapshot of his thesis:
Most people don't know it yet, but branding is dead.Sure, we need to know about the stuff we want to buy, but the billions of dollars spent on logos, sponsorships, and jingles have little, if anything, to do with actual consumer behavior. For example:-Dinosaur-headed execs in Microsoft ads didn't help sell software. -Citibank's artsy "live richly" billboards didn't prompt a single new account. -United Airlines' animated TV commercials didn't fill more seats on airplanes. Modern consumers are harder to find, more difficult to convince, and near-impossible to retain. They make decisions based on experience - so what matters isn't how creative, cool, or memorable the advertising is, but how companies can directly target consumer behavior.Pretty pictures and funny taglines should be an after-thought: brands must target what consumers actually do.
Classic challenge between sales and marketing.
In tough economic times, people turn to trusted brands.... like Lego for kids and Campbell's soup for lunch. Even in the recession Cadbury has grown in the UK. Why? People have a limited dollar, they want to make the right choice. So they go back to the products they already trust.
For over 160 years consumers have trusted Proctor and Gamble for household products like Crest, Ivory, Pampers, Charmin and, oh yes, Tide.
A.G. Lafley (Former CEO of P&G, resigned June 2009)says:
We have 13 brands that do over one billion dollars a year in sales. That's extraordinary when you consider that most of our brands sell for $2-$5 per unit in the store. We are very attentive to brand creation and innovation. We also, generally, have enough sense not to change a brand identity when we think we've got it right. If you look at a Tide package from 1946, it was orange with a bull's eye graphic and the Tide name in block letters. While we have continuously improved and refreshed the package design, the primary elements are the same. When the consumer is responding in a very positive way, we try to identify the design elements that have equity and keep them.
In mass environments brand is critical.
When the the service or product lives up to the brand promise there is consumer magic.

Twitter....

2009-10-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

I admit, I'm just playing with it (@bfootcreative if you want to follow my random 140 character tweets).
Marketing is all about getting messages to the right people at the right time. So those early adopter types who are engaged in Twitter are able to choose who they follow. They can also try to get me to follow them. That gives them a chance to get their marketing message to me.
So I get tweets like:
Free, Free, Free! These Simple Videos Will Show You How To Make Lots Of Money With Your Twitter Account. http://bit.ly/195LH8
and
A great read on the importance of Twitter and your company's use of it. http://bit.ly/2I2pm8
and
Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world.” http://bit.ly/RZu7b #quotes
and
On Oct. 24, we're walking... and building. Join us, and help build a youth centre in northern Uganda. (via @guluwalk)
OK, enough already.
Now I realize that Twitter is a mini blog. As a writer, it's a fascinating environment. The challenge to put on a meaningful (or not so meaningful but digitally coherent) message is fun. The traditional blog (I can't believe I used "traditional" to define a blog) provides a longer format for me to spew wisdom in my over verbose writer way. People can talk back to me, if they want to.
I assume that they can also talk back to me on Twitter -- where reading some entries is like listening to another conversation with my ear to the door with a glass.
But more than anything, it seems very much like millions of singular conversations -- sort of like everyone on Twitter is talking aloud to ourselves and a few others just happen to be listening in.
It's a little too early to see what the impact of Twitter is on the marketing world. Without a question my little tweets are attracting a remarkably diverse segment of people. Comparatively, @bfootcreative is naive and teeny. My few followers are not interested in what I say, but they're interested in my reading what they say.
I would be very interested in hearing what you think about the impact of Twitter in various communication contexts....

Back to the real world

2009-08-27T06:44:00.001-07:00

In June we presented a report on teen's use of social media. Our research group was statistically relevant and represented teens in a unique demography -- church. According to Reginald Bibby about 21% of teens attend church regularly. Interestingly our survey found the media habits of church teens very similar to generals surveys done by other organizations.
Recent research surveyed the teens and their parents to discover what the parental influence was on teen internet habits. The results are fascinating.
The Benenson Strategy Group examined how social networks affect kids and families. The results indicated a significant gap between parents' believes and kids' actions.49% of parents say their child was age 13 or older before starting unsupervised surfing, but just 14% of teens say they actually waited this long.
The survey of both teens and parents found that many teens use the internet as a forum for gossip, sharing and blowing off steam, but others are also engaging in bullying and risqué behaviour online.
Parents do not realize how much time teens spend on social networking sites. 4% say their children check social networking sites more than 10 times a day, but 22% of teens do. 23% of parents say their children log in more than once a day, but 51% do. 12% of teens with Facebook or MySpace pages admit their parents don't know about the account.
Kids hiding things from their parents is not new to this generation. The gap between parents and children has always existed. I'm not even sure that the delusion of parents thinking they know everything about their children is new.
What is new is the ease of access to information and world-wide influence -- both good and bad. It is much more difficult to control children and teens in an environment where access is so free.
As an advertiser, I have am excited about the potential. Through new media we have a lot of opportunity to send our message.
In my role as a communicator I have a responsibility to use wisdom and discretion in the forms of advertising I use and the way I communicate.

The final leg

2009-08-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

We are crowded into a very large plane. First class stretches luxuriously in cabins and on beds. They arrive to TO looking refreshed, groomed and together. I am falling apart, My hair is sticking out in all kinds of directions and flattening to my head in others.... Two days on a plane isn't helpful. My clothes are stale - I feel sorry for Connie who has to pick us up. We can't smell that good -- even though we all showered and put on clean clothes when we left. I have no idea how many hours ago it was. We have been through so many time changes, that the hour is meaningless to me. I just remember getting up in Ghana, riding a canal boat in Amsterdam, and now I am back in a plane. My computer clock says 7:12 -- but I'm not even sure where that is! We have 2 1/2 hours left on this flight.... and then, through customs one more time.

We hardly have seen the breadth and depth of Africa in two weeks -- we did see a lot of airports. But we have had glimpses of an Africa that is struggling to get out. There are no easy answers. An African man chased after us the last morning of filming. He shouted angrily at us in his tribal language. The Assemblyman and Community Fishing Chief with us told us that he was asking why the white man no longer came with money, but just came with cameras. They needed money -- not pictures.

Throughout the trip we have worked very hard to build relationships with the village elders and leaders, asking them first before we take out our cameras. I looked back and I said, "We want to tell your story to people in Canada, so they can help. But we won't just send money -- you need clean water, toilets, jobs -- giving you a few pennies today won't help that. You need leaders like Mary and Comfort and John and Cromwell and Walter who walk alongside of you, helping you to build your future."

But I came with a $5000 dollar camera, clean clothes. I am fat and healthy. I have a safe home, a bed, a kitchen, enough food to eat. I have attended university. I have a job. I could have easily given him a few dollars. It is always a tension. Because I can give money -- but money alone won't solve the problem. There needs to changes in the balance of power. The white and the black working together. Attitudes changed. New hope given.

The last village we visited was just outside Accra. We asked for the population -- but no one knows. The community is growing. There are at least a million people crowded together in a maze of shanties, drying clothes, smoking fish and young boys playing cards. The economic foundation of the community is fishing. The men go out to fish and the women smoke the fish and take them to market. The children work alongside their parents, young boys going with the fishing boats, their agile young bodies untangling the nets -- often getting tangled in it themselves. They have no toilets, so they defecate in the sand alongside the sea -- imagine -- 1,000,000 people and what that adds up to. They pee in the small ditches running throughout the community. The children wear unlikely t-shirts – purchased from used clothes markets. They are walking billboards for American sports teams, shoes and beer. Some wear almost nothing -- it's winter here, although the heat and humidity almost suffocate us. Some children and parents are wearing coats and hoodies.

Young girls are carrying babies -- Mary tells me that the child is their grandchild -- the girl is under thirty. Women are servants. They cook and clean; they sell in the market; they care for the children. A man looks for a woman with a strong back and a willingness to work -- he chooses three to five hardworking, child bearing women to do his work. Young girls, their bodies just beginning to become womanly are used for pleasure. That momentary pleasure multiplies the population quickly. Girls that are only 12 or 13 become mothers -- but they don't become wives. Few children go to school. Their parents need them at home to do the chores. The cycle of poverty is multiplied as the generations grow... yet resist change.

Sixty-four churches are scattered throughout the community. I asked how the churches impacted the community. The Assemblyman made a sound of disgust. He said they do nothing but keep the people ignorant and caught in their web of authority. The churches were big and looked nice. A stark contrast to the shanties the people lived in. They were walled. The people are not sophisticated. They accept religion easily. Christianity in many forms proliferates -- but the preachers get rich and fat. Their children go to America to go to school. There is no Mother Teresa loving these people -- or simply obeying the command of our Heavenly Father to care for the orphans and the widows; to share a cup of cold water with the thirsty, a crust of bread with the hungry. There are pastors who request offerings for the sins of the people -- money the people don't have, food they need to feed their children.

Change will not come quickly. Because it requires impact from many levels: first of all the people themselves must desire more than a dollar from a passing white woman. They must come to understand the need to learn to read and write. They need to work towards building and economic foundation -- so that their children and grandchildren will have jobs. They must petition the government for change. Corruption and self centred interests are ordinary. They themselves must learn to understand the difference between serving God and religion -- too many are trapped in religion. The pastor is powerful, persuasive and pressing. They are frightened of the curse of the gods. Even if they attend a Christian church, they still believe there are many gods. They don't fight for their rights because they are afraid. Women, especially resist change. They are afraid that change will strip away the insignificant autonomy and control they have. They have so very little power or choice, they don't want to lose their place, such as it is, in their social structure.

We spoke to a mother who gave her daughter to the fetish priest as a payment for the grandfather's sins. The gift of the daughter was to break the curse of the sin. The daughter was 7 or 8, she doesn't remember how old she is. She doesn't keep a journal because she can't read or write. She wakes up with the sun and goes to bed when the sun falls behind the horizon. She doesn't know the months of the year; she plants in the rains and harvests when the crop is right. So the little nine year old girl went to work for the fetish priest. She slaved in the fields all day and when his lust raged within him, she provided her malnourished body for him. He didn't feed her or provide clothes for her. Her mother had to leave the family and work in a nearby village so she could provide food for her enslaved daughter. Her mother looks away as she speaks. Those years were extremely hard.

The young woman was liberated when she was 18 -- after serving the priest for nine or ten years. She stumbled home carrying her youngest child with her, not knowing what the future held, how her parents would welcome her. They took her and her child in. Her other three children stayed with the priest. She doesn't see them. She is a farmer now, eking enough out of the dusty soil to feed her children and to sell in the central marketplace. She speaks little -- many of the questions we ask her are incomprehensible to her. We want to know how she felt -- she doesn't know that she could feel.

In my western penchant for speed, impact and measurable results, I want to build a school, put in a water well, install an irrigation system, plant healthy crops and fertilize them so they grow lush and sweet. Certainly the humid winds would feed the plants and help them to grow. But as I watch, I realize that my need to change the community does not reflect their desire to change.

Change will come.... I am convinced of it. Because there is a young man who grew up in a traditional village. His parents deserted him and he lived with his aging grandfather who was a peasant farmer. Because a Canadian woman believed in him, he has completed his primary, junior high and high school education and is now in his third year at the University of Ghana. He is studying agriculture because he can see that the ways of the past are no longer sufficient and he wants to take care of his grandfather.... I ask him what his grandfather says. His wide grin gets even bigger, his white teeth sending our white balance off the charts. "My grandfather? Yes, please," he says. "He is very happy."

I am convinced that change can happen because there is a young man named John who left his home when he was 11 years old. He wanted to go to school, but his family could not afford it. So he moved to the boarder community and pried coins and dollar tips from business men and wealthy Americans who crossed at the boarder. Unlike his friends, he stubbornly refused to spend his money on drugs, alcohol or women. He saved every penny so he could go to school. He took his social work degree and today he is working in several different villages, inspiring the people to change. He is the first step to the future.

We can't judge another society; nor can we transplant our own traditions into their soil. But we can listen. We can walk alongside of them, become their friends. Invite them into our lives.

In the fishing visit on the outside of Accra we noticed that many of the women were wearing dresses of the same pattern -- white and black, the white a stark relief to their pitch black skin. Mary told us that Saturday was the day for naming ceremonies. The people of the village gather to celebrate the birth of a new child and, together, they name her.

We pray that one child's name is hope.

A chance encounter

2009-08-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

August 5th

It may be happenstance..... and it might be a small miracle.

