GoodWorks

Partnering With Pencil to Help N.Y. Schools

How One Businessman Uses His Marketing Skills to Engage Students -- and His Community

Posted by Eric Woods on 03.17.10 @ 11:48 AM

When I need a break from Harlem Vintage & Nectar Wine Bar, the wine shop and wine bar I own in New York's Central Harlem, I don't need to go far. Just eight blocks away is my new second home -- the John H. Finley Campus School. I got to know the school last fall after enrolling in the Pencil Partnership Program, which is run by the nonprofit organization Pencil. The organization pairs business leaders with school principals throughout the city to help them meet the goals of individual public school communities.

My Pencil partner, Principal Odelphia Pierre, had me hooked from the start. Her passion in leading John Finley -- which is expanding from a kindergarten-through-fifth grade elementary school to an elementary-middle school -- is infectious. She is as attached to the students as though they were all her own children. During our first meeting, we had a very long conversation about PS 129 and the challenges the school faced as it. From that initial talk, we identified enhancing the school's communications outreach as a primary goal in attracting new students, building school community and ultimately engaging parents in the leaning process. Drawing on my own experiences in marketing, I was eager to help her take on this challenge.

In September, we officially launched our partnership by announcing a student logo contest. Initially, we weren't sure whether we'd get much interest from such young kids. But within a few weeks, more than 200 submissions had come in. The following month, at Pencil's Partnership Program kick-off event, I visited the school to judge the designs of three finalists along with a committee of faculty -- including Ms. Pierre -- and two experts: marketing guru David Watkins and graphic designer Tischen Franklin. Winning sixth-grade student Ashley Torres touched everyone in the room with her vision of a golden key. As Ashley put it, "The logo represents that John Finley is a key for success and can help us unlock our possibilities."

Out-of-home Effort Promotes 4 Charities

Media Provider Eye USA Pushes Cause Initiative in 51 Malls

Posted by Karen Egolf on 03.11.10 @ 12:07 PM

Four organizations are benefiting from a campaign in 51 malls across the country that was created by out-of-home media provider Eye USA. The company is using its network of Eyelite units on behalf of more than 50 of its clients to support the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, Breastcancer.org and New York Cares.

The effort, which started Feb. 14 and runs through Sunday, was launched as a result of internal meetings and is the first initiative in the company's Eye Have a Heart campaign. "We have biannual brainstorming meetings across the offices to give people a chance to brainstorm about how to change the business, improve the business, anything," says Michelle Schiano, Eye's VP-marketing. "One of the things that came out was to do something about a cause."

After internal and external input, the company chose the four charities it wanted to support. It then asked its clients and industry associations to nominate one of the four charities. For every nomination, the charity would get two mall posters. In addition, clients that nominated a charity were sent information on what they could do to donate time and money to that cause.

Going Green the Smart (and Legal) Way

Before Making Marketing Claims, Do Your Homework

Posted by Randi W. Singer on 03.10.10 @ 11:06 AM

Randi W. Singer

Unless you've been living under a rock in a remote part of the ever-dwindling rain forest, you know that a sure-fire way to get consumers to pay more for your products even in these difficult times is to make some "green" claims. And if you can time your ads to coincide with events such as Earth Day or convince the federal government to expedite the review for your green technology patent all the better. Bonus points for naming an actual shopping day "Green Monday" or changing the color of your logo to green.

