The predominant group of HyperActive clients (likely 60%) is composed of Canada's non-profit and charitable organizations – groups like CARE Canada, United Way of Canada/Centraide Canada, Volunteer Canada, the Children's Wish Foundation, and others.
Our job is to be the social marketing firm that allows these organizations to connect with people in positive ways, whether the call to action be one for funding, for volunteers, for the purposes of changing behaviour (e.g. our work on bullying, fatherhood, family violence, etc.), or simply to increase awareness of the organizations across a wide range of stakeholder groups.
And so advertising – in traditional and non-traditional forms - comes into play quite often as part of the marketing matrix for these clients. And, quite understandably, the lion's share of these organizations have the tiniest of budgets for the critically important task of connecting their work to Canadians.
Understandably? Sure. I've often said that the catering bill for a 35mm beer commercial shoot would pay a full-time staff position in most voluntary organizations. And I have encountered folks in the voluntary sector who have paid millions of dollars in paid buys in addition to the money they fork out for strategy, creative development, production, and post. Canada's voluntary sector is underfunded, and salaries among the staff of this sector are generally way lower than private sector or government counterparts. Almost invariably, people in the sector do what they do for less dough because they are passionate about their work, and because they know the work must get done. What little money there is is generally spread thinly across the normal operating costs of these organizations.
Now - contemporary marketing and branding wisdom says that the days of free placement and PSA campaigns are over for three reasons:
• Because broadcasters and publishers simply “don't do that any more”;
• Because non-paid ads invariably wind up “buried” in either the back pages of publications or at times of day when viewers and listeners are noticeably absent;
• Because “non-paid campaigns are impossible to track”.
Nonsense.
Let's look at these things one at a time.
• Because broadcasters and publishers simply “don't do that any more”;
I've never believed this and I never will, for practical reasons and philosophical reasons as well. Fact is, material often arrives late for publication deadlines or for airtimes, leaving the broadcaster or publisher faced with a hole where inventory was supposed to go. If non-profit material is available, it solves that practical issue. And in terms of philosophy, there are two important elements at play here: the desire of the broadcaster or publisher to be perceived as a good corporate citizen; and the predisposition toward good causes of individuals who make decisions (layout and production artists, commercial schedulers, and the guy in Master Control).
Over a decade ago, we helped Friends of the Earth get a $5,000 grant from a fund that Rogers offered to non-profits for visual communications. We developed a TV PSA about ozone depletion, and it received an extraordinary amount of airplay over about a two-year period, including placement in the Stanley Cup – all the way to the finals – on Hockey Night in Canada.
Was the creative good? We think so. Was the cause important? We think so. But two things likely happened. 1) Some people simply took a liking to that little spot, its cause, its messaging, and 2) Somebody else – some major advertiser who had bought some very heavy availabilities – pulled out for some reason or other, creating the opportunity.
About two years ago, we decided to push the concept with print. We developed a series of print ads for Children's Wish Foundation, created CDs with a variety of sizes and in a variety of formats including both black and white and colour, and sent the CDs to about 150 publications across the country, including major dailies and major magazines. Within a few weeks, “Only Two More Needles ‘Til My Wish” began to appear with regularity in newspapers from coast to coast, and got placement in magazines like Reader's Digest and others as well. Good cause… good creative… and the first major colour magazine full-page “paid” for the creative and the distribution.
• Because non-paid ads invariably wind up “buried” in either the back pages of publications or at times of day when viewers and listeners are noticeably absent;
Not true. In our experience, great creative gets equally great placement. Do you get adjacency to national newscasts? Play during “American Idol” or “Survivor”? Not often. But sometimes you do, particularly if the creative is, in fact, as good as the rest of the spots in a given commercial break cluster.
And when you consider the “street value” of these decent placements, it doesn't take long at all to offset production costs… but that's another blog entry.
• Because “non-paid campaigns are impossible to track”.
This isn't true at all. A proper “shepherding process” creates the personal link to the people who make decisions about what goes on air or in print, and that personal link can substantially increase both the chances of getting through AND getting specific feedback about the when, the where, and the how many. We have much more detail on this, and I'd love a call or an email to discuss the matter.
Bottom line: free placement recreates a very special bond between causes and media in which media become partners in advancing the work of the voluntary sector. We need each other… it's a relationship that can be built, sustained, celebrated… and the money that might otherwise go into paid advertising can do a hell of a lot more when put back into the hands of the organizations who are doing all this good work.
Thanks
Mike Hicks
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Archive:
2009-11-20: "Don't Play Games" - Motorcycle Ride for Dad Prostate Awareness TV PSA
2008-04-07: HyperActive on location - Mars!
2007-06-04: CSA - My Body In Space, Video Podcasts 1-4
2007-05-28: CFIC - Retention Toolkit
2007-03-27: Words of Wisdom
2007-03-12: Some things you can't learn in a classroom
2006-09-19: CANJAC Award Presented to Yellow House
2006-08-15: MikeBlog: Meanwhile in Africa...
2006-06-30: MikeBlog: Keep Your Forks, There's Pie!!!
2006-06-15: HyperNews: Helping Teachers Understand Autism
2006-06-13: HyperNews: Canada Career Consortium
2006-06-06: MikeBlog: To Pay or Not to Pay
2005-09-29: HyperNews: Childrens Wish Foundation of Canada
2005-09-05: HyperNews: Department of National Defense
2005-06-29: HyperNews: Department of Justice
2005-03-29: HyperNews: FINTRAC
2004-10-29: HyperNews: CAREconnects.ca, CARE Canada
2004-10-06: HyperNews: Stock Collection Zambia
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