South Africa Airlines could not get us to Ghana for 2 days. I had emailed Joan and James Alty just before we left for Africa, just to tell that that I would be in Africa. They, as luck would have it, we were forced into staying in Jo-burg. I had all but forgotten about James and Joan because the return email told me that they were out of the office and would not be able to answer my email for a few weeks. Then I got a note from Joan last night. They live 6 hours outside of Jo-burg, so it wasn't really an option to see them. But they introduced us to Pastor Mpho Putut, a vineyard pastor serving a congregation in Soweto (on the outskirts of Jo-burg). I got the email at 11 p. at night. While having a local pastor tell us his story would be ideal -- we realized that the timing was just off.

But I sent him and email anyway.

I stayed up until 1:30 am in the hopes that he may be a late night emailer. He wasn't. At around 8 am the next morning, just on the off chance that he would be available, I called him. He generously offered to take us around Soweto. I am amazed at how small the world is. Pastor Putu is very involved in taking members from our congregation at the Meeting House around as they visit the project we are working on in South Africa with MCC. He is also one of the key contacts for the Out of Town program out of Canadian Mennonite University. He calls Paul Kroeker a dear brother in Christ.

He met us at the hotel and took us to Soweto. As we drove he told us his story and the story of his people.

I live in a nation where our freedom is never question. Opportunities are available for every citizen. The government doesn't draw lines. We toy with the ideas of democracy and talk about rights -- which, to Pastor Putu, are really privileges. He told us this story:

A man steals a bike from his neighbour. For many months he uses that bicycle for his own purposes. His neighbour is powerless to get his bike back because his neighbour refuses to admit that he has stolen it. He treats it as his own. But after a long while he feels sorry for what he has done and he takes the bicycle back to his neighbour and says, "I am sorry. For I have taken you bicycle. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?" The neighbour, humble and forgiving, says, "Yes, I will forgive you." And the man who stole the bicycle gets back on it and rides it home, freed from the guilt of his theft.

As we drove, he told us that he was arrested many times in downtown Johannesburg because he was not carrying his card. Even though he was born in South Africa. Even though his father was born in South Africa. Even though his forefathers had invested their lives in the land and the future of South Africa, he was black. And a black man did not have permission to walk where a white man lived. He was expected to stay in Soweto, where he belonged.

His father, his friends fathers and thousands of other fathers came to Soweto to find work. Often they left their wife and their children behind. The were given shelter in barnlike structures that had nothing -- not even a bed. At night they through a light blanket on a concreat pad and prayed that their bodies would revive so that they could work another day. The men were men, not animals. They needed the comfort of their families, the support of friends. They ahd nothing. They sought out women to be their friends and mistresses while they were seperated from their families. Children grew up with no father and their mother was overcome in the raising of her children, farming the small plot of land and doing everything by herself.

Pastor Putu had no one to show him the things a father should show a son -- when his cheeks grew soft hairs, he had no idea how to shave. When he needed manage his home, he had no example, for his father had been a prisoner of the mine. When he looked for a mentor to show him how to become a husband and a father, he had to look outside of his own home, because his own father was stolen by capitalists who wanted gold. Pastor Putu wanted a better way, so he struggled to go to school. He discovered democracy -- a nation where the people have a right to have a voice in the governing of their country, city and municipality. He showed us the 10 rights that his people had dreamed about in 1955 -- the year I was born. But still have not realized completely.

Each dream was something I take for granted every day.

As we walked through the morning with Pastor Putu, I wondered if the very strength of our own country was slipping through our fingers.

Ironically, I had recieved an email from a journalist in the morning who wanted me to comment on an article written by a professor at TWU which commented on the increased stress on today's student because of Facebook. And I looked at the students who were walking on the campus in Soweto -- a campus that is only a few years old. They are the first generation of black young people who have the opportunity to go to college. Their parents dreamt of having enough food, being together with their family, have a safe shelter for the night... they never even imagined that their children would learn to read.

I am willing to fight for a democratic society? One where each member of my community has the freedom to live in a safe home, work 40 hours a week, have the right to a basic education, the freedom to till the land they own and use the resources that are a part of their own nation.

It has never occurred to me to fight for democracy.

He walked with us through a monument to the past. For many years Soweto was only a dormitory for the mines and for the labour jobs in the city of Johannesburg. People lived in long row houses, that weren't homes, they were small cubicles where people slept at night, before they made their way to their work. They were not even really communities. The dream to make the community a thriving environment where the more than 2 million citizens could live freely, buy necessities from their neighbours, trade skills, goods and services was far from their imaginations. Today the community has built a market. A huge covered structure provides booths for many people to seel their goods: vegetables, hand made crafts, fruits, meats, cheeses... everything you can think of.

In the centre of the market is a food court that is built of brick. The roof is a tall tower made our of sheet metal taken from the slum dwellings that many of the people used to live in. Each rusted and twisted sheet is a reminder of the past, giving each child the gift of the journey to change. Pastor Putu believes the past is important to remember, so that each child who recieves the gift of education and a career remembers the painful journey their parents walked to give them a democratic state.

The injustice of Apartheid are a painful reminder of the power of authority and wealth. The clash of cultures in one nation is not new -- nor do I expect will disappear. The believe that a black child was born to serve, created to bow to the power of the white child, unable to understand the complexities of the written language, math and science has no meaning for me.

But before I step back into my world, I want to hang on to the dignity in which God created all people -- in his image. Our imaginations are so much smaller than our creators -- yet, each day God performs a miracle and opens our minds to a new idea, a new thought, a new understanding. May I never see the world as finite or predictable. May I be open to seredipidous laughter when I realize that I have only seen the elephant from the eye level of an ant and suddenly, miraculously, I am given the opportunity to see the elephant from the perspective of a swallow.

The shrinking world

2009-08-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Still in Jo-burg. South Africa Airlines has determined that we will have a little R&R. We are in a very nice hotel -- on their bill. But we are also missing key days for filming which is very, very disappointing. TIA (That is Africa)
We did a little visit to the local mall. I'm not sure if it is comforting or discouraging to see that the local mall in Johannesburg, South Africa could be Square One in Toronto.
Ironically, I was snagged by a young sales woman who tried to convince me to buy some extremely travel savvy make up. She also offered me a book that would show me how to use that makeup. Now, you have to understand that I have been without a blow drier or velcro rollers for 9 days. Multiplying the stunning and fashionable me is my attire of 2 skirts and a pair of whatever those pants are called that just go beneath the knees -- tied together in a very effective look with an oversize sweatshirt with Salem printed over my matronly bosom. AND, who would know, it turns out that the makeup product was made in Toronto. Why wouldn't I buy several -- for only $8700Ran -- somewhere just over $100. And then drag it back to Toronto in my little back pack.... I did not succumb to her excellent sales pitch. She was clearly disappointed.
The prices here are pretty much like Canada. I resisted buying too much, because I could by it all at home -- I am holding out for something really cool in Ghana.
We have until just after noon to explore Jo-burg -- what are the chances that we could actually see something interesting?

South African sun

2009-08-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

August4th. 7pm Johannesburg
The sun was warm and the wind cool. The mall which we explored on our afternoon of killing time because South African Airline flights were messed up by delays was just like Square One. It's hard to remember that we are thousands of miles from home when so many of the things look just the same.
The UK influence here is strong. BBC dominates the TV.
Our final word was that we are unable to make a flight out of South Africa today and have to wait to late afternoon tomorrow. Our filming schedule is compromised but we are going to see if we can maximize our time in Ghana by working mega long hours.
There is no efficiency in travel. We have spend 50% of our time waiting. TIA (That's Africa) is our most common phrase.
Kevin left his mowing the grass only running shoes in Zambia -- he thought the cat peed in them at home and couldn't stand the smell. Gord tried to convince him to buy $2 sandals -- he may be slightly embarrassed by the white socks and crocs look that Kev is sporting now.
I turned down 56000Ran worth of makeup this afternoon -- it's hard to believe that looking at me one would think that I even use makeup! I have to admit, it was slightly tempting to drop into a salon and doing something with the mess my hair is in right now!
One more leg of our trip -- we hope that this is the last of the surprises we have run into.

winter in Africa

2009-08-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

The sun is warm and the temperature is around 22 Celsius. The staff at the hotel and the children here are all wearing coats. The Canadians are tempted to go swimming but the pool is pretty cool.
We are in Johannesburg for one day minimum. We are still waiting for the airport to clarify our next leg of flights. We have not heard anything yet.
So we sit tight until we hear. We think the first flight out of here will be at 7 p.m. tonight. The other option is to wait until late afternoon on Wednesday and fly out then.
The hotel is nice -- not extravagant. The courtyard is pretty and the pool looks inviting until you stick your finger in it. Then you think that it would be smarter to just look at the pool.
Kevin is getting a sweat shirt. He is really enjoying the trip... his love for potatoes is really paying off.

chaos

2009-08-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

There is a saying here: well that's Africa.... that has become much more meaningful to all of us here. We are stuck in Johannesburg -- we are unsure just what is going to happen yet. Our flight out of Zambia was delayed by 2 1/2 hours, which made us miss our flight to Ghana. They are telling us that there is no flight until Wednesday, which means we miss two days of filming. Ghana is the strength of IN in Africa.
At first they told us that we could catch the flight to Senegal and then on to Ghana and be there first thing in the morning... but that seems to be impossible.

exit strategy... or maybe not

2009-07-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

Crossing the border between DR Congo and Zambia was an extremely interesting event.
I already had the difficulty with the missing yellow fever immunization certificate. And we had the additional challenge of taking the camera out of the country.
The yellow fever issue was solved without additional contributions.
The camera, it seemed, was not as easy.
It cost a personal viewing by the authorities.
Every tape.
Fortunately, Gord had footage from his family vacation and the guards were particularly intrigued by the nephew's spectacular wake board wipe out. We were allowed to carry our film through without additional funds.
The driver, who participated in the private viewing, said that the guards said (in a language we don't understand -- it could be French) they were very pleased with the footage we took -- it was excellent quality!
The rest of the day was travel..... while in 7 of us squashed into a small van (I got the luggage department... but I didn't have to sit in the middle of sweating humans). In Zambia we are being carted about in an amazing van... sun roof and air conditioning. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant... I had samosas... and they were incredible. The hotel we are booked into is very nice. And it has wireless.... so therefore the catch up on the blogging!
Tomorrow we are filming a vocational school and then on Sunday an orphan village.
(again, forgive all typos, while there is wireless, it is less than dependable.)

bartered out of prison

2009-07-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

I admit.... I am a naive Canadian. Honest. Trusting. Without guile.
Congo is a new experience in connections, processes and government departments.
Our travel plans were to do one day of shooting in Congo. David neglected to tell us that the Congo officials were not warm to cameras, high tech equipment or filming.
He also neglected to clearly describe to us the process of entering the country OR telling me to take the little yellow card I got at the health clinic that said I actually received my yellow fever immunization.
Our first travel jolt happened Tuesday morning when Gord and David were supposed to leave for Congo one day ahead of us to start the filming. Kenya airlines randomly ended the gate suddenly. So they were unable to leave.
On Wednesday, after many hours of phoning, pleading and begging for tickets for Congo, we got to the ticket agent and she told us that she had a notification on the screen that said she was to ensure that we paid before getting on. Which David saw as unreasonable, seeing as they were taken off of the flight the day before without any reason (or so it seemed). So Kevin and I went ahead (at least we would have stills if Gord and David were in jail).
We downloaded 10,000 photos while we waited.... played solitaire... and waited... finally, at the very last minute they appeared.
We made it to Congo!
Immediately upon arrival we were greeted by Rachel and the pastor of the church by the guest house. They wisked us through the customs -- basically we just gave them our passports and yellow fever cards (ooops, mine was missing). So we had to barter for a forgiveness. As we all know, forgiveness comes with a price. Missing yellow fever certificates seem to be $40.
Rachel is British and has lived in the Congo for more than 20 years. She is fabulous. She went before us quietly and paved the way.
We filmed a school for deaf children and a health clinic... the school for the deaf had been built by World Vision Canada -- there were signs all over the place. UNICEF also contributed funds. It was a fascinated work, affirming the deaf in a culture that would have pushed them to the side, thinking they were stupid. Now they learn sign language, math, French and more.... the older students take a vocational training section in their education and they are able to leave the school with some kind of a skill.
The clinic was -- well, hopefully the video can show it better. The complex was extremely run down. They treat women, babies and children. They have a doctor a few mornings a week and a permanent delivery room for women. When we were there, 8 women were in the ward. It only has 6 beds. One woman, who had just delivered a baby a few hours early, was lying on a thin mattress on a concrete floor.
They are building a new clinic right behind this crumblinh group of small offices. The new clinic is wonderful!
About $30,000 is still needed to complete it... then it will need regular funds to run it every month. I asked Rachel what the monthly cost to run it would be.... they will have an outpatient section and a 20 bed delivery ward .......... she didn't know. When I suggested $10,000 -- she thought that would be too much. Imagine that.... Just $10,000 would provide a safe place for 40 or more women haveing babies every week! It's stunning!
(Forgive the typos.... there is too little wireless time to take care with my key board).

