1. Goal(s): What are the stated goals of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN? What behavior(s) is/are your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN focused on changing?
The goal of chairty: water’s social media campaign is to persuade people to donate to their cause. The company uses a large amount of diverse campaign techniques that range from YouTube videos, to holding parties with a list of celebrity attendees. The persuasive techniques used in a large amount of advertisements were testimonial, by having a list of celebrities “involved” with the charity and beautiful people can apply, group dynamics is used when the “giving up your birthday” fundraiser is promoted by people’s stories of their birthday fundraiser, and warm fuzzies is implemented when photos of young children are shown with big smiles when they receive clean water.
The behavior charity: water is trying to change through their social market campaign is to receive donations. When someone does research to learn how to donate to charity: water’s movement, there are several ways presented. The main ways that popped up were giving up your birthday, throwing parties and events, and starting your own campaign. Charity: water highly promotes pledging birthdays, as a quick and easy way to help. By mentioning $20 is simply all they need, they guide the individual through the steps, showing live feeds and GPS mapping to show where and how the money is being used, and the village and population you will be helping with your donation.
2. The 8 “Ps” of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN - Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Publics, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings. How does your SMC address/approach all 8 Ps?
Product:
Charity: Water is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise money to supply clean water for developing countries. From their help, children and families who suffered from sickness and disease from contaminated water have the opportunity to obtain a healthier and safer lifestyle. There are many different donors and product types that are used to raise money for example, speakers, candles, water products, jewelry, clothing, and more. In terms of the actual product clean water is the main product that Charity Water hopes to provide.
Price:
Charity Water has various supporters who donate portions of their product sales in order to help raise money for the organization. The prices vary by product and percentage of donation. A few examples are:
1. Big Jambox by Jam Bone- donates $75 dollars of sale of each Limited Edition Big Jambox and $50 from each Limited Edition Jambox product to Charity Water. Source: https://jawbone.com/charitywater
2. Votivo Candle by Votivo – donates $20 dollars per sale of candle. Source: http://www.votivo.com/charity-water.aspx
3. Bib & Sola for Charity Water donates 10% of profits to Charity Water. Source: http://www.bibandsola.com/collections/diary-of-a-carafe/products/charity-water-water-changes-everything
4. Diamond Bracelet by Kwait- priced at $100 dollars donates all profits to Charity water. Source: http://www.kwiat.com/charitywater
5. Charity Water playing cards by Theory 11 for $10 dollars donating 100% of all proceeds: http://www.theory11.com/playingcards/charity-water.php
6. Jerry Can Cufflinks by Jerry can for $110 dollars, $50 dollars of which goes to Charity Water.
In terms of the actual cost of each well for Charity Water varies. However every dollar spent has a return of $4 to $12 dollars for the local economy when providing clean water. 100% of individual donations go toward providing clean water as for office, staff salaries, rent, and expenses to run the organization those are funded directly by big donors who are apart of The Well, a part of the organization who has funders that know their money is going toward the infrastructure of the organization. In order to sponsor a water project in a community $5,000- $10,000 dollars must be raised. In order to sponsor a school or clinic, Charity Water must raise $20,000 for that project. To put a price on various projects one project in Ethiopia cost $7, 326 dollars for a clean water well and cleaning sources to be built.
Place:
Charity Water is accessible at various donor websites. This expands the organizations reach to their audience by being accessible through various businesses that advertise on their own websites. Each donor who advertises about Charity Water is able to broaden the organizations reach by telling their customers who and what Charity Water is. Charity Water has different places on its own website that give various ways and opportunities to donate to the organization. A donor can give a gift card, pledge ones individual birthday, buy products, or volunteer. The donor can also keep pace with the organization through the organizations blog, twitter, and Facebook.
Promotion:
Charity Water organization promotes its cause on its website and other donor websites using the sale of various products that support the charity. The products vary in type making them more appealing to different people. Donors can read the organizations blog as well as personal stories about the various projects the organization has going on. It uses videos to communicate its message. There are different ways to donate that are memorable for donors such as pledging ones birthday to raise money or giving gift cards that directly benefit individuals receiving water. The products that Charity Water uses to raise funds advertise their logo and some come with informational DVDs. Charity Water uses a lot of persuasive language, such as bandwagon language that appeals to people who want to be included. Charity Water has made a lot of progress through crow sourcing and crowd funding which has created awareness for them. The charity also uses symbols like iconic celebrities such as Justin Beiber and other celebrities. The images of the people that the organization and their stories are shown through their website, blogs, twitter, Facebook, DVDs, and videos. Charity Water also gives a donor the ability to track their donation, seeing which project their dollar is going to which makes the project and giving feel more personal.