But before jumping on the green bandwagon, it's important to do your homework. Last summer, the Federal Trade Commission issued complaints against Kmart, Tender Corp. and Dyna-E International for making false and unsubstantiated claims of "biodegradability." On the heels of those complaints, the FTC went after a number of companies that claimed their products were green because they were made of bamboo when, in fact, they were made of rayon -- a man-made fiber that is technically created from the cellulose found in plants and trees, but only after it is chemically dissolved through a process that releases various pollutants. (After settling with the manufacturers, the FTC followed up with warning letters to 78 retailers, including Bloomingdale's, Macy's and Target). S.C. Johnson & Son faces a class action suit alleging that placing a proprietary "Greenlist" seal on its Windex window cleaning products misled consumers into believing that the products were independently certified by a third party (the Greenlist was actually an S.C. Johnson-conceived program). And following review by the National Advertising Division, the advertising industry's self-regulatory forum, Clorox Co. decided to voluntarily discontinue claims that its Green Works Natural Cleaning Wipes were biodegradable, and MasterNet was advised to stop making claims that its plastic netting packaging products "saved countless trees from destruction."

AT&T: Don't Text and Drive

New Campaign Tells People That 'No Text Is Worth Dying Over'

Posted by Karen Egolf on 03.09.10 @ 11:57 AM

Texting and driving can have serious consequences. That's the message of a new campaign being rolled out by AT&T this week that says, "Txting & Drivng ... It Can Wait."

The national effort, by BBDO, New York, and BBDO, Atlanta, seeks to raise awareness, especially among younger drivers, about the risks of texting and driving. Ads show true stories about texting that changed or ended people's lives. For example, one TV spot shows the text "Where u at?" while a woman says, "This is the text my daughter was reading when she drove into oncoming traffic," along with the message: "No text is worth dying over."

"We explored several campaign concepts, but we didn't have our 'aha' moment until we asked one of our focus groups to take out their devices and read the last text they received," said Cathy Coughlin, senior exec VP-global marketing officer for AT&T, in announcing the effort. "When we asked if that particular message was worth the potential risk of reading while driving at 65 mph, you could have heard a pin drop. That's when we realized the message 'it can wait' was effective in educating consumers about the dangers of texting while driving."

A Passion for Volunteerism

Scripps Networks Partners With Disney to Reward 5 'Amazing' Efforts

Posted by Jerilyn Bliss on 03.05.10 @ 11:22 AM

Jerilyn Bliss

There are people in every community who give their time unconditionally to causes about which they are passionate. Because they are so devoted and focused on their work, the last thing they expect is recognition. At Scripps Networks, we want to recognize and reward these people.

Working within our Fine Living Network's "Surprise Vacations" series, we partnered with Walt Disney World to recognize the volunteer spirit of a special group of people from around the country whose work epitomizes the idea of shared responsibility, a core value at Scripps Networks. People such as Shirley Holley from Denver.

Holley began experiencing health problems in 1984, and was diagnosed 18 months later with sarcoidosis, a disease that causes unexplained swelling of tissues in various parts of the body. Holley's disease went untreated properly for 13 years until she found help at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center. Just two years later in 2000, Holley's oldest son was diagnosed with neurosarcoidosis, and she has other family members who also suffer from the disease. Holley says that meeting and listening to other sarcoidosis patients changed her life and inspired her to found the Denver Sarcoidosis Awareness Support Group in 2005. She works tirelessly with the organization and mentors others interested in starting their own support groups.

Cause Marketing Forum to Explore Star Power

Teleconference to Focus on Using Celebrities to Support Cause Efforts

Posted by Karen Egolf on 03.04.10 @ 01:45 PM

Using celebrities to push your cause can provide plenty of promotional power—unless you use the wrong stars. Celebrity Source's Rita Tateel will offer her advice on The Cause Marketing Forum's Master Series March 16 teleconference, "Reaching for the Stars."

Ms. Tateel has worked with celebrities for more than 25 years and is the founder and president of Celebrity Source, a Los Angeles-based, full-service celebrity and talent booking agency that specializes in recruiting talent for PR and ad campaigns, marketing activities and cause-related efforts, among other areas.

For more information, contact CMF at 914-921-3914 or info@causemarketingforum.com, or register online.