the other side

2009-07-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

The strength of the work in the Kibera slums is the work of middle and upper income women who have dedicated their lives to change. Eunice is a secondary school teacher and community health professional who has committed to working amongst the poor. Cecelia is an educated Kenyan woman who felt God call her to the slums of Kibera -- today she is making friends among the women, praying for them, encouraging them, showing people like me the need. Alice is well educated and works in communications and human resource. She is energetic, well spoken and passionate about the work. She worked for World Vision UK for several years and knows the principal of child sponsorship better than David! Rev. Judy is a pastor in a local church (the congregation has more than 50,000 people). She began a prayer movement with women who began praying that their husbands would find God. SOme of you might remember the book "What happens when women pray." It was popular about 30 years ago. Rev Judy knows the author. Rev. Judy a large presence in the Christian community world wide. She has many. many invitations to speak overseas. Her husband is retired. They are, without question, upper middle class. Their home is an amazing architectural phenomenon. You walk into to beautiful wooden double doors.The front foyer is round and forms the hub of the house. There is an ornate fountain in the centre. In one direction you go to the kitchen and family eating room. You can hear Edward, the houseboy, working in the back ground. Straight ahead you walk into a cavernous "sitting room" -- where about 30 people could actually sit on couches or arm chaires. The room is a semi circle, the "flat" end connected to the house and the circle part windows. The furniture is all dusty rose tones with photos and paintings and voluminous dusty rose curtains. We were served mango juice.
We ate an amazing meal, prepared and served by Edward -- assisted by Rev. Judy and her husband. There was a thick pureed vegetable soup -- it had the texture and taste of Heinz green peas. But it was made from spinach and beans and pumpkin. We also had chicken -- the pieces were undefinable. The Africans cut chicken into indiscernible bits, so you take a bit of a risk when serving yourself. There was also beef -- same technique as the chicken. And an interesting mashed potato (Kevin had about 4 helpings) that was made from potato, spinach (so it was green) and kernal corn (African style, because they looked a little like chick peas). There was also peas and carrots -- they were tasty and -- had they been mushed -- David would have resonated with the mushy parts.
Ice Cream for dessert -- a food for the wealthy, as many homes are without refrigeration. Although the lid posed a challenge for the hosts -- but Edward came and saved he day and easily flipped the lid off!

the slum

2009-07-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

We were up at 5 a.m.
As I brushed my teeth I could hear the rooster wake the hens. It's cool in the mornings -- around 10 degrees celsuis.
We drop Gord and David off at the aiport. The delay in Toronto messed with our plans. With a bit of creative thinking, David figured out how to beat KLM's desire to frustrate our plans. He was able to contact a freelance videographer and rebooked the flights. That way we could do Kibera and Lubumbashi in one day, effectively cancelling the effect of the delay.
The driver picked up Samuel, the freelance videographer, at the side of the road. He picked the perfect spot. Long lines of casual workers walked on the side of the road. Some had shovels over their shoulders, others rakes... they all went in hope that they would find a job. Men and women from the slum have not found steady employment. Men walk to the gates of the industrial section hoping that someone needs a construction worker, painter, errand runner or anything. They hope to make $3, but it's more likely that they will make $1. The women stand in front of the gates of the wealthy estates. They are looking for jobs cleaning, washing, ironing. They too will make $1 -- if they are lucky $2. Very few of them will be able to find work everyday. Their monthly income is $30 or less.
As we drove to the Kibera slum, it struck me as a very difficult situation to untangle oneself from. What choices can the people make?
I was set for the slums. I had seen many photos, heard hundeds of stories and been warned that I would never be the same again.
Our trip wasn't a romantic insight into compassion.
The volunteer team at I.N.Network worked hard to plan the trip - and they did an excellent job. We met Rose who lived in an 8x8 hovel. She was raising 6 children. Two of them were not her own, but had lost their parents to HIV. Florence lived in the same kind of home. She had five children. She tried to earn a small livin by collecting fire wood in the forest. In March, she was arrested. When she didn't come home that night, no one knew where she was. Her children wondered when she would return. In the end, her three youngest children went to live with their aunt and the two oldest lived at home. They had no food, but what they could beg from neighbours. They didn't know what to do. Joyce had HIV. She was tall, but probably weighed just over 100 pounds. HIV had already taken her husband. Her husband's family forced her to leave the family Samba (a plot of land). She went back to her family. Almost as soon as she returned her father passed away. Her own brothers and sisters were afraid of HIV AIDS. They too rejected. So Joyce had no place to go but to fnd a home in the Kibera slum.
Each of these women have almost no choice. They have children who need food. They need a warm place to sleep. Many of them would like to go to school, but they don't have money for a uniform or shoes or books.

0-24 hours continured 2

2009-07-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

10:39 a.m. no real options but to wait.... arghhhhhhh flight leaves later afternoon... should be in Nairobi tomorrow at 7 p.m.

0-24 hours continured

2009-07-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

12:45 a.m. arrived at Toronto Sheraton....
8:35 a.m. KLM Flight 962 passengers are finding their way to the breakfast buffet. They are scrambling to manage their travel schedule. Many have missed 2 or 3 connecting flights. Some have made plans to visit their family. Some have bought their tickets in January. Everyone is disappointed. Gord's luggage is still on the plane. We are due back at the airport at 2 p.m. In the meantime, we wait....

Africa: 0-24 hours

2009-07-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Africa Blog: Day 1 7:33p.m. EST
397 people are crammed into the 747..... spectacular lighting and thunder storms forced the caterers to wait until they could stock the plane with mouth watering temptations.. A problem with the phneumanic (ok, I am not all that mechanical) has trapped us on board, seated, at the gate in terminal 3 in Toronto. Our scheduled time for departure was 5:45.
According to Gord we are collectively producing 84,000 BTU's of body heat per hour.
A baby stripper is toddling up and down the aisles. We all wish that pampers was our fashion statement.
Stripping's not an option as the heat climbs.
7:44 p.m. babies screams increase. A flurry of open overhead compartments. Stressed attendants pass out 6 oz containers of water. Mr. Bean settles into his hotel room in some European city, taking his little yellow duck into the shared bath.
We scheme. We had a three hour layover in Amsterdam. We have already spent 1.5 hours the layover at gate C34 in Terminal 3 in Mississauga. Perhaps Dave, who we anticipated arriving in Nairobi about 10 hours after we did, will arrive there before we do.
My battery on the netbook is hanging in there. But the plane doesn't let me access the internet. If I am reduced to boredom I can try to crack the last 6 levels in brick breaker. Or challenge my computer friends to a game of hearts.
7:53 p.m. Kevin is laughing uproariously. I forgot for a moment that Mr. Bean is providing comedy relieve to amuse the crowd jammed into 15 inch seats.No word from the captain.
8:13 p.m. We just had an announcement. Unfortunately, it was in Dutch. We are still sitting in the warm breeze of the plane's air system.
8:15 p.m. The attendants are handing out small celo packages of smoked almonds (I guess there are no allergy alerts in Amsterdam) and watered down orange juice. They tell us that they are taking all the precautions available for our safety. They have to start the engines again to see if this was the problem. They are hesitant to give us a scenario if it is not the problem. I already imagine the chaos of 397 people trying to reroute their travel plans. Do you think they will put us up at a 5 star on Airport Road?
8:22 p.m. 63% of my battery remains. Nearly everyone on the flight has had a package of smoked nuts. The prepackaged meals are cooling.
8:30 p.m. A flurry of authoritative Dutch and a scurry of attandents collecting plastic cups and celo papers. The captain changes to English. It's much more disappointing. AS it looks now the starter is failing and the mechanics are still working on it. The flurry was without hope. They will keep us informed as best they can. But they still don't know what the problem is. We have now spent 2 of our 3 hours of lay over at Gate C34 at Terminal 3 in Mississauga.
8:45 p.m. (54% of the battery consumed.... the net book does a lot better on battery than my tablet.) Gord has pulled up the KLM web site.... the next flight to Nairobi will be at 9:25 that night. We then arrive at Narobi at????? sometime in the morning... maybe our 5 star accommodation will be in downtown Amsterdam? There is a flurry of people on cell phones, trying to figure out how they are going to connect with their next flight. The attendance catch the vibe and come on the microphone: We're not to worry about connecting flights.... because the ground crews will make the arrangements for the connections we miss.....Gord is ordering pizza, but they're not sure the pizza guys can break through the security. There are not sharp objects or more than 100ml of liquid in pizza, is there? I may have to reduce myself to playing spider solitaire (unless Dan deleted it.)
9:13 p.m. We are going to debark. The part needed may or may not be in Toronto. I have to close my computer. The good news is I have 46% of my power and I can re charge at the airport.
9:44 p.m. successfully debarked. Found a plug in -- can play scrabble online now. The missing part has been identified and we have been told that we will know if the plane is able to be fixed by 11:30 tonight..... then they will tell us what to do. We can choose NOT to fly tonight, but they will KLM not take responsibility for our future travel plans. The pizza guy was unable to break through the security and deliver on board. But KLM cam through with meal vouchers and we have been able to scavenge some food from the airport. We assume the food supplied by the caterer on the plane will be revived at a later date.

taking a break?

2009-07-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

The second and third week of July are most often selected by Canadians for vacation. But few marketing professionals can take a pure break -- because the summer months are the hot bed for new ideas, new campaigns and implementation for fall products.
In the next few weeks, I am taking off for a new journey -- Gord, our general manager and videographer, Kevin, partner, art director and photographer and I -- are off to Africa for a film and resource gathering trip with I.N.Network Canada.
Ultimately our goal is to gather the resources to produce a TV show to be aired in January.
I will keep you posted as we visit places we have read about, told stories of and raised money for. Now we will meet the people personally, walk in their community, visit their homes, eat their food.

GenY

2009-06-26T10:44:00.001-07:00

What do college students think is the most critical in their world? A new survey by SurveyU found:
81% think education is very important
68% consider child endangerment/abuse prevention critical
The next most important are: rape prevention (65%), civil/human rights (65%) and cancer (62%) round out the top five, with drunk driving prevention (61%), genocide (59%), domestic violence (57%), AIDS (57%) and environment/conservation (54%).
Poverty does not appear -- although one could argue that poverty is an issue that intersects many of these issues.
Most interestingly, GenY -- the generation where access to global information is the most ubiquitous (there is no "time before web" in their memory) -- they are most interested in issues related to their own lives, their own community and their own country.
Marketers and communicators must learn to navigate in a global world where personal takes precedence. We have the technology.... but do we have the will, the patience and the savvy?

the power of brand

2009-06-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

We often talk about brand personality -- the character of the product, organization or service.
Building brand is about creating a poignant (and positive) experience with the brand. Disney is all over that. Coke cuts through the heat with icy cold refreshment. The i-phone is the fastest, most powerful and totally cool smart phone (the blackberry, the business phone -- not so cool but reliable).
The experience of using the i-phone or blackberry affirms the brand. The i-phone is slick, cool and operates with the flick of a finger. The blackberry is clunkier, and uses a key board.
If I close my eyes and imagine... the i-phone user is wearing designer jeans and t-shirt and the blackberry guy has a suit. The i-phone user is smiling and flicking, the blackberry guy is frowning and thumbing. This all affirms the brand experience.... notice, the logo was never mentioned.
Here's an interesting study.
Elizabeth Loftus studies false memories -- memories which actually create the brand experience. A group of people were shown a photo of Bugs Bunny in front of Disney Land shaking hands with people. A photo shopped image, as Warner Brothers and Disney rarely share their brand icons.
Then they had the participants carry out different tasks. Later they asked the participants to share their members of a trip to Disney Land. 30% remembered shaking Bugs Bunny's hand.
Brand is made up of a complex mix of personal experience and marketing messages.
When your brand is in the hands of a variety of stakeholders, building a consistent experience can be challenging. If your marketing message is creativity, but your presentation is linear and lacks interest, the marketing message will be lost. Each individual in your organization carries your brand message -- what brand experience do they give?