Publics:
In order for Charity Water to be successful it needs to reach as many willing donors as possible. It needs citizens as well as governments to get involved in order for the organization to be able to carry out its overall goal of providing clean water in communities all over the world who do not have access. This is done by creating awareness as well as triggering an emotional need that makes people want to give to their organization. Universities, schools, celebrities, normal individuals, companies, have come together to support Charity Water. Charity Water has been affected positively through individual’s stories that have inspired others to give. For example, Olivia Beckwith a young girl pledged her 9th birthday to bringing water with a goal of raising $300 dollars. Instead her story ended in tragedy, from tragedy it inspired giving, her campaign raised 1.3 million dollars for Charity Water all donations given by up to 32,000 different people. Charity Water relies on individuals giving their own stories to the organization to inspire others.
Within the organization, the staff, board members, and founder are key participants in the survival of the organization. The sponsors are the most important item to the success. The angel investors, ten major partnerships, foundations, and individual donors are vital to the success of Charity Water. Charity Water has been able to expand rapidly due to the influence of its angel investors, some of whom have donated up to 4 million dollars. There are also different categories of peoples roles with the organization for example, members could be apart of the organization through the Well which is where donors funds knowingly go toward staff salaries, office supplies, air flights, and office locations.
Partnerships:
Charity water partners with many different organizations. Its main organizations that supply its fundraising products are Jam Bone, Votivo, Kwait, and Bib & Sola. Charity water is involved with different angel investors and foundations. It has ten partners on the ground where they set up their clean water supply. A few foundations that work with Charity Water are Provision Foundation, Skirball Foundation, Bilger Foundation, Heritage Mark Foundation, and Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation. Charity Water is currently working on 2,421 projects, supplying 750,000 people with clean water.
Policy:
Charity Water relies on government policies that enable them to enter countries where there are people in need of clean water. Charity Water must work a long side with private, non-profits, and government organizations to give them information of the various places within their country where people are most in need of access to clean water. In order to do so their must be policies in place which enable the organization to have the necessary help to be able to provide what they need in order to build the devices that give communities clean water, including access to the country, infrastructure, ability to have access to a water supply.
Purse Strings:
There is not enough funding for the organization to tackle all of its objectives but the organization has made great progress. It has been greatly influenced by angel investors, foundations, companies, individuals, and celebrities all looking to get involved in the effort to bring the world clean drinking water.
3. How successful was your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN in meeting its goals? Changing behavior?
Our social marketing campaign has been successful in meeting its goal. The campaign does a great job of getting and keeping wealthy/ large sponsors, using diverse campaign inventory to target classes, and creating websites/networks that effectively grab the public’s attention.
The campaign’s main sources of persuasive techniques are testimonial and group dynamics. This is because they invoke support from respected individuals and institutions (testimonial). They mention and thank their advertisers often on their page and videos, which keeps their old sponsors and gains attention from potentially new ones. Within this they use their group dynamic, and repeat many words like “we” and “our”. They emphasize that sponsors and donors are making a difference, which helps create a relationship.
They have products that range from five to hundreds of dollars. This is effective because they are able to grab donors that have a lot of money and groups that don’t. Their website, Facebook, and Twitter pages are always constantly up to date and show a lot of organization. This allows readers to easily find information, and with a credible site they feel more comfortable donating money. With the combination of these techniques and approaches they are able to receive a lot of money in a short period of time and keep interest amongst the public.
4. News/PR: Summarize and link to THREE news articles about your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN that report, raise questions, and/or encourage support.
http://nonprofit.about.com/b/2012/12/19/charity-water-on-a-roll.htm
Fritz, Joanne. "Charity: Water - On a Roll." About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs. N.p., 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
This article describes how charity: water has become one of the most successful fundraising social marketing campaigns in recent years. Charity: water uses peer-to-peer fundraising to encourage not only money, but also to generate energized supporters. Charity: water is also very interactive with supporters. For example, the journalist explains how she supported a project in Rwanda and once the campaign had reached its goal, she received a report/thank you email from the team. She then described how this personal connection with the campaign made her energized to do even more. Charity: water’s social marketing campaign is also successful because of its use of “new media” and capturing images of everything they do. Charity: water is paving the way for the tech savvy organizations in the Internet age. Charity: water is fortunate to have extremely wealthy donors to cover the organization’s overhead expenses so that the organization can promise donors that 100% of their money is going to water projects. This is a luxury many nonprofits do not have.
