Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog

Aquadots and Oil Spills: “Packaging” your message this holiday

This is a great photo from the Dogwood Alliance.

Here’s the story behind it. During the MarketingProfs Book Club, I posed this question to all the savvy marketers in the club:

One of the points I made in the book is that good marketers seek open-minded moments for delivering their message—moments when people are in a time, place or state of mind when our message is most relevant and attractive. Nonprofits, because of their limited budgets, can make their promotion dollars go further if they spend them on open-minded moments. Better to concentrate and inundate with a message than to “spray and pray.”

So here’s my question. It seems this holiday, we might have some kind of open-minded moment for charities that protect our health, products and environment. Aquadots, toxic Barbies, Bay Area oil spills and global warming are prompting consumers to think more consciously about how they spend their money in the store. How can charities also gain attention at a time like this?

I got a great response from Scot from the Dogwood Alliance:

An example from our organization during the holiday season… We are currently running a campaign to tackle the packaging problem. The average American throws out 300 lbs of packaging per year. We our wasting our natural resources and degrading our environment to make packaging that is not even an integral part of the actual product.

So this holiday season, we are running a contest asking people to submit photos of over-packaging during the holidays. We will create a slide show of the photos that we post on line and ask our audience to vote on the best ones.

For us, this is a great way to raise awareness about an important issue, tap into the holidays and have fun… a win-win-win combo (we hope!).

The above picture is last year’s winner. And it’s a winning example of using open-minded moments.

This holiday, if your organization has anything to do with safety, health or the environment, tap into consumer and media attention to these issues with some timely tie-ins. As I like to say, it’s easier to attach your cause to something that has buzz rather than trying to generate buzz for your cause.

Posted by on 11/19 at 04:44 PM

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Comments

Presents for a shop not for a couple of children

Posted by Symbian on 11/21 at 01:39 AM

Don’t get me wrong, because I love the Dogwood Alliance, but don’t you think this actually *celebrates* overpackaging? I have photos of my kids just like this and as an environmentalist, it does produce a fair amount of disgust and guilt to see my own kids surrounded by all that junk and waste. But at the same time, they LOVE it, so we do it anyway.

So what message does the photo contest leave with parents, especially when a lot of the waste is wrapping paper (which parents control)? Yeah, packaging waste is a big problem, but it’s fun, so who cares? Or it’s OK to do it if you are willing to publicly admit it by submitting a photo?

I totally agree that there is a good angle and opportunity here—I’m just not entirely sure about the execution and the lasting message to the audience.

Posted by Kivi Miller on 11/21 at 11:29 AM

I loved reading Robin Hood Marketing, Katye and have enjoyed the ongoing conversation on MarketingProfs. “Striking while the iron is hot” is a terrific point. Its a moving target but one worth practicing to hit.

Posted by BobG on 11/21 at 02:04 PM

Interesting points, Kivi. I’d love to know, how would you modify the campaign? Because I think you make some great points.

The reason I like the campaign is it hooks into something everyone knows and experiences - the big Xmas morning pile. Many of us descend into excess in the holidays, but I know I react to seeing that type of pile in my house by reforming my behavior/purchase decisions afterward - sort of like trying to counteract an overindulgent meal with a long run, I suppose. This can be an open-minded moment that leads to post-holiday changes or donations. You can’t take away the holidays (or their excesses), but you can use them as a way to spur change going forward in the New Year.

Posted by Katya Andresen on 11/21 at 04:17 PM

I totally agree about starting where people are, but what’s that next step that really brings about change? The photo contest is a really fun idea, because we can all identify with it (even those of us who like to think of ourselves as being green long before it was cool).

So here’s an idea: Since I bet that the winning pictures will come from a family with small kids, how about if Dogwood Alliance offers to help the family make its next kid birthday party a zero-waste party? It’s easy enough to do with just a little planning, smart purchasing, and enough recycling/composting bins. With a little press work, it’s another way to shine some light on solutions, after the holiday competition for coverage. Of course, this idea works best if a kid has a birthday in the next couple of months . . .

Or maybe Dogwood Alliance could offer to be the family’s personal shopper for a weekend of trips to the grocery store, etc. and help them pick out the best products (organic, recycled) with the least packaging?

I think it’s important to close the loop with a positive action instead of just saying “Yeah, wow, we do generate a lot of packaging waste and we must do better” And lose 10 pounds. And quit smoking. And spend more time with our kids, etc. Being green can’t be yet another guilt trip for busy families. Enviros have to show them how it can be done easily while still having fun.

Posted by Kivi Miller on 11/21 at 10:39 PM

We used to make homemade baked pies.We used to sell for $10 a piece used to add some flavors also.This is the fundraising we always used to do in winter.And it always helped us to get good money for charity.

Posted by Fundraiser on 11/26 at 11:11 AM

That sure is an alarming picture. No wonder it won. I think the concept of open-minded moments is fantastic! You made a great point. Organizations who can’t really afford to shell out big bucks should plan their campaigns and projects wisely.

Posted by jen_chan, writer SureFireWealth.com on 11/26 at 06:47 PM