Flurry

2009-06-08T10:26:00.001-07:00

How many weeks until the holiday season?
Not enough!
Integrated marketing efforts for the 2009 holiday season should be well mapped by now... but many organizations are still putting their plans together. As we continue to receive requests for holiday programs that include print, mail, web and e-mail, I was wondering how many dollars were lost each year simply because the planning was not in place.
I just read an article this morning analyzing the decline in retail revenue. The author implied that while there is decline in some markets, when studying the numbers, it appears that retailers with a strong brand, solid investment in marketing and adherence to brand promise are actually gaining in the current market.
As we assess our marketing results, we need to be very careful not to use declining economy where our own strategic plan and marketing spend has been weak. We haven't seen a significant drop in client's revenue -- with the exception of clients who have decreased their spend.
Interesting, eh?

u@?

2009-05-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

I may have gotten distracted by Twitter (I was shocked to find out my last entry way April 15th...) But back to Twitter -- imagine giving inspiring, informative, interactive messages in 140 characters. It tweaks (yeah,yeah...) the imagination, doesn't it?

How are you using Twitter?

As millions of Tweets appear on my personal tweetdeck.com, I need to refocus.....

On Friday, May 15th we launched the results of a youth survey... over 1200 young people participated in the survey. One of the unique features of the survey was that 80% of the respondents are faith-based.

The overall goal of the survey was to discover trends in the teen and college aged market -- focusing on the teen market. One of the most interesting tidbits in the survey is that teens do not like country music (it's rock, pop and hip hop!).... but, hands down, they like Cold Play (Alternative -- but a bit poppy) and Taylor Swift (country)!

The survey shows the interactivity of young people's forays into communication... while Google dominates, Facebook and You Tube are stars.

To get your copy of the survey, just email me and I will send you a PDF.

We'll have it up on our web site (barefootcreative.com)......... give me a day!

I'm looking for wisdom in the next phase of social media.... as MySpace dwindles to less than 60 million users and 35+ are taking over Facebook.... Where is the next digital hang out for teens? Will MySpace have a A&W renewal?

sink or miss the boat?

2009-04-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Choosing marketing strategies is a tough call -- especially entry level activities. For instance, the pioneers who advertised in TV made decisions that changed the way they did business. We hear of the successes...
Like Kellogg's whose story is popping up all over the place right now. They increased their advertising dollars during the 30's and experienced exponential growth. ... but what about the thousands of companies that went bankrupt?
Revenue growth is a complex art...
Academics Peter Dickson and Joseph Giglierano suggest businesses are concerned about two kinds of failure:
“sinking the boat”: making a bad decision at a key time that sinks the company.
“missing the boat”: simply ignoring opportunity or taking too long to adopt.
When is the right time to make a bold business decision: Kraft launched Miracle Whip in 1933. Hardly the right time considering the economic climate.
Ford launched the Edsel in the 50's -- at the height of commercial success. Thousands of case studies have focused on the stunning failure of the Edsel -- the wrong car at the wrong time.
Audience affinity for your product -- whether an actual physical product, service or compassionate opportunity -- is critical.

Web 2.0

2009-04-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

I think this means the new environment of social networks... but I've always been slightly suspect of these kind of terms. I believe I can safely say that I have never asked a client what their web 2.0 strategy was (but I'm flexible).
But I read about it all the time.
Social networks, blogs, micro-blogs, SMS, forums, chats.... and the list of on-line opportunities goes on.
We have so many ways of engaging technology.
But are these rabbit trails leading away from our core strategy?
I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting that the key to web 2.0 is not understanding web -- but understanding your customers, your product and your business proposition.
I have a new stove. it has about 23 buttons on the front. Some of them I get... like "light" and "bake." But the Sabbath Delay feature? Not so much. I have figured out how to put food in the morning and have it bake miraculously when I am at work -- but I have to follow 2 pages of instructions.
My point?
I am vastly underusing my stove.
I would argue that many companies are vastly underusing technology or using random features without developing a measurable strategy.
There are some barriers to using it well:
1. Using multiple aspects of digital communication is time consuming.
2. Multiple channels without strong focus fragments your message.
3. Lack of a clear understanding of overall marketing goals, making it difficult to set tracking parameters.
4. Too much information muddying the waters and distracting from core goals.
So we're mid-stream in web 2.0 (whatever that means).... how has it changed the way we do business?

e-learnings

2009-04-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Edwards, copywriter at Razorfish Global Email Solutions group had some interesting insights into retail ecommunication from non-profit sites.
She points out that retailers may be missing opportunities that non-profits have already figured out.
Many charities have developed great engagement tools online - especially for information because transferring information on-line is inexpensive (especially if your on-line tools are well-developed), timely and engaging.
Engaging donors early -- World Wildlife Fund does this really well -- and keeping the information up-to-date and interesting helps build long term relationships.
World Vision, well known for aggressive marketing strategies, is good about welcome messages, thank yous and quick notes in response to donor's emails. They excel in communicating their core message -- especially in early interactions.
Use moments of interactions wisely, building relationship -- not just passing through information. There's nothing as impersonal as a "personalized" form eletter.

all that glitters is not gold

2009-04-08T06:26:00.001-07:00

Just received this announcement: "Finding the gold in on-line fund raising."
Is there growth in on-line?
Yes.
Is there opportunity in on-line?
Yes.
But don't get fooled into thinking that you can leave your fund raising or marketing brain behind in the quest for gold -- you'll be disappointed.
Stick to the basics... even on-line:
1. Brand differentiation: make sure your brand messages are strong, consistent and resonate with your customer/donor.
2. Product and pricing: understand that you have a product and it can be named. This is easy for organizations and companies that produce stuff (cars, widgets, food, houses...) but for companies and organizations that sell services and social services, it becomes more complex.
3. On top of selling a product, you sell value (that's called brand). This value sets you apart.
4. Speak clearly, directly and identify any action clients, customers or donors need to take.
5. Resist the temptation to use your web site for organizational natter -- the full web site needs to be written in client/customer/donor focused language.
The future is in digital applications. Mobile, web, social media -- the lines will continue to blur until we live in a ubiquitous smart phone. But principals of marketing and relationship building don't evaporate with a change of venue.
Remember.... all that glitters is not gold.

8 tracks vs the i-pod

2009-04-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Successful communication means understanding the core values of your audience. Sometimes, when we are communicating to people who are in a same demographic that expresses their core values in ways divergent to our paradigm we run the risk of misunderstanding their core values.
Gen Y, people who Between 14 years old and 32, (or there abouts)are a unique generation.... well, maybe not as different as we thought, it turns out. According to Dr. Jennifer Deal they score the same on career engagement, have no trouble focusing on a task for more than 10 minutes and have similar on-line capacities as their older siblings and parents.
They do, though, have a different perspective on how they engage in their world. The Wall Street Journal's research suggests that 50% of university and college graduates consider self-employment more secure than a company job. Very likely due to the changing times: stable, traditional companies of their parents are laying off. Gall-up discovered that about 60% of high school students look forward to starting their own companies. Not that surprising either. They are better educated, encouraged to innovate and reinforced by their parents and teachers.
GenYers' tell us that their most important personal values are authenticity, altruism and community. While their core belief is in themselves, they are looking for things to believe in and support.
We have to be careful that we don't judge other generations by things we don't understand. We need to talk to them, listen to their answers and track their behaviours.
Some of the differences are cultural. I remember the six months 8 tracks were the musical medium of choice (OK, I'm very, very old). When Sweet Cherry Wine boomed from the speakers my parents were aghast. That's my job as a child, to make them aghast.
GenYer's may be using ipods, smart phones and Facebook, but don't be fooled into thinking that they do not hold similar values to past generations.

mega trends

2009-04-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

"Irrelevancy is where most brands linger before they die."
This is from a white paper presented by Hiebing -- a brand development agency.
Remember Eaton's.... one of Canada's top retailer plunged into irrelevancy by misunderstanding its inherent consumer brand value.
To get you thinking about brand, here are the top 8 mega trends identified in the white paper:
High-Low consumerism: consumer choice - they will spend unlikely dollars on something they believe is valuable and go economical on something they don't. It's the consumer's choice.
Individualism: in the digital economy this is even more pronounced: what I want, when I want it and in the way I want it.
Choice overload: BUT they need help in choosing, because, in today's economy and info overload -- it's just hard to choose.
Hiving: mom or dad, maybe both parents, but the family is the family and we are protecting our unit. Dad's are spending a lot more time with their kids.
Gender complexity: Men are into decorating and fashion and women are into business. Family chores are shared. Who would have thunk it.
New 20 is 30: people are pushing back on starting families and settling into careers. There are more options and 20 year olds are using them -- oh, and living at home.
Geek is Chic: Bill Gates is a fashion statement. Nerds rule. Big Bang Theory is the ultimate geek show and successful.
Retirement Defied: The 60+ generation is no longer looking to find a way to the ocean. They want to stay in the boardroom -- or at least be gainfully employed. And it's not about money.
More than ever the boomers are really afraid of growing old -- General Electric just announced a foray into health care. They're watching the mega trends.
So how does that translate into our advertising?

core genius

2009-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

"In writing advertising it must always be kept in mind that the customer often knows more about the goods than the advertising writers because they have had experience in buying them..."
- John Wanamaker
He also said: "Half the money I spend on advertising is a waste. The problem is I don't know which half."
Often called the Father of Advertising, Wanamaker was a genius in merchandising. He understood the core premise of advertising: it's about the consumer.
How often do we forget the consumer or donor when we write, design and publish? How often is our audience pushed aside for organizational detail and sector language? How often do we allow our own tastes to influence our decisions?
In my early marketing years we were asked to beat a very successful control package. It reigned supreme for over 10 years. In my youthful naiveté I thought: "How hard could it be?" So Kev and I (Kevin and I have been working as business colleagues and partners for more than 15 years -- why mess with a good thing?) created a test piece. The core idea resonated with each of us, but when the creative was done we both looked at it and said: "We really hate it."
It out performed the control considerably.
What we were so close to forgetting was: it isn't about what I like or what I would respond to. It's about our audience.
Before we launched the new creative we did a focus test group with people who matched our audience demographics. They loved it. So we decided to include the piece in our test.
Had we relied on our own tastes and design leanings we would have made a big mistake.
Every day I challenge myself to think beyond myself and look to the demographics, the tests and the results. When I am in a meeting and there is a lot of chatter about what the likes and dislikes of the people in the room, I know immediately I am not in a marketing meeting -- I am in a room of amateurs.

outside of my little box

2009-03-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

As a marketer I often wax eloquent on the benefits of outside of the box thinking. My natural idealism is multiplied many times by the cultural cynicism of my post-modern environment (alas, yes, I am old enough to still fit into that piece of the world). For my entire life I have been encouraged to see outside the box -- which, of course, in one of the many grand ironies of our world, is simply another box!
Of course, the new generation lives in a completely different "box."
Some day we'll talk about that little box... but my real point is how do I, as a marketer, learn?
I speak to marketing experts every day.
But, interestingly, it's rare that I see a new approach or even an interesting test. Yes, the web is a new environment -- but we are still applying our boxed solutions to it. We all read about the multi-dimensional opportunities of digital marketing -- but what are we dong?
There is a fine line between applying known marketing principles and just doing the same old, same old.... what are you learning?

Facebook is counting

2009-03-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

The fastest growing group of users is women over 55... but they are still a small segment of the Facebook population.
Today's count?
6 million users 13-17
19.5 million 18-25
13.4 million 26-34
9.7 million 35-44
4.6 million 45-54
2.8 million over 55
The biggest demographic is women in between 19 - 25.
How have you been successful in using Facebook?

Notion of "Free"

2009-03-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

Ongoing question: how free is social networking?

Nissan had no budget to release the Rogue -- so they chose viral. But let's be honest here. How free is viral? They still had to produce the video (a couple of hundred thousand dropped there). They posted and tracked (hours and hourly fees). So when all is said and done -- the off hand comment that "social is free" means we didn't pay for ad space.

Social provides a convenient space for posting. The production of that posting still needs to be considered in the equation.

Be smart -- use social media, but understand the budget implications.

