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Maya Lin: “Save Two Birds with One Tree”

January 24, 2010 in Advertising, Non Profit, Social Marketing, Social Messages with 0 Comments

Maya Lin’s “Unchopping a Tree” debuted at COP 15 and it’s teasing a new foundation that is launching on Earth Day 2010, What is Missing? Foundation.

It’s a well crafted piece, but it’s deliberate pacing and solemn tone may hamper its viral potential. The last minute provides visual payoff, though.

The use of social math connecting the fact that “90 acres of rainforest are destroyed every minute” with the time it would take to destroy some of the world’s most beloved urban greenspaces was particularly effective.

I’m looking forward to what comes next from the What is Missing? Foundation.
-Matthew DiGirolamo, Cause Catalysts

NBC: Scroll Down For Haiti

January 21, 2010 in Advertising, Corporate, Social Messages with 0 Comments

Maybe I’m just angry with NBC about something else.

But a friend of mine recently informed me that during its telecast of the Golden Globes, NBC encouraged viewers to support relief efforts in Haiti…by first going to their own Web site.

Instead of using this high-profile platform (reportedly, 17 million people watched) to promote the web addresses of actual relief organizations that could always use the attention — or even better, promote the Red Cross’s successful text-to-donate campaign — NBC used the opportunity to drive traffic to its own website, which I’m sure turned out to be a nice aid program for its needy corporate advertisers.

Yesterday, the “Donate to Haiti relief” banner was tucked tastefully underneath a Bud Light ad. Today, it’s right below a pitch for TurboTax. I can only imagine the cynical rationale that led to this decision, but I’m sure it had something to do with the number of “eyeballs” and “impressions” that would be delivered if the Haiti info was in close proximity to their sponsor messages.

To make matters worse, the Haiti promo box is way below the top fold of the site. Maybe a better title for NBC’s Haiti relief campaign is Scroll Down for Haiti.

If you’re going to go through the trouble of messaging a cause, you might as well grant it a position on your site equal to its urgency or importance. This is obvious to most, but not to NBC: web real estate represents the value you place on something.

NBC to us: First, scroll down the page. Take it ALL in. Did you notice we’re replaying The Biggest Loser tonight? Good, now drink that deliciously refreshing beer and file your taxes. Oh yeah, don’t forget: Donate to Haiti!

But again, perhaps I’m just being a passive aggressive member of Team Conan?

No, NBC is that shamelessly self-promotional.
-Matthew DiGirolamo, Cause Catalysts

Will Refresh Project Fizzle Out for Pepsi?

January 14, 2010 in Advertising, Cause Marketing, Corporate, Social Marketing, Social Media with 3 Comments

I am intrigued by Pepsi’s bold decision to take their brand off the largest marketing stage of the year and redirect their $20 million Super Bowl advertising budget to a new national cause campaign. Pepsi has always gone big for the Super Bowl — big on creativity and on celebrity. ABC News reports that Pepsi has spent $142 million in Super Bowl ads in the last decade.

It’s rare for a brand as valuable as Pepsi’s to be this bravely experimental, so clearly there is a lot riding on the Pepsi Refresh Project.

If you didn’t catch the announcement, Pepsi is calling on consumers, businesses and nonprofits to submit good ideas and good causes to be funded through the Pepsi Refresh Project. They will accept up to 1,000 good ideas every month and consumers will then vote for their favorite ideas beginning February 1. Pepsi has partnered with some major players in the cause space, GOOD, DoSomething.org, CityYear and Global Giving.

The campaign holds great promise and, if successful, it could usher in a larger movement away from traditional passive, one-off, event-based advertising and toward these kinds of interactive cause campaigns with local focus, global reach and year-long scope.

Saying all that, I am surprised that Pepsi’s foray into social media and cause marketing had some serious missteps from day one. They launched their Web site before it was ready for game time, which led to database errors when users attempted to submit their “ideas that will have a positive impact.” Their Facebook page was immediately populated not with supportive comments, but with frustrated user complaints. Worse still, some users actually had their confidential information — and intellectual property — compromised by the database errors.

Is Pepsi trying to crowdsource or incite a flash mob?

This all raises the issue of trust. Beyond the undeniable buzz it generates, cause marketing through social media is fundamentally about building a relationship of trust between a brand and its audiences.

While a campaign may certainly have noble intentions and make a social impact, it comes up short if it doesn’t establish a lasting bond of trust during the phases of its execution.

We will see how Pepsi’s early miscues color the credibility of their campaign. The submission process was flawed, but let’s hope the voting process runs as advertised.

While the Pepsi Refresh Project has definitely created brand buzz in these early stages, only time will tell if it will inspire true brand trust.
-Matthew diGirolamo, Cause Catalysts

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