http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/09/29/how-charity-water-leads-the-way-in-social-fundraising/
Kanter, Beth. "How Charity: Water Leads the Way in Social Fundraising." Socialbrite. Evergreen Fundraising, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
This article discusses the specific ways in which charity: water leads the way in social fundraising. In an interview with Paul Young, “Director of Digital,” he explains how charity: water aims to “inspire with content” when it comes to utilizing social media for fundraising. They are able to do this through videos on the campaign page and the growing infographics. They also create connections with supporters through emails using Silverpop, Hulu, Meebo and social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. Young also gives marketing advice to other nonprofits who are looking to integrate social media into their fundraising campaigns. He recommends:
• Increasing number of campaigns started
• Raising the average amount raised by campaigns
• Identifying major donors and other revenue opportunities that can contribute to our goal
There are a plethora of free tools you can use for online measurement, but it is easy to get lost in the details. Identify the key metrics that matter for you and remember: The greatest analytics engine of all is the human brain!
http://parkhowell.com/green-advertising-and-marketing/would-you-give-up-your-birthday-for-clean-drinking-water
Howell, Park. "ParkHowell.com." Charity: Water's Green Social Media and Sustainable Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign. N.p., 10 Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
The third article promotes ways in which supporters can contribute to individually to charity: water’s social marketing campaign. The list includes, following charity: water on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, attending one of the numerous events, purchasing charity: water products from stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, and downloading free banners and backgrounds to show your support on personal blogs. Promoting the banners and backgrounds is a great way for charity: water to promote their project and spread the word. Not to mention there is not cost for them to do this. The overall theme of charity: water’s marketing campaign is that it is “easy to participate.” They have found social media makes it easy and accessible for individuals to participate. Charity: water has had a huge impact on social marketing.
5. Media Analysis: Which digital/social/traditional media platforms seemed MOST and LEAST effective in helping your SMC achieve its stated goals? Be specific and analytical in your response.
While charity: water might not be the most well known non-profit organization compared to Toms or RED, it has been recognized among many marketers as having one of the most innovative and successful social media campaigns of the century. Charity: water rarely used traditional media platforms, but spent most of its energy on social and digital media. According to Scott Harrison, the charity’s founder, the organization utilizes up to 10 different social media platforms, and rightfully so considering most of the money they raise is through the Internet. Their use of thought-provoking graphics, photography, and videography throughout their website has inspired thousands to donate to the clean water cause.
So what’s different about charity: water compared to other organizations in terms of marketing? They don’t even have a marketing department! What they do have is three staff members working on Design and Content who produce the printed work and constantly update the social media platforms. Then, of course, there are the staff members who work on the charity: water website. According to David Connell, the Director of Digital Marketing for the Urban Institute, what works for this organization is that it “doesn’t think like a non-profit, they think like a consumer-focused tech start-up”. Charity: water focuses on the product and tries to make it “a must-have among the coolest, trendiest people in their target demographic” (Connell). By spending most of their energy on social media, they’re also appealing more to Generation X. With the youngest generation being more in-tune with social media, the word about the organization and its product is able to spread faster among the public. Among the social media platforms, the most popular for charity: water has been Twitter. Some of their most successful campaigns have been the Twitter festival (Twestival), which raised close to one million dollars, and their MyCharity:Water Birthday drives.
Charity: water has also used digital platforms in the form of commercials. They teamed up with Terry George, the director for Hotel Rwanda, and actress Jennifer Connelly to make a public service announcement. This commercial showed Jennifer Connelly and many others carrying yellow jerry cans filled with dirty water to their homes, and Jennifer Connelly serves her children the dirty water at the dining room table. Charity: water was able to have this PSA broadcasted during an episode of American Idol, so millions of viewers were reached at one time. It was more successful in reaching an older target audience, considering the median age for American Idol viewer demographics is 47 years old (Carter & Vega). While the commercial was still powerful, it was not as effective compared to charity: water’s everyday use of its social media platforms. The reason social media platforms work better for this organization compared to the others is because for their goals, social media allows for the message to become more personable, authentic, and engaging for their target audience.
Connell, David. "So You Want to Be like Charity:water? 10 Brand Challenges between You and Cool." David Connell. David Connell, 05 May 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.davidconnell.net/2011/05/05/so-you-want-to-be-like-charitywater-10-brand-challenges-between-you-and-cool/>.