3D glasses

2009-03-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

"It's like going to a 3D movie without the glasses."
That's from Ian Schafer CEO of Deep Focus.
Some context?
Using the same measurement tools for web as for traditional marketing (how do you define engagement?)
Don't limit the success of your digital marketing by limiting the analysis. It all starts with understanding what purpose your web site plays in your overall marketing strategy.
While that sounds simplistic and encourages a "DUH!" Hang on...
Too many organizations are trying to put everything they know on their sites. It becomes a dumping ground for organization clattertrap. (you used to store this in cardboard boxes in an off-site storage unit.)
Even though they have access to analytic tools -- no one bothers. The plethora of data seems complicated and confusing.
The most difficult barrier to an effective website is content. Once the content is active, it's analysis... what are you doing to integrate your web site into your strategic plan?

Where is the party....

2009-03-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

I sat in a meeting yesterday afternoon where we were planning a launch... the tag line of the meeting seemed to be "but we have to be careful, we don't have budgets this year."
The alternative to marketing seemed to be social networks... Facebook, Twitter, RSS, My Space....
Let's get serious.
Social networks are not an alternative to serious, ROI driven marketing. First of all, users of social networks are there to play. They are adept at ignoring the nonsense on the side bar and hone in on the latest photo updates.
As a marketer your role is to increase the profit of your company. You do that by strategic marketing, understanding the return on investment of everything you do.
Don't get me wrong... play with social networks, experiment, be there. But understand that there is a cost. Someone has to have the time to play with it.
The most important function of social network sites is to help you understand your customer.
We are in the early days of digital and interactive marketing. Keep your eyes open... it's going to be a fun ride.

trapped in SEM

2009-03-23T13:03:00.001-07:00

Ever think that technology is moving faster than you are?

SEM: Search Engine Marketing.... as defined by Wikipedia (I couldn't resist) is: Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, SEM methods include: search engine optimization (or SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.[1] Other sources, including the New York Times, define SEM as the practice of buying paid search listings.[2][3]

Eric Clemons, professor of operations and information management at The Wharton School for Management" says that Google's business model is all about "misdirection, or sending customers to Web locations other than the ones for which they are searching...Monetization of misdirection frequently takes the form of charging companies for keywords and threatening to divert their customers to a competitor if they fail to pay adequately for keywords that the customer is likely to use in searches for the companies' products."

So basically he is suggesting that you use your competitor's words and product lines and lead them to your site.

(That's like putting Pepsi in a Coke can and telling the Pepsi drinker that it's all the same.....)

Hard to believe -- I'm thinking that customers would figure that out pretty fast and no longer go to Google to search for the things they want.

We had some stunning success with SEM over Christmas.... what drove the numbers?

The organization's real name.

What sank success?

Using leads that brought searchers to something they weren't expecting.

I'd say that misdirection is poor use of SEM -- but there are still a lot of people out there experimenting without the benefit of knowledge, tests or marketing savvy.

If you want to read the whole article go to http://searchengineland.com/search-ads-are-misdirection-advertising-17028 (You'll have to cut and paste... the add a link button did not add a link....) (I apologize for the language!)

OK -- not trapped...

2009-03-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

The history of advertising parallels the history of competition. We advertise, market, fund raise to gain attention in order to promote our product. It's really that simple -- the more people that hear about our product, service or mission, the more will come alongside.
What is confusing the market today (and it has been confused before) is the complexity of channels. Intuitively we believe that integration will optimize results, but we have not yet truly realized the advantage of integration between brand and direct.
It's easier for a campaign. TV drives to web or phone... but how about web driving to TV? Or radio to print? Or radio and web to TV and print?
Ultimately our budgets prevent solid integration -- we simply can't afford to use all channels.
So we need to choose the channels that serve us best.

Are we trapped?

2009-03-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

When it comes to tackling digital media, agencies and brands are still too locked into traditional ways of doing business to exploit the full potential of advertising and marketing online.
Lots of controversy on the ability of marketers to integrate between brand, direct response and interactive vehicles.
It's a challenge.... how do we integrate vehicles, maximize our ROI and spend in a downturn?

2009....

2009-01-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

OK -- I have already missed my opportunity for New Year's Resolutions -- dashed the easy entry to the year with observations and predictions. But we are in a new world, a new economy, a new mindset. Google laid off... Chrysler is partnering with Fiat... Heinz stocks are on the rise and Linens and Things collapsed.
Layoffs are rampant. Companies are hesitant to expand and are tightening the reins to prepare for a longer term recession. Canadians receive a budget today; Americans are hoping for a new president to innovate and create.
Major gift donors are will be hesitant -- they've taken a big hit to their investments. Middle and mass donors are going to be careful. The biggest change is going to be to a return of values. You already saw it during the holiday season where people were looking for gift ideas that were filled with meaning rather than cost.
The return to meaning is critical for non-profits. People will be looking for inspiration to do something beyond their own physical reach. Non-profits help ordinary people stretch their arms to reach beyond themselves.

Growing in a new economy

2008-12-19T07:42:00.000-08:00

The starting point of many conversations over the past few weeks has been: how has the recession affected your revenue growth. Our clients are experiencing the tension of tightened budgets.

We're concerned. The rapid rise and then plummet of the Canadian dollar significantly impacts corporations and organizations that trade in US dollars. For some the low dollar is advantageous; for others it plays havoc with the bottom line. The overall consumer caution is causing concern. The chaos of the markets have decreased available investment funds.

A flurry of writing from fund raising professionals indicates the breadth of the impact. While some of our clients have experienced a gap between budgeted revenue and actual revenue, most of them have increased in overall revenue from year to year. Some have fell short of particularly aggressive budgets, but gained 10 - 15% over 2007.

Non-profits dependent on government and foundation donations will very likely experience declines in their annual revenue. Small non-profits that lack a diversified donor base and are dependent on a few major revenue sources will also struggle. But organizations true to their mission, with strong relationships to a diverse group of donors and supporters should experience consistent giving and may even experience some rise in their giving. Faith-based non-profits may also experience a rise in giving, especially if they emphasize their core mission.

In my research and from client experience, I have put together 7 foundational principals that will help you weather the storm:

1. Make investment oriented business decisions. I know, that sounds simplistic. But let me explain. Cut out overhead costs that do not add growth to your business. Retain budget lines to acquire new donors and serve loyal donors. Negotiate better terms and invest less for greater impact. With tightened marketing budgets, the climate is warm for negotiation.

2. Build relationships with your donors. Increase your donor engagement and service opportunities -- make it easy for your donors to choose you over other agencies. In downturns, the market is incredibly competitive -- it`s a buyer`s market and the service they receive will impact their long term purchasing and giving decisions.

3. Innovate and diversify. Organizations dependent on one form of marketing or fund raising are in a precarious situation. While integration and diversification increases costs -- it also increases revenue. Look for creative ways to tell your story. Don`t produce a newsletter because all of your competitors produce a newsletter. Listen to your agency. They see the numbers of other clients. While the numbers are proprietary -- the agency can identify trends and increase your effectiveness by applying those trends to your marketing strategies.

4. Track results. Use your data. If you are not tracking well -- put the pieces in place to track. Your data tells the truth. Phone calls from customers and donors do not -- they tell a tiny fraction of the story. Compare anecdotal comments to actual results to make decisions. When planning new campaigns and media buys, data is essential to make wise buying decisions. Use web analytics to understand how people are using your web site. It will give you a lot of insight to use for other marketing ventures.

5. Concentrate on Net Income and not ROI.
Our data intelligence allows us to segment tightly -- but be very, very careful. While higher response rates increase overall return on investment, it will also decrease overall net revenue. Focus on raising money. To help get your mind around this, consider two "a-thon" events. In 2006 an organization spent $300,000 and raised $1.2 million -- with a 4 to 1 return on investment and $900,000 towards their cause. In 2007 they spent $1,000,000 and raised $3,000,000 -- the 3 to 1 return on investment did not meet the traditional 80/20 -- but the organization contributed $2.1 million to the cause -- $1.2 more than the year before. While the return on investment was less, the monies contributed to program were far greater.

6. Do not stop acquisition efforts.
Acquisition is costly. Not investing into acquisition is much more costly. The effect of the lack of acquiring new donors will continue for many years, multiplying the effect of the loss of income.

7. Streamline messaging, emphasizing your core mission. Now is the time to get back to basics. Make sure your donors and supporters fully understand your core mission and inspire them to join you in fulfilling it. Focus on high profile projects and goals, giving donors a clear understanding of your work.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas... rest well so that you will be ready to prepare strategies and tactics that will help grow your organization in the New Year.

Integration... an art?

2008-11-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

We hear a lot about integrated tactics -- which simply means that when we are presenting our company or organization to our audience we all are singing from the same song book.

We call that song book a Brand Document.

Let's start with fundamentals. Whether you are a non-profit with the goal of raising awareness and funds or a for-profit selling a product or service -- the offer and the ultimate sale are #1. Revenue and profit margins (Return on Investment) is our growth goal. We all understand that.

The question bandied about is the importance of brand integration in overall revenue growth. We've all witnessed the poo-pooing of brand, especially in today's economic climate. It's only a recent move for agencies to even associate brand and direct response (however baffling that may seem to me).

At Barefoot Creative we constantly see results affirming that brand and fundraising or sales strategies work in synergy to increase revenue.

Especially in times of economic depression.

The growth of Kellogg's is an important case study on the potential when we invest wisely. Even in the early 1900's, W.K. Kellogg believed in brand advertising and invested heavily. During the depression, as consumer spending plummeted, Kellogg's directors voted to cut all advertising dollars. A seemingly sound judgement considering the sales environment.

Catching wind of the decision, Kellogg rushed back to head office. New meeting, new insight. The company invested $1 million in advertising. The growth curve increased sharply over the depression years, increasing company sales by more than 27% during the 20th century's lowest economic period.

But more importantly. As consumer dollars were freed up, Kellogg's was there, a well-known, appreciated consumer choice.

Back to integration....

When your foundational brand message does not echo through every piece of marketing, communication, fundraising and sales collateral you lose momentum.

W.K. Kellogg, more than 100 years ago, recognized that advertising and promotion set you apart in a world of many like products. Let's be honest. While each of us has a unique contribution to make in our world, we are not alone in that uniqueness (an irony which I appreciate. After all, mass marketing is an intriguing study on the similitude of the unique). BRAND sets us apart because it is the unique edge we have. Whether we protect children from abuse, sell homes, provide educational services, distribute software -- there are companies that do very similar work or provide similar services. Critical to your success is the development of a unique personality that captures the attention of your audience.

Once the brand personality is established, the hard work begins.

Every campaign, every marketing piece, every communication needs to echo that personality -- everything. While packages and templates designed for someone else will work in the short term, they will not build long term organizational growth.

Today's marketing challenge is complex. With each new communication innovation: print, radio, TV, outdoor, guerrilla, web-based (quick sweep -- you get the picture) we are required to integrate more. Radio did not do away with print, nor did TV high jack radio... Internet marketing has not reduced the need for print, radio or tv. But each innovation in communication has increased message clutter, increasing the importance of brand.

The foundation of integration is brand. The foundation of increased revenue over the long haul is integrating a strong brand message with tested direct response activities that lead your customers or donors to complete the transaction.

Is integration an art?

I think so. True growth oriented marketing, communication, sales and fundraising activities are based on foundations applied by talented creators.

Permeate...

2008-10-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Who has the responsibility to promote your brand?

The answer is easy.....

Brand must permeate all aspects of the organization, re-affirming the core personality.

The implementation is much more difficult.

Let`s take the classic conflicts. Sales and marketing (not-for-profits call it fundraising and communications). Sales has one goal... to sell the product or service. The sales team doesn`t really care if the brand presence is there, they just want to have a quick and easy entry point to sell. Marketing builds a case for support, brand messages and images that define the personality of the company, product or organizations.

Add customer/donor service and your brand message may be squashed in a phone call.

A couple of years ago I responded to a post card from a local credit union. It was just starting up and the brand message was clear: "We're here for the little guy." On a lark, I gathered my most recent financials and popped around to visit the manager of the branch located just around the corner.

He smiled nicely at me and looked at my financials --which were decent, but small -- and said: "Our marketing company came up with the slogan. We really aren't interested in companies as small as you."

HELLO!

Truly, he actually said that.

The trust factor scurried down to nothing. I have little doubt that the "brand" message drew blood, sweat and tears from the marketing team. But they really should have got their sales team and customer service guys in on it. At the very least, given them some key messages to shuffle away unworthy customers like us and our couple of million dollar business.