One Young World: Our Future Leaders

Havas Worldwide's David Jones: Giving Youth a Global Platform for Change

Posted by David Jones on 03.03.10 @ 02:19 PM

The inaugural One Young World is over, but the real work has just begun. Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof and Muhammad Yunus, among others, joined my fellow co-founder of One Young World, Kate Robertson, and me last month both to inspire the nearly 1,000 delegates from more than 105 countries and to provide a platform for these young people (all mid-20s and younger) to address and implement change on the issues that they believe are important to the future of our planet.

The delegates to One Young World represent a unique generation in that the digital revolution has, in part, made today's young people completely different from any generation that came before. Thanks to technology, they have access to an unprecedented amount of knowledge and information. Education used to be about the quality of teachers and teaching establishments, but now anyone with an Internet connection and interest can learn whatever they want, whenever they want.

Technology has also given them an unparalleled ability to influence and effect change. Take Oscar Morales, one of our One Young World counselors, for example, and how he used social media to create a revolution. Oscar created a Facebook movement called One Million Voices Against FARC to oppose the Colombian terrorist organization, which lead to more than 15 million people marching across 200 cities in more than 40 countries around the world.

Helping Smokers Learn New Habits

Legacy, Ad Council Team With EX on New Quit-Smoking Effort

Posted by Karen Egolf on 03.01.10 @ 02:08 PM

With tobacco-linked disease expected to kill 6 million people worldwide in the next year, Legacy and the Ad Council are partnering with EX, a quit-smoking effort, for a campaign to help smokers "re-learn" life without cigarettes.

The new campaign, created pro bono by GSD&M Idea City, includes TV, radio, outdoor, giveaways and social media designed to supplement the current EX campaign. EX, sponsored by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, works to help the 43 million Americans who smoke to quit.

According to EX, 70% of U.S. smokers want to quit, but in 2000, only about 5% were successful in quitting long-term. This new effort is designed to enhance EX's "re-learn" efforts by providing some of the tools necessary to help smokers, including:

Called2Create: Are You?

New Effort Seeks to Empower People Through Advertising

Posted by Sky Sheridan on 02.26.10 @ 11:16 AM

Sky Sheridan

Since being signed to Ford Models almost 10 years ago when I was only 18, friends, family, co-workers and strangers alike have asked me what it's like to be a model, as if it were a mysterious job. My response is always just as mysterious: "It's all smoke and mirrors."

Cooperating as its "face," it was the smoke-and-mirrors fallacy of the advertising industry that I was most concerned with. It seemed destructive to invest $250 billion a year on capturing and contouring the public's perception but not contribute anything in return. The industry's inauthentic approach of putting profit before people did not sit well with me.

So I created Called2Create based on my belief that people need to be empowered to know the truth and beauty of who they really are and what they are capable of, with or without products. I wanted advertising to benefit people so that in addition to buying products, they would be empowered by that advertising.

Called2Create's underlying philosophy is "Thoughts become things," and its motto is "Empowered ads, empowered lives." Currently, everyone interested in how advertising influences them is invited to sign up as C2C continues to expand and prepares to launch its first "season" this summer, aligning the advertising industry with its audience.

Breaking Down Barriers Around Mental Illness

New PSA Effort Targets African-American Community

Posted by Karen Egolf on 02.24.10 @ 12:31 PM

A new public-service campaign to raise awareness of mental health problems among young African-American adults has been launched by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, working with the Ad Council and the Stay Strong Foundation. The effort was unveiled yesterday at Howard University during the first HBCU National Mental Health Awareness Day as part of Black History Month.

The effort, created pro bono by Grey, New York, for the Ad Council, is designed to educate young adults about mental health problems and to encourage those individuals to talk about these problems in an effort to promote greater acceptance in the African-American community. The effort, which includes TV, radio, print and online, highlights real stories of African-Americans dealing with mental health problems and direct people to go online to learn more.

Terrie M. Williams, co-founder of the Stay Strong Foundation, an organization that works to support, educate and inspire African-American youth, collaborated on the Web videos and PSA materials.