Smith, Andy. "Charity:Water." The Dragonfly Effect Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/dragonfly-in-action/case-studies/charitywater/>.
The goal of chairty: water’s social media campaign is to persuade people to donate to their cause. The company uses a large amount of diverse campaign techniques that range from YouTube videos, to holding parties with a list of celebrity attendees. The persuasive techniques used in a large amount of advertisements were testimonial, by having a list of celebrities “involved” with the charity and beautiful people can apply, group dynamics is used when the “giving up your birthday” fundraiser is promoted by people’s stories of their birthday fundraiser, and warm fuzzies is implemented when photos of young children are shown with big smiles when they receive clean water.
The behavior charity: water is trying to change through their social market campaign is to receive donations. When someone does research to learn how to donate to charity: water’s movement, there are several ways presented. The main ways that popped up were giving up your birthday, throwing parties and events, and starting your own campaign. Charity: water highly promotes pledging birthdays, as a quick and easy way to help. By mentioning $20 is simply all they need, they guide the individual through the steps, showing live feeds and GPS mapping to show where and how the money is being used, and the village and population you will be helping with your donation.
2. The 8 “Ps” of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN - Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Publics, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings. How does your SMC address/approach all 8 Ps?
Product:
Charity: Water is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise money to supply clean water for developing countries. From their help, children and families who suffered from sickness and disease from contaminated water have the opportunity to obtain a healthier and safer lifestyle. There are many different donors and product types that are used to raise money for example, speakers, candles, water products, jewelry, clothing, and more. In terms of the actual product clean water is the main product that Charity Water hopes to provide.
Price:
Charity Water has various supporters who donate portions of their product sales in order to help raise money for the organization. The prices vary by product and percentage of donation. A few examples are:
1. Big Jambox by Jam Bone- donates $75 dollars of sale of each Limited Edition Big Jambox and $50 from each Limited Edition Jambox product to Charity Water. Source: https://jawbone.com/charitywater
2. Votivo Candle by Votivo – donates $20 dollars per sale of candle. Source: http://www.votivo.com/charity-water.aspx
3. Bib & Sola for Charity Water donates 10% of profits to Charity Water. Source: http://www.bibandsola.com/collections/diary-of-a-carafe/products/charity-water-water-changes-everything
4. Diamond Bracelet by Kwait- priced at $100 dollars donates all profits to Charity water. Source: http://www.kwiat.com/charitywater
5. Charity Water playing cards by Theory 11 for $10 dollars donating 100% of all proceeds: http://www.theory11.com/playingcards/charity-water.php
6. Jerry Can Cufflinks by Jerry can for $110 dollars, $50 dollars of which goes to Charity Water.
In terms of the actual cost of each well for Charity Water varies. However every dollar spent has a return of $4 to $12 dollars for the local economy when providing clean water. 100% of individual donations go toward providing clean water as for office, staff salaries, rent, and expenses to run the organization those are funded directly by big donors who are apart of The Well, a part of the organization who has funders that know their money is going toward the infrastructure of the organization. In order to sponsor a water project in a community $5,000- $10,000 dollars must be raised. In order to sponsor a school or clinic, Charity Water must raise $20,000 for that project. To put a price on various projects one project in Ethiopia cost $7, 326 dollars for a clean water well and cleaning sources to be built.
Place:
Charity Water is accessible at various donor websites. This expands the organizations reach to their audience by being accessible through various businesses that advertise on their own websites. Each donor who advertises about Charity Water is able to broaden the organizations reach by telling their customers who and what Charity Water is. Charity Water has different places on its own website that give various ways and opportunities to donate to the organization. A donor can give a gift card, pledge ones individual birthday, buy products, or volunteer. The donor can also keep pace with the organization through the organizations blog, twitter, and Facebook.
Promotion:
Charity Water organization promotes its cause on its website and other donor websites using the sale of various products that support the charity. The products vary in type making them more appealing to different people. Donors can read the organizations blog as well as personal stories about the various projects the organization has going on. It uses videos to communicate its message. There are different ways to donate that are memorable for donors such as pledging ones birthday to raise money or giving gift cards that directly benefit individuals receiving water. The products that Charity Water uses to raise funds advertise their logo and some come with informational DVDs. Charity Water uses a lot of persuasive language, such as bandwagon language that appeals to people who want to be included. Charity Water has made a lot of progress through crow sourcing and crowd funding which has created awareness for them. The charity also uses symbols like iconic celebrities such as Justin Beiber and other celebrities. The images of the people that the organization and their stories are shown through their website, blogs, twitter, Facebook, DVDs, and videos. Charity Water also gives a donor the ability to track their donation, seeing which project their dollar is going to which makes the project and giving feel more personal.