Building a brand promise on a hope and dream is not a good idea. Your product must live up to the brand promise.

In non-profit organizations there is a tug-a-war between brand and fundraising. That's why I still see a label package that looks like the other organization's label package. You see -- the label package like the other organization does works. Interestingly, it works when I put my logo on as well. That is called Direct Response theory.

BUT if I am going to grow my organization I need to grow beyond simple DR tactics and take it into brand direct -- that means I integrate the foundation of my brand promise right into my direct response mail.

We work with a TV personality that has a significant draw. We work hard at building the Direct Mail we produce for them. Each piece is integrated with this person's innate brand -- his personality. We don't offer a package that we tweak -- we offer a long term strategy for increased overall growth.

The impact?

They have grown over 30% in 12 months. The change in focus from "proven" direct response to strategic brand-direct has increased their overall income tremendously. PLUS it has converted many of the one-time supporters to monthly. A huge income boost.

Your sales or fundraising tactics must fit into an overall strategic plan.

Do one-offs work?

No question. One of my clients purchased a proven package guaranteeing them 3% response in acquisition. The story was not theirs, the offer was really not one they made and the brand was no where near their actual brand. But they did recieve 3% response from the Direct Mail package. However, the retention rate was almost 0. Did it work?

You tell me.

What colour are you?

2008-10-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Personality tests amuse me. Just for fun, go to http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~chua/test/test.html. Discover the real you!

It's amazing, eh? Just from one click I can be totally analyzed! Imagine that.

Just like your uniqueness is based on your personality, brand is the essence of your corporate or organizational personality.

When we were outfitting our office, the office design consultant suggested a sleek, steel look. We were confused.

Barefoot -- on steel?

Not really reflective of our overall brand identity. (I'm trying to convince Larry we should install a sandbox in the reception area...)

Brand is the overarching personality of the company. When you are building brand, remember:

Brand is not an icon, a colour, a font type or a product. It is the underlying personality expressed by various communication components.

Start with the overarching brand statement. Who are you? What do you look like? What colours represent your brand the best? If you are using images or photos in communication and marketing pieces, what kind of photos are you using? What is the mood of the photo?

UNICEF has a great brand. The brand colours are primary - reflective of their overall mission: unite for children. Their photos focus on children with dignity, opportunity and honesty. Perfect to capture the overall brand of an organization. They have a unique UNICEF lexicon that defines their communication materials.

Think about the difference between Please Mum and Baby Gap. Both retail outlets show their personality in the complete communication package: name, logo, store front, products, advertising and communication pieces. Please Mum is about active, growing babies in jeans, t-shirts and running shoes. It's about the basic functionality of the clothing. Baby Gap, on the other hand, is about babies made for the designer world -- a cut above perhaps. Moms at Please Mum wear running shoes and t-shirts, their babies are dressed similarly. Moms at Baby Gap wear designer shoes and labels; their babies wear designer shoes and labels.

Both retailers sell baby clothes -- but they have built their brand personality around their unique selling points.

As you are going through the process of brand, consider outsourcing the discovery process. A consultant or agency specializing in brand can often articulate your core brand personality more effectively than the internal team. They are not as embedded into the business model or organizational/corporate services.

Remember, brand is not your business plan -- it's your core personality. It's who you are: the make-up, the clothes, the language, the friends, the photos. When you're working on brand, play a little. Imagine creating your face book -- what would you post? Who would you invite? What would you write?

Great personalities attract others -- it applies to the business world as well.

I'm Special

2008-09-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

Grade 1 teachers are already preparing our kids for understanding brand. They call it "Special Me."

Eric, a little friend of mine who is in grade 1, is "Special Me" on September 29th. He's already collecting stuff. He's trying to figure out the special part because there's lots of stuff that he has that other kids have already show cased: a little brother, a mom, a dad, a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, lego, a signed picture of Rob Ducey and a snail he found on the side walk after the big rain.

Matt brought his baby brother -- he was squirmy and cried a lot. Eric's brother can walk AND talk, so he's a little cooler. Eric's mom and dad are pretty different than Josh's, at least Eric thinks his dad is pretty cool in his baseball uniform. He's not sure about the Jersey. The Leafs haven't negogiated the Stanley cup for a long time -- at least, that's what his dad says. Natalie brought lego -- but it girl's lego and Eric figures the alien force captivator he constructed last week is way cooler. He's not sure who Rob Ducey is. He's old now, but his grandpa told him he was pretty good. Jesse brought a snail, but accidently stepped on it so the shell was broken. Ethan brought his Fischer Price smart cycle -- Eric just has the Wii.

I'm not sure what Eric will bring when the fateful day arrives -- but he's already figured part of it out. Even though he has some things that are the same as other kids, each part of his collection is unique because it reflects the core of who he is.

Brand is built on the uniqueness of the organization and works to differentiate organizations in a crowded marketplace.

Many organizations look similar from the outside. Coke and Pepsi are a brown, carbonated sugared (or non-sugared) liquid. Not at all sexy. In 1906 Pepsi used Original Pure Food Drink against Coke's The great national temperance beverage. In 1928 Pepsi pushed the competition with Peps You Up! against Coke's Coca-Cola ... pure drink of natural flavors.In 1939, fighting for the tight depression dollar, Pepsi claimed Twice as Much for a Nickel while Coke emphasized its friendship with the consumer with Coca-Cola goes along.

The battle continues with Pepsi insisting on being the "cola" of choice luring pepsi fans with "stuff" and Coke unifying Coke drinkers with iCoke reward points.

Same product (forgive me Pepsi and Coke drinkers -- I truly understand the discerning taste buds). Same target audience. Same brand?

Not in the least.

Eric is 6 years old. He has a little brother, a mom and dad, a house and a wii. Pretty ordinary little guy. But his brother's name is Colin and his mom works in an advertising agency and his dad plays second base and sells houses. His house is on the corner and he has the high score Super Mario Galaxy.

There are 16 little boys in Eric's class -- and none of them are just like him.

Oh yeah -- he didn't step on the snail, so the shell's intact.

Where does Brand fit?

2008-08-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that we are treading on the last days of August... campfires burning low and the echo of blackberry email notifications swirling us between vacation and reality.
Time to focus on our strategy, executing well in the September to December period is often the strength of revenue growth.
So let's talk a bit about brand.
We all know the strength of a brand -- Coke, Mazda,Wallmart... and the list goes on... Brand engages customers.
But where does brand fit in the non-profit world?
Without a question, brand differentiates non-profits.
But how does it work?
Here are 4 foundational insights:
1.Brand is built on the uniqueness of the organization and works to differentiate organizations in a crowded marketplace.
2. Brand is not an icon, a colour, a font type or a product. It is the underlying personality expressed by various communication components.
3. Brand must permeate all aspects of the organization, re-affirming the core personality.
4. Brand and fundraising strategies work in synergy to increase revenue.
Stay tuned.... I'm going to engage with each of these four points over the next couple of weeks... if you have some insights -- don't be shy. There is a lot of chatter about brand, effectiveness and fundraising.

OOPS!

2008-07-16T13:42:00.001-07:00

Here's 4 mistakes you don't want to make:
1. Basing your marketing message on your mission.
If the first message people see on your web site is you mission, as written for your board, you might want to revisit that. Your donors want to help you execute your mission. Tell them exciting stories and needs that will actually impact change. If it's saving the Banff Springs Snail in Alberta or building a shelter for women in St. John's -- your supporters are keenly interested in doing.
2. No instructions on how to get involved.
Some call it the "call to action" others call it the "offer." What is means is that after they have read a compelling reason for your work they will also clearly understand what you want them to do. CLEARLY. Whether it's write a petition, go on a trip, volunteer, give money, tell your neighbour, call -- in clear and succinct words tell them exactly what to do. (some fund raisers have discovered a lift in response by adding: "Tear here" to the perforated return device.)
3. Multiple messages. It is not more cost effective to tell your donors everything in one encounter. That's like a date where you talk without a breath about you. Identify your key messages and stick to them. It's a business model. Promote your core business. It will bring growth. Building your campaign so that there will be "something for everyone" will build confusion.
4. Budget. Growing your support base and cultivating long term relationships is not happenstance. It requires a budget, good planning and the consistent execution of a plan. In some situations, we are able to increase the overall revenue of an organization by simply establishing a strong case for support and a regular fund raising calendar. Rocket Science? No... but few of us are going to the moon.
(Thanks to Stacy Jones for her excellent article in The Philanthropy Journal.)

Thesis Statements Rule

2008-07-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

In my undergraduate years, I was keenly interested in the approval of my profs. While writing came pretty naturally to me, I was a story teller, not an essay writer. The idea of giving away my whole idea up front was startlingly adverse for a novel writer.
I got over it.
Then I received my first 300 Composition 101 essays! I was transformed. 299 of the essays were nearly indecipherable. The writers had given me no clues as to where they were going. The essays were either idea-less or had so many ideas jammed into them that I couldn't make sense of them. Very few had identified their "thesis."
And then I understood the importance of the thesis statement.
Ad writing, marketing and fund raising is no different. The offer is the thesis statement. The copy writer should never start writing a letter without a clear and succinct offer. Starting with the response form or devise is a great idea. The designer should not begin to design or lay out the piece without clearly understanding what the offer is.
All of the information, writing, content, design -- everything -- hinges on the offer.
We slide past this too often. We assume we know where we're going. Then, half way there, we take out the map and refocus on our goal. Getting lost in mid-stream is a waste of valuable time.
The second thing I learned in Composition 101 is that words should be chosen for the audience. Even as I write it, it seems like such a simplistic point. But all of my clients get hung up on this. Using words that have an affinity to the corporate structure or internal language builds barriers for the donor/customer.
We were chatting around the pool one fine summer morning. Our guest was a young man from Japan who spoke impeccable English. He had learned this impeccable English at school. He could only grasp about half of what I said. I was stunned to realize how much I spoke in metaphors and allusions that were Canadian specific (or at least North American). My colloquial speech had not been covered in his English classes.
Our clients, donors and customers don't live in our corporate structures or contexts. We need to speak to them in language they understand.

Renaissance and the price of gas...

2008-06-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

"Canada is undergoing a renaissance in giving: big gifts are getting bigger while new sources of funding are emerging across the demographic spectrum with everyone from new Canadians to kids choosing to give. At the same time, competition for donor dollars among worthy charities is rising, putting an increasing onus on how organizations engage donors and demonstrate value." Globe and Mail, June 26, 2008

I just paid $51.00 to fill up my Toyota Corolla....

Will the changing economic times impact non-profit dollars?

Without a question expenses are going up. Postal rates, delivery charges, travel and overall cost of operation area all rising. This makes it difficult for non-profit organizations to maintain appropriate cost/program ratios.

Dr. Keith Seel from the Institute for Non Profit Studies at Mount Royal College says that changes to the traditional model of funding is just starting to change in Canada. The traditional model being the "400-year old philanthropic culture that put the responsibility of charitable spending on the shoulders of the wealthy merchant class."

Interesting.... but perhaps I'm jaded. The most successful organizations I work with have a healthy balance between the the "wealthy merchant class" (generally called "major gift donors") and the ordinary Canadian. Organizations built of the faithful monthly gifts of individuals have a strong foundation. $35 every month from 35,000 people makes a big impact.

Public charities can learn a lot from the faith community who has a built in penchant for the "tithe." That setting aside of financial aid for those who need it is a revolutionary idea -- and it illustrates the impact of effectiveness when many people join together to accomplish good.

As the economy changes non-profits will have to be more creative, use more innovative acquisition methods and be centred on the return on investment. I believe that generosity is a part of the human psyche and well-positioned charities will continue to grow.

No Emotion?

2008-06-23T05:41:00.001-07:00

I just received this from a friend who is the director of a small non-profit...

"Raising money for a cause that allows you to use a starving child as the subject that draws on the emotional strings is cool, but what about us who are trying to raise money for a boring old cement and mortar building? A picture of the building wont draw to much emotion, right? I know i am being a bit cynical but reading your blog and the comments it seems to make sense that we need to find the emotional connection in any fund raiser?"

Without a question.... the starving child (or dog), the earth shattering tremors, the devastating flood waters all create the momentum for donations..... BUT let's be honest -- our goal as fund raisers is to raise funds to support the mission and vision of a specific organization. And our mission and vision may not be relief and development.

In some ways, your question is ironic. As I often have people come to me and tell me that it's so easy to raise money for bricks and mortar and so difficult to raise funds for the operating costs of the organization.