Publics:
In order for Charity Water to be successful it needs to reach as many willing donors as possible. It needs citizens as well as governments to get involved in order for the organization to be able to carry out its overall goal of providing clean water in communities all over the world who do not have access. This is done by creating awareness as well as triggering an emotional need that makes people want to give to their organization. Universities, schools, celebrities, normal individuals, companies, have come together to support Charity Water. Charity Water has been affected positively through individual’s stories that have inspired others to give. For example, Olivia Beckwith a young girl pledged her 9th birthday to bringing water with a goal of raising $300 dollars. Instead her story ended in tragedy, from tragedy it inspired giving, her campaign raised 1.3 million dollars for Charity Water all donations given by up to 32,000 different people. Charity Water relies on individuals giving their own stories to the organization to inspire others.
Within the organization, the staff, board members, and founder are key participants in the survival of the organization. The sponsors are the most important item to the success. The angel investors, ten major partnerships, foundations, and individual donors are vital to the success of Charity Water. Charity Water has been able to expand rapidly due to the influence of its angel investors, some of whom have donated up to 4 million dollars. There are also different categories of peoples roles with the organization for example, members could be apart of the organization through the Well which is where donors funds knowingly go toward staff salaries, office supplies, air flights, and office locations.
Partnerships:
Charity water partners with many different organizations. Its main organizations that supply its fundraising products are Jam Bone, Votivo, Kwait, and Bib & Sola. Charity water is involved with different angel investors and foundations. It has ten partners on the ground where they set up their clean water supply. A few foundations that work with Charity Water are Provision Foundation, Skirball Foundation, Bilger Foundation, Heritage Mark Foundation, and Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation. Charity Water is currently working on 2,421 projects, supplying 750,000 people with clean water.
Policy:
Charity Water relies on government policies that enable them to enter countries where there are people in need of clean water. Charity Water must work a long side with private, non-profits, and government organizations to give them information of the various places within their country where people are most in need of access to clean water. In order to do so their must be policies in place which enable the organization to have the necessary help to be able to provide what they need in order to build the devices that give communities clean water, including access to the country, infrastructure, ability to have access to a water supply.
Purse Strings:
There is not enough funding for the organization to tackle all of its objectives but the organization has made great progress. It has been greatly influenced by angel investors, foundations, companies, individuals, and celebrities all looking to get involved in the effort to bring the world clean drinking water.
3. How successful was your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN in meeting its goals? Changing behavior?
Our social marketing campaign has been successful in meeting its goal. The campaign does a great job of getting and keeping wealthy/ large sponsors, using diverse campaign inventory to target classes, and creating websites/networks that effectively grab the public’s attention.
The campaign’s main sources of persuasive techniques are testimonial and group dynamics. This is because they invoke support from respected individuals and institutions (testimonial). They mention and thank their advertisers often on their page and videos, which keeps their old sponsors and gains attention from potentially new ones. Within this they use their group dynamic, and repeat many words like “we” and “our”. They emphasize that sponsors and donors are making a difference, which helps create a relationship.
4. News/PR: Summarize and link to THREE news articles about your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN that report, raise questions, and/or encourage support.
http://nonprofit.about.com/b/2012/12/19/charity-water-on-a-roll.htm
Fritz, Joanne. "Charity: Water - On a Roll." About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs. N.p., 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
This article describes how charity: water has become one of the most successful fundraising social marketing campaigns in recent years. Charity: water uses peer-to-peer fundraising to encourage not only money, but also to generate energized supporters. Charity: water is also very interactive with supporters. For example, the journalist explains how she supported a project in Rwanda and once the campaign had reached its goal, she received a report/thank you email from the team. She then described how this personal connection with the campaign made her energized to do even more. Charity: water’s social marketing campaign is also successful because of its use of “new media” and capturing images of everything they do. Charity: water is paving the way for the tech savvy organizations in the Internet age. Charity: water is fortunate to have extremely wealthy donors to cover the organization’s overhead expenses so that the organization can promise donors that 100% of their money is going to water projects. This is a luxury many nonprofits do not have.