But let me start this dialogue with 2 comments:

1. Raising funds does require "emotion," but I would prefer to use the words vision and passion instead of emotion. In many of the web sites and promotional materials I receive, I see people make a very common mistake -- they completely omit the vision and the passion. What is the underlying passion that inspired you? I'm guessing that at the very core of your vision are the lives of men and women; young people and children whose lives will be transformed by the work you do. That's the emotion. The bricks and mortar are simply the frame within your building. To talk only of the program or the buildings is like analyzing a great painting and only talking about the frame.

2. You need to understand your audience. Organizations like universities, colleges, hospitals and schools have two audiences: the funders and the students. Each have different motivations for coming alongside you. As a fundraiser and/or recruiter, you need to understand the needs, motivations and rational for each of the audiences. Then you need to talk to them. There are a couple of dangers. The first is to completely separate the two. This results in a fragmented mission and vision. The second is to try to "sell" the same product to both of them -- this is dissonant to both groups. In small organizations(let's randomly use the figure under $1 million annual operating budget), the organization has to clearly identify the audience and, as much as possible, speak directly to them. The mission and vision should resonate at the core of every communication.

The growth of an organization is a complex thing. It's a bit organic. A good communicator understands that and is able to position the messages in a way that resonates with the audience. The starving child is not the only image that raises emotions.

Growing Old

2008-05-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

What you are doing to attract a new generation?

Hmmmm...who is this "new generation"? For some of our clients, that means opening the door to 60 year olds, for others, it means attracting those in their 30's.

I am the generation that fund raisers talk about all the time -- the baby boomers. They are holding the greatest wealth in the history of North America in their narcissistic little fists. The boomers lived on the cusp of a changing world -- maybe even were catalysts for that change. They watched TV (but didn't invent it); they wore mini skirts -- then traded them in for bell bottoms; they rejected Elvis and embraced the Beatles; they picketed for free love, anti-war and marijuana; they are the generation that talked democracy and community but lived for the "I".

The question fund raisers are asking is: "How do we talk to the baby boomers?

It's a tough question.

The boomers are cynical, tough minded bunch. Yet they are compassionate and want to use flower cards left over from Woodstock days. But unlike the older generation, they are not content to do what you say -- they want to impact change. That means they want to actually have hands on experiences through philanthropic experiences. They will also gravitate to slightly more grass root organizations which they feel are more open to influence.

But these trends are tricky.

We know that boomers want more hands on experience -- but we also have learned that regular "information' (Updates and loyalty mailings) through print does not actually impact increased loyalty to a charity. New projects, excitement because of new growth and new opportunities for growth do build loyalty (like fund offers). They want to be associated with a charity on the move.

We also know that boomers like to use technology. Yet when we assess the increase in web donations, we're not seeing the spike we have hoped for. We see a decrease in giving if the donor only receives e-updates or offers (with the exception of emergencies).

So in the world of competing offers -- how do we build loyalty?

the web game

2008-04-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks for nudging me, Phil. It's hard to believe that nearly two months have gone by since the last posting. Perhaps there is a blog topic right in there. But I'm going to leave that for another day.

Just a quick reminder that the Canadian Marketing Association's National Convention is happening in May (12,13,14). For a direct link to Barefoot's seminar go to http://www.the-cma.org/convention/?WCE=C=47|K=228049#GayleGoossen

We're focusing our session on one of the most challenging aspect of marketing and fund raising -- developing a web site that is more than a digital brochure. True engagement is pretty obvious for sites like Amazon and e-Bay. But how do we truly engage our donors to come back and visit our site?

Web sites are an ideal environment to allow donors to "create their own adventure." But too often there is no real adventure -- no experience. I am continuously challenged to think of new ways of looking at digital technology.

If I buy the Enchanted DVD I can watch the movie -- but more than that, I can take digital forays into the magical world of princesses. Disney, synonymous with imagination, gets it. The DVD creates an extended experience that engages the audience in more ways than one.

What keeps fund raisers from creating an adventure for our donors?

Let me suggest a few things:
1. dollars.... it takes time, testing and tenacity
2. skepticism... will it raise funds
3. creativity... let's not beat around the bush... fund raisers are not known for their creativity.
4. experience... there are very few (are there any?) models we can learn from

As I prepare for this seminar, I am opening my mind once more to ideas... I'm not expecting a huge break through, but I know that it all starts with one step forward.

30,000 children die each day...

2008-01-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

So how effective is that stat?

You've seen the technique used many times -- gripping picture with a list of stats that amplify the need. Or does it?

Here's what researchers found.

Donors were shown a photo of Rokia, a 7 year-old girl from Mali who was facing starvation. A second group of donors were shown the same image, given the same information plus they were given significant stats that demonstrated the famine and starvation in Africa.

Seasoned fund raisers aren't that surprised that Rokia -- without the stats -- raised more money.

George Loewenstein, at Carnegie Mellon University says: “It really puts fund raisers in a fix. They want to appeal to the mind and the heart. But if they do, there’s a real risk of undermining the heart.”

We all face the tension. In the ideal world, it makes sense to educate while we raise funds. But, in my experience, multiple messages and the desire to educate always diffuses the real need.

Take the opportunity to educate in loyalty materials -- materials that are not focused on raising funds. Coordinating loyalty and corporate communications to supplement fund raising efforts is much more effective than trying to do both at once. (Thanks to the Stanford Social Innovation Review for providing leading edge research!)

youtube and facebook

2008-01-22T08:53:00.000-08:00

social media
changing faces of technology
grassroots efforts
How are these things impacting our marketing and communication schedules?
Can we track increases in funds raised?
I'd love to hear your stories!

funding deficit

2008-01-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

This was a headline in the New York Times today:
"Facing a $200 million operating deficit, the American Red Cross is preparing to cut as much as one-third of its headquarters staff, up to 1,000 employees, and pare regional management."
To get this in perspective, they raise about $3.45 billion annually -- most of us are out of their league. But before we push the thought out of our mind,I think we'd do well to consider a couple of issues.
Between 911 and Katrina, the Red Cross had some pretty good years. Raising funds for high profile emergencies is much different than the hard, systematic work of cultivating long term donors. Our studies show that emergency donors are a unique breed. They are not interested in being committed to one organization. Rather, they respond to highly profiled need when it happens. They rarely transform to long term donors. Your loyal supporters will also respond at an increased level to emergencies that are perceived to be gi-normous (to quote my daughter). Your fiscal planning must take into account the highs of emergency situations.
In response to increases, Red Cross increased their staff -- not necessarily their effectiveness.
Watch your numbers. Return on investment and prudent, strategic acquisition and cultivation cannot be underestimated.
I know, spread sheets are really sexy. They don't make headlines like "$1 million gift given to..." Cultivating monthly donors is not that sexy either. Charity Village never features Mrs. Smith who has given $35 a month to one organization for 50 years (That's $21,000). The organization that has 50,000 Mrs. Smiths is raising more than $21 million each year!
While we need to ensure that our organizations are equipped to respond quickly to emergencies -- we also need to respond with integrity. Doctors without Borders stopped their fund raising for the Tsunami when they hit their response capacity -- good for them! BUT they didn't stop fund raising. Instead, they stuck to their central mission and helped the general public understand that the Tsunami was certainly high need -- but it was one of many humanitarian disasters in the world.
The fund raiser's job is to effectively tell the stories of the organization's real work and inspire people to respond. We need to be innovative, engaged and focused on effectiveness.

too personal?

2008-01-10T15:00:00.001-08:00

OK... I admit, the last post was a little cheeky...
(For those of you who know my husband, Gareth, that line was dedicated to him!)
Chris, your questions are great.. and each of us grapples with creating communication that appeals to those who support and partner with us.
At risk of being reductive, let me throw out some general guidelines for personalization and managing your data. Remember, these are generalizations -- effectiveness in marketing comes from understanding the foundational marketing principles and then using them creatively. The sage marketer blatantly borrows from others.
So here's some principles to remember:
1. If your data base consists of 10,000 names or less, segmentation will not give you the lift that warrants the cost. WARNING: don't confuse segmentation with personalization. Personalization will lift results.
2. Mail deep. About 3-5 years ago the wisdom of marketing encouraged lapsing donors at 18 months to avoid waste in mailing. While segmenting lapsed and dormant and treating them differently is a good practise, if you are small charity, be very careful about lapsing early. Our experience teaches us that donors often are still committed to organizations even if they only give once every two years. We encourage organizations to mail deep on a regular basis -- we would consider mailing to everyone who has given in the past 5 years at least 4 times a year. WARNING: mailing deep will reduce your percent response. But it will also increase your overall revenue and reduce your dormant file -- we think mailing deep is worth it -- especially if you are a young or small charity. Larger charities will benefit by smart segmentation.
3. Interests of your donor are directly proportional to their response. We often hear charities struggle to understand where their donor's interests lie. But it's not all that complicated. The answer is in your data base. Donors are most interested in the appeals they respond to. WARNING: focus groups are interesting. But take care in analyzing the results and comparing them to actual response. People regularly say they do things that they don't (like buy environmentally friendly products even if they cost more). Every focus group we have been a part of has told us that they would give more if they were mailed less. Yet every organization that we have worked with has raised more by mailing more.... go figure.
4. Software is only as good as the person using it. There is a great gap in understanding what a data base can do... and I'm not going to get into it here because it's complex. But let me say this. Ask other organizations what they use and how they like it. Train your team and if your staff changes, train the new staff. Be wary of automated programs that "do it all for you." This is fodder for another blog, but data is the horrific monster haunting almost everyone we know. The potential for information through data is infinite -- actually understanding, accessing and executing effective campaigns with this data???? A rare and exciting event. WARNING: it's old, tedious and over stated but here goes.... "garbage in, garbage out."
5. Get help. While this seems self serving, let me say it anyways... consultants and agencies can help you. I have been on both sides of the fence and they both have their advantages. So let me try to teeter on the fence a bit. Consultants and agencies that understand you, partner with you, listen to you, have a heart for your work bring a more objective perspective and are not burdened by your organizational structures. Sometimes the agency can see things that you have buried. Agencies and consultants also have the privilege of seeing many different organizations' work and spread sheets. That gives markers that organizations cannot access. While we are careful to protect the privacy of our clients, we build our strategies from multiple experiences.
OK -- I'm going to take a breath -- because this is really getting too long to read in a gulp... but there's lots to talk about!

my butt

2008-01-02T05:52:00.000-08:00

Fitting after the holiday diet of whipping cream, chocolate and butter?
Let me explain...
I just received my very own personalized calendar.Frankly, one of the best pieces of personalization I have yet to see. Each calendar page featured me -- well, my name in one form or another. The one I like best is a 20-some year old firm cheek with my name tattooed on it.
But (no pun intended)...
The personalization was driven by mechanics.
First of all, the personalized letter told me "It was a pleasure meeting you..." at an event I never attended. Seeing as I have no recollection of this company (although that just may be an oversight), I certainly never met Felix.
Secondly, they spoke to me as if I was a company -- not an agency. Which immediately tells me they don't actually know who I am.
Thirdly, the creative was driven by male minds... hockey sweaters, Harleys, fast cars and, yes, butt cheeks.
Finally, while the calendar included is clever and the personalizing interesting -- all they did was insert my first or last name on every page. Because they don't know if I am male or female, they tried to make the calendar a little generic, although the bias is certainly for the female mind... few 50 some females are actually interested in their name being tattooed on a twenty year old model's butt.
Here's what I think.
Slapping random "personal" names on paper, on the telephone or in other marketing efforts is pretty easy. We can get lists from many different sources. But actually understanding our donors or customers is a whole different game. Tracking their activity with us and using that activity for increased sales or donations... that is true personalization.
Amazon probably is one of the leaders in personalization. They also have access to a lot of information about us -- what we read, what kind of gifts we buy, where our relatives live, what kind of gifts and books we dream of but resist buying. They can tempt us with further sales by sending us a text or email that gives us what we want -- sales on the items that we have already looked at. A to-be father I know tested the theory on purchasing baby items. Over a two week period he went to Amazon and looked at the stuff he wanted to but for his baby. He went back every two or three days to check out the stuff. Within 2 weeks the prices had dropped on all the items by 15 - 20%.
Amazon knew what he was looking for and pushed him over the edge by giving him sale prices.
So how do we apply that to fundraising (or any sales activity)?
Your data base is the key.
First of all, you need to know how you want to use personalization. Then you need to equip your data base to collect the information you need making it easily accessible for communication pieces.
This is more difficult than you might think. Few of us are integrated. How much does your direct mail data base know about your donor's activities on the web site or their giving pattern through telephone and web? How much of your CRM activities do you capture in a usable form so that you can write them smart letters?
Just ensuring that their addresses are current is a significant challenge for many of us.
I slap my own hand when a promotion we sent out recently was delivered to my personal address -- except that I hadn't lived there for a year. How simple is it to keep addresses up to date? (That was rhetorical).
Secondly, plan.
If you have not anticipated wise use of personalization the execution will be a nightmare. I can't tell you how many times I have been told that "we have the data, we will just have to dig for it." Translated: "Yeah, the information is buried in the data, but no one knows how to get it. You can try, but it's not going to be pretty."
I still think it's worth trying.
We worked with a client this fall on a highly personalized piece. The information was buried and we had some trouble accessing it. All went well -- except for about 200 records that were misaligned because of the amount of play that had to be done with the lists and data. In the end it worked out really well -- we phoned all the people who received a mis-mailing and the overall results of the campaign where a quadrupled revenue directly attributed to that mailing. Definitely worth the trouble -- and next year it will go much better.
Finally, train administrative staff to think creatively.
Too often the people administrating the data have not been fully integrated into the vision of the organization and the role data plays in overall growth. That's short sighted of the marketing team. The data engineers are your friends -- nurture that friendship. When they catch the full vision of your goals, you'll have to reign them in!
So the personalized calendar with the butt cheek?
It's going to Gareth (my husband)....

ROI

2007-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

That would be "Return on Investment."
And we all care about it.
If I spend $500,000 on marketing and communication activities -- what do I get back?
For years Direct Marketing has given fund raisers the tools to track return on investment. We can identify the average gift, the median gift, rate of response and the direct ROI. We can understand the cost of acquiring a new donor through DRTV, DR Mail, phone and print advertising.
What's a little fuzzy is the auxiliary activities we do.
What impact does brand have on the response rate? What impact do loyalty materials make on long term donor value? What impact do regular reports make on increased giving?
Let me suggest that ROI is much more complicated than we may have thought. The impact of brand, word-of-mouth, the momentum of a great campaign are difficult to access and attribute dollar amounts to.
But we know, without a question, that they do contribute.
Last year, Ten Thousand Villages raised more than a million dollars through their Christmas gift program. The literal investment into marketing materials was minimal. But word of mouth, spontaneous national press coverage, the already well established brand identity and the customer recognition at a retail level all contributed to increased donations. Most of those costs were absorbed by other parts of the organization.
So what do we know?
First of all, national press coverage on a specific campaign increases overall donation levels. Rick Mercer raising money for mosquito nets and telling the whole country that on national television impacts donations. Well known media stars, television and film people and musicians raise the level of public engagement. People want to be involved in a reputable organization. The cost of that is often many years of doing good work, integrity in programming and relationship with the press.
Secondly, word of mouth can impact but is difficult to track. Operation Christmas Child is a North American tradition -- probably one of the most ubiquitous Christmas campaigns we have. The "shoe box" is synonymous with children who have needs. For many families, it's the one charitable activity they choose to do as a unit. I can't tell you how often I've heard: "I just picked up my shoe box (no explanation needed), have you got yours yet?"
Momentum is especially important for campaigns -- whether it's UNICEF's Hallowe'en program or World Vision's City campaigns, the hum of excitement helps drive increased donations. The investment to create that hum is high and requires diligent efforts to bring key influencers alongside.
The web may be the most difficult to track. While the data available from web stats is unlimited -- the actual increase to overall donations may not be able to be directly traced to the web. We had one charity that received a large major gift because someone was looking for a place to donate and they found their web site particularly informative. That is a one off. We are much more likely to see people going to the web site to check out the credibility of an organization when they have seen a marketing piece. They often respond through the marketing piece, but the web has clinched the deal -- we can't track that.
The challenge for fund raisers today is that our job is, in fact, more difficult. We have more and more avenues to use to get our message out (I haven't even touched on social media, another day!) We know that auxiliary activities increase overall giving -- we just can't always tell by how much. Our gut tells us that if we would drop the other stuff and just do direct response materials, we have have an overall drop in donations.
Many fund raisers are revamping their language and moving from "integrated" marketing to brand direct. Basically, there is agreement amongst savvy fund raisers that brand, loyalty materials, press coverage and other communication activities contribute to brand which contribute to overall growth.
So how do we evaluate success?
Make sure you step back a little and assess key markers: increase in overall revenue (if you increased your investment by 1% you should see a 3-6% increase in revenue); increase in number of donors who have given in the past 18 months; increase in number of monthly donors (not all organizations are actively acquiring monthly donors); increase in number of press hits. Look at your seasonal activity. Can you see any trends in increased donations and do they coincide with increased marketing and communication. We often see an increase of hits and donations on the web site when the marketing and communications material is increased.
Remember that it's all about cause and effect -- if nothing changes, well, it's quite likely that nothing will change. Increased ROI is a team effort of integrated activities.

Teleblather

2007-11-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

We've heard it from our donors, we've heard it from our friends, we've heard it at marketing conferences... people HATE telemarketing. BUT there are spread sheets and experiences that show us that telemarketing works.
I have just had two traumatic tele-moments. A sales guy had me paged out of a meeting to give me a cold sales call. Paged -- the owner of a company! What was he thinking? First of all, he thought that if he could get me on the phone he could use his suave sales skills to convince me to buy his product or service. But what he did was tick me off. Then he told me this great opportunity for a product that we already were purchasing and actually had a unique customer service person that we dealt with directly. I offered to buy him a copy of Microsoft Access so he could do a bit better job at sorting out his customer list.
Second traumatic moment. I got a cold call from an obvious paid telemarketer who wanted me to participate at her trade show. She launched into her speech -- without a breath -- for more than 3 minutes. Then she told me to open my computer to check out the site -- she hadn't asked whether I was the right person, nor had she asked if I wanted to come to her conference, nor did she ask whether her conference delegates would be a fit for my company. She just read her script.
These people are breaking into my day, giving me a pitch I don't want and not even bothering to figure out who I am. And they are making it much more difficult for others to use the telephone to do business.
Now you and I know that telemarketing can effectively increase donations and build better relationships with our donors.
So what can we learn?
1. Train your phone people to be people first and telemarketers not-at-all. While basing their conversations on a script is critical, they should be well trained to answer off-the-cuff questions and to deviate from the script if the the conversation moves that way. They should understand the core goal of the phone call, but lead the conversation instead of simply reading the script.
2. Script writers -- practice your script with real people. Your donors are happy to speak to you if they really believe you called them to talk to them not to read your pre-written script. Writing a telemarketing script is a unique and specialized skill that encourages conversation. Three minutes without a breath is just silly. You have to write the script to leave room for actual conversation.
3. Invest in donor management software that is web based so that all of the people who phone for you have the same data. Imagine phoning a donor and remembering their grandchild's name or remembering that they gave a special gift 18 months ago. These personal details increase your credibility. It's not enough to label your donor relationship people -- create a climate that creates relationships.
4. Don't interrupt people without permission. Even if that means asking them up front if they have a moment to talk to you. If they say no, perhaps there is a better time to call. But give them the choice. When they have said yes to your call, they will be much more willing to listen to what you have to say.
5. Don't make assumptions on the phone. Both of my most recent calls assumed they knew me (yes, they had my name on a list). If you don't know them, don't act like you do, but open the door to get to know them. Don't talk faster when you are making vague assumptions of the person -- allow them to tell you what they think. You may learn a lot from them (although be careful not to take one person's comment as a trend, you may have hit a bad day).
We recently had a little mailing personalization glitch that required explanation to the donors. Basically the donors received the right personal information -- but the name attached was not theirs. We phoned each of them personally and engaged in a conversation about their donations and the recent mailing they had received. We phoned more than 200 people in a two day period. The calls were amazing. The donors were glad to hear from the organization they invested in and were very happy that we had taken the trouble to call them and make sure they understood the slightly confusing mailing. Our client reports that the donations from this mailing is actually causing problems in their mail team -- too many responses are coming in and they are hard to process!
Cold donation calls are difficult to make, but upgrades and updates are welcomed by donors if they feel that you are phoning them personally. Don't be afraid of using the phone -- but talk to people as if they are people! Engage them and care for them -- the next time someone explodes about a tele-fund raiser they'll share their experience of the lovely call they got from their favourite charity!

Press War

2007-11-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

The TO Star has run a series of articles challenging non-profits to take a closer look at their accountability. I'm not sure how the articles are affecting giving -- the organizations we are working with continue to see increases in donations -- but the press has certainly captured the attention of fundraisers.
How do we respond?
I'm not sure inserting our pie chart of our mandated 80/20 into all our materials is the answer. It won't deter response, but we haven't seen any impact from the pie chart. But we have seen significant increases when we train our front line team on excellent customer service. When donors phone in and receive a caring, informed response, their confidence is increased. Even if their questions are not directly relating to accountability, the reception they receive from your team will make a difference in their ongoing support.
We have also seen increased donor loyalty from honest and open content, using the truth to tell the story of the children, men and women who have unique needs. Using honesty in simple language, truly conveying the need, encourages donor loyalty. They feel a part of the bigger picture, the part that is truly implementing change.
How are you working towards increased donor loyalty?

Shag Carpet

2007-11-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in our little 10x10 booth at the Association of Fundraising Professionals conference staring at the shag rug across from me...yes, shag.

Those who grew up in the 70's or are children of parents who wore bell bottoms are familiar with the varigated green or orange versions. This has an interesting modern kind of varigation that has shiny stuff on it... But my point....

There is nothing new under the sun... Now that was written more than 2000 years ago!

The theme of this year's AFP is innovation - Navion, a major gift consulting firm, has become "Inspire." The keynote suggested that we take time to reignite the dream.

The cynic in me chalks this all up to latent hippies sporting SUV's (because, even though they are not environmental they are practical), using i-pods (Bob Dylan revived) and wondering how they ended up with a remote contol garage door. The idea of play is not new... But play, imagination and innovation are in the power point of each motivational speaker.

The other word was original....

Shag is not original. But shiny varigated shag is.

A couple of years ago we were able to have an original "aha" with The Leprosy Mission. It started with a problem: how do we encourage more engagement with the much ignored middle donor? We looked at the facts - most middle donors gave onc a year and, while they gave $4000 plus annually, their overall engagement didn't change. We started by daring to decrease their annual mail and increase the length of the letter and the offer.

Warning signs going off?

You're right. It defied conventional wisdom. But it worked... Middle donors began engaging in conversation, gave more often and large amounts.

Why did it work?

TLMC was willing to check the facts, interpret the patterns and take the risk.

I imagine if we looked a little deeper we could all tell the story of innovation.

round tables

2007-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

People have been asking if the round tables were coming back (Barefoot Creative held a couple of round tables, the idea was that we would pull together smart marketing and fundraising minds to make us all smarter and more effective)
The idea was great... but it's harder than you might think to gather a group of busy executives in one place at the same time...
So I'm trying an armchair version of the round table... a blog...
I admit I have avoided for becoming a blogger for many months. It's a frightening thing to open myself up to a quasi commitment of checking a blog, writing in a blog and having intelligent thoughts worthy of sharing with bright people (the last scary thing is the most terrifying).
But, taking a deep breath, I am wading in to the deep and dark digital waters of sharing information freely and easily.
I hope to simply start conversations -- join if you want, listen in if you prefer.
Here's my first thought (it's harder than you think to pull them out of the chaos of my little mind).
A few of us were hanging out late in the day yesterday and we were debating what true innovation is. As an agency we have high ideals of being innovative and innovators. As an agency focused on helping non-profit organizations we live in the tension between innovation and what works.
For years I have pushed against the traditional direct response approach -- sending out the same mail again and again and again, because it works. Of course, if it does -- you know, why mess with those things not broken.
But maybe innovation isn't the startling new idea -- those are far and few between -- and, realistically, they usually grow out of seeds of smaller things. But taking what works and making it outstanding -- that's innovation.
One of our most innovative projects in the past year is www.medatrust.org... it's a new idea, based on lots of old components: a web site, a data base, principles of gaming; the language of banking; microfinance.
But taking what we know and daring to use it like no one else is -- I think that's innovation. (Thanks Ed for your unceasing brain power to challenge us to push at the edges.)
I think that there are all sorts of innovative ideas lurking in all of our little minds!