http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/09/29/how-charity-water-leads-the-way-in-social-fundraising/
Kanter, Beth. "How Charity: Water Leads the Way in Social Fundraising." Socialbrite. Evergreen Fundraising, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
This article discusses the specific ways in which charity: water leads the way in social fundraising. In an interview with Paul Young, “Director of Digital,” he explains how charity: water aims to “inspire with content” when it comes to utilizing social media for fundraising. They are able to do this through videos on the campaign page and the growing infographics. They also create connections with supporters through emails using Silverpop, Hulu, Meebo and social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. Young also gives marketing advice to other nonprofits who are looking to integrate social media into their fundraising campaigns. He recommends:
• Increasing number of campaigns started
• Raising the average amount raised by campaigns
• Identifying major donors and other revenue opportunities that can contribute to our goal
There are a plethora of free tools you can use for online measurement, but it is easy to get lost in the details. Identify the key metrics that matter for you and remember: The greatest analytics engine of all is the human brain!
http://parkhowell.com/green-advertising-and-marketing/would-you-give-up-your-birthday-for-clean-drinking-water
Howell, Park. "ParkHowell.com." Charity: Water's Green Social Media and Sustainable Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign. N.p., 10 Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
The third article promotes ways in which supporters can contribute to individually to charity: water’s social marketing campaign. The list includes, following charity: water on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, attending one of the numerous events, purchasing charity: water products from stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, and downloading free banners and backgrounds to show your support on personal blogs. Promoting the banners and backgrounds is a great way for charity: water to promote their project and spread the word. Not to mention there is not cost for them to do this. The overall theme of charity: water’s marketing campaign is that it is “easy to participate.” They have found social media makes it easy and accessible for individuals to participate. Charity: water has had a huge impact on social marketing.
5. Media Analysis: Which digital/social/traditional media platforms seemed MOST and LEAST effective in helping your SMC achieve its stated goals? Be specific and analytical in your response.
While charity: water might not be the most well known non-profit organization compared to Toms or RED, it has been recognized among many marketers as having one of the most innovative and successful social media campaigns of the century. Charity: water rarely used traditional media platforms, but spent most of its energy on social and digital media. According to Scott Harrison, the charity’s founder, the organization utilizes up to 10 different social media platforms, and rightfully so considering most of the money they raise is through the Internet. Their use of thought-provoking graphics, photography, and videography throughout their website has inspired thousands to donate to the clean water cause.
So what’s different about charity: water compared to other organizations in terms of marketing? They don’t even have a marketing department! What they do have is three staff members working on Design and Content who produce the printed work and constantly update the social media platforms. Then, of course, there are the staff members who work on the charity: water website. According to David Connell, the Director of Digital Marketing for the Urban Institute, what works for this organization is that it “doesn’t think like a non-profit, they think like a consumer-focused tech start-up”. Charity: water focuses on the product and tries to make it “a must-have among the coolest, trendiest people in their target demographic” (Connell). By spending most of their energy on social media, they’re also appealing more to Generation X. With the youngest generation being more in-tune with social media, the word about the organization and its product is able to spread faster among the public. Among the social media platforms, the most popular for charity: water has been Twitter. Some of their most successful campaigns have been the Twitter festival (Twestival), which raised close to one million dollars, and their MyCharity:Water Birthday drives.
Charity: water has also used digital platforms in the form of commercials. They teamed up with Terry George, the director for Hotel Rwanda, and actress Jennifer Connelly to make a public service announcement. This commercial showed Jennifer Connelly and many others carrying yellow jerry cans filled with dirty water to their homes, and Jennifer Connelly serves her children the dirty water at the dining room table. Charity: water was able to have this PSA broadcasted during an episode of American Idol, so millions of viewers were reached at one time. It was more successful in reaching an older target audience, considering the median age for American Idol viewer demographics is 47 years old (Carter & Vega). While the commercial was still powerful, it was not as effective compared to charity: water’s everyday use of its social media platforms. The reason social media platforms work better for this organization compared to the others is because for their goals, social media allows for the message to become more personable, authentic, and engaging for their target audience.
Works Cited
Carter, Bill, and Tanzina Vega. "In Shift, Ads Try to Entice Over-55 Set." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 May 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/business/media/14viewers.html?pagewanted=1>.Connell, David. "So You Want to Be like Charity:water? 10 Brand Challenges between You and Cool." David Connell. David Connell, 05 May 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.davidconnell.net/2011/05/05/so-you-want-to-be-like-charitywater-10-brand-challenges-between-you-and-cool/>.
Smith, Andy. "Charity:Water." The Dragonfly Effect Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/dragonfly-in-action/case-studies/charitywater/>.
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